In the Leadership Strand from this lesson, you read that you would be collaborating to create a wiki. In this strand, you'll learn what a wiki is (if you don't already know) and how to use one.
To answer that question, please visit the entry for "wiki" at the world's largest wiki project, Wikipedia. You'll probably want to skim the technical parts of the article. Did you know the wiki was named after a bus? Find out why in the History section.
Jon Udell made a short video that shows how a specific article in the Wikipedia grew and evolved. It's a fascinating movie. Take 8 minutes and 29 seconds to see it for yourself.
Why don't you try it? Wikipedia is set up so anyone can edit. Go ahead and look up some place or something you know.
If you find a typo or an error, feel free to fix it. If you have something to add, go ahead. Wikis are collaborative spaces. This one is open to the public.
If you think you'd like to go wild over wikis, consider reading Wiki Pedagogy. Author Renée Fountain offers much more detail about how wikis can be used in the classroom.
Wikipedia has been the subject of quite a bit of controversy. Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report leverages this controversy to do a segment on Wikipedia. Take a look at his take if you have a sense of humor.
| Many thanks to the Graphics Communications classes at City College of San Francisco for making the icons used on this page and for making them publicly available. |