Next-Generation wiki

Description -

Wikis today, provide the technical infrastructure to access different data sources from around the world and to link documents from various sites into a single, global information space. This project seeks to explore and understand a variety of issues in the development and design of new wikis and explore how a wiki can be used in education. This wiki will be mainly geared to be an open source platform which contains information from credible sources and enables collaboration between users in a created community surrounding each topic. The community aspect of the wiki will increase user collaboration in determining the content of wikis and ensure the existence of the most accurate information without excluding any contribution.

Objectives -

To design this specific wiki we must initially learn more about the habits and interests of wiki users. To increase collaboration, wikis are required to become more intuitive to users in order to motivate people to contribute. We would like to find ways to:

• Improve the networking capabilities between users: methods to increase dialogue and interaction between wiki users without losing individual contributions

• How to fine tune the balance between minority and majority opinions without trivializing either

• Information filter and search capabilities can be added to the wiki to create better input on content that requires attention. This could create new ways to "Version control" (editing history, who edited, unlimited undo) the content as well.

• Live collaborative editing: all editors' work on the same copy of the document, changes show immediately

• Generate PDF files: To use wikis as an education platform, it would be useful to have the wiki generate a PDF version of all data entries. A professor can send these files to his class, replacing the need to purchase expensive books.

Rationale -

The internet is has become an integral part of almost all education systems: the success of Wikipedia becoming a significant source of online content is a good indication of that. However, at present, wikis are mostly a content management system with little dialogue and interaction between users where minority voices are often lost as articles tends to reflect majority opinion. Wikis need to become a social community instead of a one way transfer of knowledge. When real people with real experiences share their wealth of knowledge, the sites they create offers valuable insight and information. It's simply the case of 1 billion heads being better than one.

New generation wikis creates a wealth of information which can be used in almost any community: from local schools to orphanages worldwide. For example: if a neighborhood of people created a wiki for common interests it would improve community participation in all aspects: event planning, security issues, local yard work opportunities, local park sport pickup games. It would be a social hub for everyone to contribute to what their neighborhood is all about.

We believe that addressing these issues could produce new wikis that would serve as a solid example of "new media" and help foster creativity for thousands in the future.

Possible Challenges -

When providing new tools and functionality to foster creativity, it can be easy to introduce tools that are difficult or complicated to use, thereby raising the threshold for participation in a new wiki environment. Therefore, the wiki must be designed to be useful and compelling to people and students of all ages and disciplines. Creating a wiki for a CS college student should be at the core the same product a 7th grade middle school history class uses.

Creating balance between minority and majority opinion can be tough to do without offending both groups. It can also be difficult to properly balance model-authoritative with model-democratic to ensure a balance between openness and participation without sacrificing accuracy. It will be a great challenge to determine who has the final word on content correctness.

Surveying and gathering information on the wiki users can also be a challenge. If answers given by users vary greatly, implementing a wiki which will be appealing to all users will be difficult.

Creating a platform which enables contribution and creativity while gives a fixed format for such contributions. While valuing user input, accuracy of information needs to remain a top priority.

Relationship to the class topics -

Next-gen wikis would be a great example of a "new media" as they facilitate creativity through improved dialogue, more interaction, and new functionality. Wikis have the capacity to completely revolutionize the way education occurs. Students will become active learners in the next-generation wiki environment as they interchange roles between an educator and a student. Students can learn far more than scientific concepts, they will have the ability to learn from years-long experience of other contributors.

The actual act of researching and creating new ideas for a next gen wiki will solidify the design principles learned, in a form of a wiki - a platform to enhance creativity and collaboration. Through this project, we will find new methods to present data and information that is more intuitive and fosters creativity in users.