Tag Archive for 'wikipedia'

Even More Wikipedias

Published
by
kyle
on June 6, 2008
in around the world
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Back in May 2007, I wrote a post about alternatives to Wikipedia (view original post), one of which was a serious contender to the ever-popular, user-generated/edited encyclopedia and the other being a spoof. Since it’s Friday, Wired Magazine found even more pedias, some useful, some for fun. I thought that Dealipedia was interesting, and I’m sure that Barb would probably find Congresspedia to be utterly fascinating. On the other hand, I’m sure Chickipedia could be a serious time waster for some of you.

Source: 8 Best: Non-Wikipedia Pedias from Wired Magazine

What’s a wiki?

Published
by
Barbara
on April 23, 2008
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Here’s a very short video explaining wikis, from the clever folks at Common Craft:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY

Common Craft has many short videos explaining things like RSS, social bookmarking, twitter, blogs, sharing photos online, and more. You can also get them through YouTube (a search for leelefever gets a list).

Now, why do you want to know about wikis? You may want to use one! They are tools for collaborative group work that can cut down on email among group members. Also, if a group at work has a shared drive where the documents and folders are out of control and not searchable, putting them into a wiki can keep them in a central place while making them searchable too. Everyone in the group can both view and edit the pages.

There are articles about the usefulness of wikis for education and training online. The University Library also has a few books, such as Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd-floor Main Collection, LB1044.87 .R53 2006) and Wiki: Web collaboration (3rd-floor Main Collection, TK5105.888 .E2413 2006).

The most well-known wiki example is of course Wikipedia. But UWW has some wikis too. Go to https://wiki.uww.edu/ to see the list (click “Directory” on the left). There are several set up for specific classes, and for faculty there is an Academic Misconduct Wiki (under the “Other” part of the wiki directory) where you can talk to each other about concerns and share suggestions. It’s protected so that only UWW faculty can use it.

It’s YOUR web: Do you add content?

Published
by
Barbara
on February 27, 2008
in around the world and info.gov
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Do you “publish” on the Web, or are you a lurker? User-created content on the Internet is extremely popular–what effects might it have on journalism? advertising? social relationships? politics? and more…

Participative Web 2.0 cover

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development reports, based on data from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, that “over one-third of all US Internet users have posted content to the Internet” and 25% of Internet users under the age of 30 have blogs.

The 2007 report lists YouTube as the fourth most-popular web site worldwide, while a more recent visit to the source of this information, Alexa.com, finds it moved up to number two (the ranking is updated daily). Other web sites of user-created content in the top 10 globally are MySpace, Facebook, Hi5, and Wikipedia.

The full report, Participative web and user-created content: web 2.0, wikis and social networking, is available online. It discusses the types of user-created content, active Internet participation in several countries, possible economic and social impacts and implications for policy and business.

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The University Library is a federal depository with many federal, state, local, and international documents on a variety of current and relevant issues available to you in print, microfiche, CD-ROM, and electronically. Come check out your government at the University Library!

Wikipedia Wannabes or Serious Contenders?

Published
by
kyle
on May 16, 2007
in around the world
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Here at the Library, we’re all about research. We have books, journals, magazines, online databases, guides and much more to help you with your research. On the other hand, sometimes you just need a quick definition or an encyclopedia article and you don’t feel like going to the Library’s site and logging in. Where do you turn? I’m guessing you either go straight to Wikipedia or you get there from a Google search. There are alternatives to Wikipedia - well, one serious contender and the other is more of a wannabe.

Citizendium
I don’t think I can pronounce it - even with the pronounciation guide - but Citizendium has a similar purpose to Wikipedia - to provide a credible and reliable source of information that is free to the public. Citizendium adds the factor of gentle expert oversight, something that Wikipedia currently lacks. Furthermore, they do not allow aliases and include author/expert (auto)biographies as well. Since the project is relatively new, it doesn’t have the amount of content as the more established contemporary. I’d keep Citizendium on your radar screen for the future - it’s a serious contender.

Uncyclopedia
At first glance, this site appears deceivingly similar to Wikipedia. It’s not until you read the content of the pages before you realize it’s an imposter. It’s like the editors at the Onion took over the encyclopedia - either that or an estranger former admin. This site demonstrates the need to use web sources with caution - not all sites are as obviously misleading as this. For fun, check out the featured article from 15 May. Sounds like something that’s happened here on campus, no?