ThermoWiki:How to wiki
From ThermoWiki
…from ThermoWiki, an online resource for thermodynamics located at www.thermowiki.org; Site Revision #1271; 19 November 2008.
The points presented here are based on Chris Anderson's essay on wikis contained in his book The Long Tail [1]. See also the more enthusiastic presentation by Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams in their book Wikinomics. [2]
Points to Appreciate
- A wiki is a work-in-progress, not a finalized authoritative reference work. In fact, a wiki is an good example of continuous improvement: the content on ThermoWiki this week is better than that of last week, but not as good as it will be next week.
- If your intent is merely to gain an introduction to a topic, a wiki may be a convenient and appropriate venue.
- If your intent is to write an authoritative paper on a topic, then you cannot rely on any one source, be it wiki, encyclopedia, professional journal, or Nobel-Prize winner.
- As a general rule, use a wiki as your first source—one that introduces you to a topic—but do not let a wiki be your last source.
- During the evolution of wiki content, some pages will mature faster than others, so if the information presented on a page is important to you, be aware of that page's age and history.
- A traditional, printed, reference work can only engage a reader is a passive way: printed materials cannot be affected by the reader. To extract meaning from printed material (as opposed to just gaining information), the reader must confront the material using a set of active learning skills. In contrast, part of a wiki's value is that it supports active learning: a reader can raise questions about the material (via the discussion tab at the top of each page), as well as modify the content itself (via the edit tab). These activities—writing and editing—can be effective ways to learn.
- If you find incorrect or misleading information here, do something about it—don't just complain.
References
- ↑ Chris Anderson, The Long Tail, Hyperion, New York, 2006. ISBN 1-401-3023-7-8
- ↑ Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams, Wikinomics, Portfolio (The Penguin Group), New York, 2006. ISBN 1591841380
--jmh 06:56, 18 June 2007 (MDT)
