Open Wiki Research Articles

Co-creating a repository of best-practices for collaborative translation

Collaborative translation has the potential for significantly changing how we translate content. However, successful deployment of this kind of approach is far from trivial, as it presents potential adopters with a rich and complex envelope of processes and technologies, whose respective impacts are still poorly understood. The present paper aims at facilitating this kind of decision making, by describing and cataloguing current best-practices in collaborative translation. More precisely, we present a collection of Design Patterns which was created collectively by a small group of practitioners, at a one-day roundtable hosted by the Translation Automation Users Society in October of 2011. This collection has been put on an open wiki site (www.collaborative-translation-patterns.com) in the hopes that other practitioners in the field will refine and augment it.

How to run a repository: Open documentation of 15 years’ experience

To better coordinate a repository ecosystem of over 20 individual systems and synthesise decades of staff knowledge and expertise, a team at the Cornell University Library created an open manual of repository principles and strategies to support both new and existing repository managers. This case study will document the process of creating this manual, describing the identification of strategic areas of repository management; the composition and revision of manual sections in conjunction with experts throughout the library system; the development of both best practices and action steps for implementing them; and the publication of the manual in both an open wiki and an open access repository under a CC-BY-NC 4.0 licence to facilitate use, feedback and further revision. As the manual itself is intended to fill a gap in the existing repository manual toolset and engender a larger conversation about repository management practices, this case study can serve as the basis for a similar conversation about the openly shared documentation of those practices.

Mapping creative pedagogies in open wiki learning environments

As applied to education, creativity has become an increasingly common, yet often unattainable learning objective. Educators need innovative approaches and tools to effectively apply creative teaching practices. The present study aims to investigate how wiki methodologies can foster creative pedagogies. Wikis constitute a good candidate for stimulating creative teaching approaches. Indeed, they provide flexible and open environments which foster collaboration and students’ active participation. However, a gap remains in the literature regarding the relationship between wikis and creative pedagogies. In addition, the use of wikis by teachers and students as collaborative editing tools in today’s classroom has been scarcely studied. In this multiple case study, seven school teachers from different educational centres designed four scenarios mediated by wikis and applied them with 143 students. Using in-depth interviews and expert evaluations, we explored how creativity emerges while teaching and learning with wikis. Based on results, we propose a map of creative pedagogies that appeared as the most prominent in the context of wiki-based learning, together with their characteristic components. Namely, the emerging creative pedagogies are synergistic collaboration, learner-centred, knowledge connection and open-ended ethos. This mapping can be applied to different educational contexts, although it may vary according to the specificities of the methodology and technology used. The study raises discussion on the pedagogical possibilities offered by the participative digital culture that defines wiki approaches.

Wikis to facilitate patient participation in developing information leaflets: first experiences

Objective: Although patients have gained a wealth of experienced based knowledge they are usually not involved in the development of patient information. We sought to determine the technical feasibility of wikis in generating dynamic patient information leaflets with participation from patients and healthcare professionals and identified barriers and facilitators for wiki use.Methods: An open wiki for patients receiving intrauterine inseminations and a closed wiki for patients receiving in vitro fertilization at one Dutch university clinic were used. Feasibility was assessed by analyzing logging data, content and users’ experiences and expectations. The latter were addressed by means of semi-structured interviews, which were also used to identify barriers and facilitators to wiki use.Results: Both patients and professionals worked on the information simultaneously, not hindered by time or location restrictions. The open IUI wiki was visited by 2957 and the closed IVF wiki by 424 users. About 28 barriers and 14 facilitators for using the wiki were identified.Conclusion: Wikis are promising tools to improve patient participation in the creation of patient information. Future projects should aim to increase active use of wikis by testing interventions based on the wide spectrum of barriers and should evaluate the quality of the content produced.

SmartWiki: A reliable and conflict-refrained Wiki model based on reader differentiation and social context analysis

Wiki systems, such as Wikipedia, provide a multitude of opportunities for large-scale online knowledge collaboration. Despite Wikipedia’s successes with the open editing model, dissenting voices give rise to unreliable content due to conflicts amongst contributors. Frequently modified controversial articles by dissent editors hardly present reliable knowledge. Some overheated controversial articles may be locked by Wikipedia administrators who might leave their own bias in the topic. It could undermine both the neutrality and freedom policies of Wikipedia. As Richard Rorty suggested “Take Care of Freedom and Truth Will Take Care of Itself”[1], we present a new open Wiki model in this paper, called TrustWiki, which bridge readers closer to the reliable information while allowing editors to freely contribute. From our perspective, the conflict issue results from presenting the same knowledge to all readers, without regard for the difference of readers and the revealing of the underlying social context, which both causes the bias of contributors and affects the knowledge perception of readers. TrustWiki differentiates two types of readers, “value adherents” who prefer compatible viewpoints and “truth diggers” who crave for the truth. It provides two different knowledge representation models to cater for both types of readers. Social context, including social background and relationship information, is embedded in both knowledge representations to present readers with personalized and credible knowledge. To our knowledge, this is the first paper on knowledge representation combining both psychological acceptance and truth reveal to meet the needs of different readers. Although this new Wiki model focuses on reducing conflicts and reinforcing the neutrality policy of Wikipedia, it also casts light on the other content reliability problems in Wiki systems, such as vandalism and minority opinion suppression.

Making your database available through Wikipedia: the pros and cons

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, is the most famous wiki in use today. It contains over 3.7 million pages of content; with many pages written on scientific subject matters that include peer-reviewed citations, yet are written in an accessible manner and generally reflect the consensus opinion of the community. In this, the 19th Annual Database Issue of Nucleic Acids Research, there are 11 articles that describe the use of a wiki in relation to a biological database. In this commentary, we discuss how biological databases can be integrated with Wikipedia, thereby utilising the pre-existing infrastructure, tools and above all, large community of authors (or Wikipedians). The limitations to the content that can be included in Wikipedia are highlighted, with examples drawn from articles found in this issue and other wiki-based resources, indicating why other wiki solutions are necessary. We discuss the merits of using open wikis, like Wikipedia, versus other models, with particular reference to potential vandalism. Finally, we raise the question about the future role of dedicated database biocurators in context of the thousands of crowdsourced, community annotations that are now being stored in wikis.

Open Versus Closed Forms of Knowledge Assessment in a Blended Learning Ecosystem

Open Versus Closed Forms of Knowledge Assessment in a Blended Learning EcosystemThe article investigates whether two opposite assessment methods, open wiki (online text-and-media collaboration) and closed multiple-choice test, can together assure a balanced addressing of the learner both as an information processor and a social entity. Comparing students' experience and satisfaction with collective knowledge construction in a moderated wiki on the one hand and knowledge testing in an online multiple choice test on the other hand, the research differentiates full-time and part-time students of a blended course. This is presented upon broader data on comparable students' populations who were assessed with open-ended oral exam questions, regular homework tasks and seminar work papers. An updated notion of media ecology conceives knowledge testing and instructional feedback as parts of an informational ecosystem: only a coherent yet internally differentiated learning environment can accurately define significant educational trends and recommendations - such that question assessment methods and signpost the development of education towards sustainability.

Learning in and with an open wiki project: Wikiversity’s potential in global capacity building

There is a chance that Wikiversity will become the Internet's free university just as Wikipedia is the free encyclopedia on the Internet. The building of an educational entity demands considering a number of philosophical and practical questions such as pedagogy and organization. In this paper we will address some of these, starting by introducing several earlier approaches and ideas related to wikis' potential for education. We continue by presenting three commonly used metaphors of learning: acquisition, participation and knowledge creation. Then we will present the main principles of two existing alternative educational approaches: free adult education and free school movement. To test these educational approaches and practices on Wikiversity and increase our understanding of the possibilities of this initiative, in the spring of 2008 we implemented an experimental course in Wikiversity. We conclude with several recommendations essentially advocating for Wikiversity and the use of wikis in education. However, more than just presenting our opinions, as authors we aim to make an educated - traditionally and in the wiki way - contribution to the international discussion about the future of education for all in the digital era.