October 6, 2006
Can Wikis Replace the University Web Site?
Wikia, a collection of communal Web sites founded by the creator of Wikipedia, has unveiled a service that lets colleges set up their own wikis. The wikis can be read by any Web surfer, but they can only be edited by college students and faculty and staff members.
Institutions like Pennsylvania State University and Boston College have already started Wikia sites, which typically contain details on Greek life, local transportation, and “how bad is the food on campus?” The Wikia sites look like handy clearinghouses for campus information, but Jacqui Cheng, of Ars Technica, wonders if they do anything that other Web sites don’t do already:
My own alma mater, Purdue, is not one of the two Big 10 schools currently on Wikia, but what exactly is my motivation to start one? The university website is already teeming with information about the school itself, and there are already well-known online communities for Purdue students that are separate from the main website.
—Brock Read
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Stanford has also recently begun its own Wiki (see Steve Rubel’s Micro Persuasion blog, www.micropersuasion.com). It will be interesting to see if these Wiki’s can gain enough attention share from students—who are already using MySpace, Facebook and personal blogs—to make them dynamic, reliable resources for campus information, or if students are facing user-generated overload.
— Becky Prosser, Ripple Effects Interactive Oct 6, 04:04 PM #
I think that a market swing caused by the change in a different group adopters hitting a product (MySpace, FaceBook) is NOT a great way to judge the future or the meaning of social interaction. It is surprising therefore it is meaningful? How about this:” My campus has been there and done this, therefore it is no longer “Wired” but “Tired.”
There is far too much reliance on market phenomena and not enough examination of social behavior of the users. The way these students are using the network changes substantially every time a new group of Freshmen arrives. Prosser is right. It will be interesting. “Wresting market share” will be a function of reliable content, so if Wikipedia has success, other wikis may easily as well.
— Bob Calder Oct 8, 09:57 AM #
NJIT has a new wiki that is a mashup that is an interesting use of wikis. This particular wiki is connected to the Smart Campus project at NJIT. Smart Campus is experimenting with Social Mobile Computing (related to MoSoSo or Mobile Social Software) A wireless “network of networks” can be used to locate users and thus enable new applications. The group calls this People-to-People-to-Places, or a P3-System.
That means that on this wiki if I am logged in as an NJIT user, I can see who is in my proximity or who is logged in from the Campus Center, or a dorm etc.
More info at
http://devel2.njit.edu/serendipity/index.php?/archives/161-Wiki-NJIT-and-the-Smart-Campus-Project.html
— Ken Ronkowitz Oct 9, 02:06 PM #