I’ve been looking at the various ways to use blogs and wikis together, and found a new one (at least to me).

Suppose you want to record what you learn at a class or a conference. Both wikis and blogs let you compile links and share information, but blogs are better suited to broadcast that information. On the other hand, wikis allow content to evolve and grow by enabling collaboration. Blogs allow feedback in the form of comments, but searching through comments is not that convenient.

So here’s an alternative that lets you use both!

Using the WordPress plug-in “WIKI INC” you can include wiki content in your blog post or page. I created a wiki page to further explain, and have dynamically “included” it below to demonstrate this plug-in’s functionality.

Everything below here comes dynamically from a Commons Wiki page

I’ve created a new wiki page that lists some of the ways our wiki can be used: The Commons Wiki and its Uses. Check it out. And feel free to add more ideas!

I thought it might be a good time to step back and review our wiki’s potential.

The Academic Commons Wiki publishes many kinds of writing – individual and group projects, grant proposals, shared lesson plans, research ideas, repositories of useful links, solutions to common problems, ideas on course management…

Our wiki lets people to work together and share knowledge.

There is something empowering when you create a wiki page.  You add some headings, and a little information, and see a table of contents automatically created for you.  Then you link to a page, and are able to create it automatically.   You quickly enter some related content, and then maybe tag your pages, and now you have a sub-category, with an automatically generated index, listed in alphabetical order.  Cool…

External links are easy to add, and you can even get a little fancy and include other media – pictures, video, PDFs, powerpoints…  Get other people involved, and they can add to what you’ve done, and suddenly something much larger has been created.

According to Wikipedia, the term “wiki” comes from the “Wiki-Wiki” shuttle buses that connect the terminals at Honolulu International airport.   They are quick and simple, open and transparent.  With their ability to return to prior versions, authorship anxiety is lessened.  Don’t like the current version?  You can always go back to a previous draft.  Wikis are easy to revise, and they motivate people to work together.

Wikis encourage contribution.  Whether it is to share research, identify best practices, publish project reports, or aggregate technical tips or lessons learned, the Academic Commons Wiki is a great way to organize and centralize ideas.   Give it a shot!