Wikis Chanaka Wickramasinghe Library Assistant /NSLRC Web based information dissemination:

Wikis Content 1.W hat is a Wiki 2.S ome available Wiki softwares 3.H ow to select Wiki software 4.W ikis for General uses 5.W ikis for Libraries 6.C riteria for evaluating which Wiki to use. 7.W ikipedia 8.H ow to create Wikipedia account 9.H ow to create an article/a page 10.H ow to edit an existing article

What is a Wiki  Is a type of web site that allows the visitors to easily,  Add.  Remove.  Edit and change some available content.  Wikis are essentially open web-pages, where anyone registered with the wiki can publish to it, amend it, and change it.  Effective tool for collaborative authoring.

What is a Wiki  Wiki is a Hawaiian word for quick.  Ward Cunningham (1995) developed scripts for creating web pages that could be created, for creating web pages that could be created, edited, linked, deleted, or renamed without edited, linked, deleted, or renamed without using HTML, software packages, of file using HTML, software packages, of file transfer. transfer.  He named it Wiki. * WikiWikiWeb * WikiWikiWeb

Some available Wiki softwares  1 Java-based  2 JavaScript-based  3 Lua-based  4 Microsoft services-based  5.NET/Mono based  6 Pascal-Based  7 Perl-based  8 PHP-based MediaWiki Originally developed to serve the needs of the free content needs of the free content Wikipedia encyclopedia, Wikipedia encyclopedia, Today it has also been deployed Today it has also been deployed by companies for internal by companies for internal knowledge management, knowledge management, and as a content management and as a content management system. system. Notepub is an online notepad with wiki Notepub is an online notepad with wiki functionality and privacy functionality and privacy settings on a note by note settings on a note by note basis. basis. Language Software Name Focus

How to select Wiki software It depends on:-  What type of project your are planning to use.  Your web server supports.

Wikis for General uses  Easily create simple websites (eliminates technical obstacles to putting things online.  Project development with peer review (e.g.: write a report/paper gradually, with feedback from instructor/students before final draft)  Group Authoring (i.e. online group work) (using wiki pulls the group members together to build and edit the document on a wiki page. It also allows all group members immediate, equal access to the most recent version of the document.

Wikis for Libraries  Simply as a library web page/site  Create, edit & provide free content/articles for research.  For sharing ideas (collaborative effects)  Provide information about reference books, databases, websites, etc.  Help for research by recommending articles, website, etc.  Answering reference questions(add/change answers, FAQ)  Online group study.  Multimedia Information.

Criteria for evaluating which Wiki to use.  Ease of installation.  User accounts (so your name is automatically attached to all changes you make)  Page change subscription by and RSS.  Page history and stored revisions (not all Wikis have this, but it can be an important feature)  Document attachments – PDF files, Images.  Page edit locking (You don’t want two people editing a page at the same time, as one will lose their changes)

Wikipedia  Wikipedia (from the words Wiki and encylopedia ) : a multilingual, web-based free content encyclopedia project. encylopedia ) : a multilingual, web-based free content encyclopedia project.  Written collaboratively by volunteers.  Currently Wikipedia has more than five million articles in many languages, including more than 3.1 million in the English-language version.

Wikipedia More Than 3.1 Million Articles in English Sinhala Wikipedia No. of Articles 2,123

How to create Wikipedia account  Click the "Sign in/create account" link in the upper right corner on the in the upper right corner on the Wikipedia website. Wikipedia website.  Click the link “Create One”  Enter your desired user name in the "Username:" box. This will be in the "Username:" box. This will be the name of your account. the name of your account.  Enter password.  Re-enter password.  Enter address.  Click the "Create account" button.  Congratulations! You are now a You are now a registered user in Wikipedia! registered user in Wikipedia!

How to create an article/a page  Only logged in users can create an article.  In the search box near the top left of the page, type the title of the new article, then click Go.  If the search page reports “No page with that exists “ then you can click the red “Create the page “ link to start editing your article.

How to edit an existing article  Search the Article.  Click the “Edit this page” link to start editing your article.  Make the changes and save page or  Show preview before save the page.

Some Wikis form Sri Lanka 1. University of Colombo School of Computing Wiki  Can edit only all members of the UCSC including students Used Wiki Software - MediaWiki Web :

2. SAHANA Wiki - Sri Lankan FOSS development community Used Wiki Software - DokuWiki Web :

3. Dialog Wiki – Dialog Sri Lanka Web : Used Wiki Software - MediaWiki

Example for library wiki Website :

 List of libraries in Sri Lanka  Libraries in Sri Lanka   National Science Library & Resource Centre - Sri Lanka  Wikipedia Statistics Sinhala  diaSI.htm diaSI.htm diaSI.htm

Thank You