The+Wikid+Difference

= = = = =****[|Online store info]**What’s the big deal about wikis ?**= What makes a wiki different to 2-dimensional website forms is that the content can be changed by anyone who is a member. We, the non- programming peasants, can become webmasters. I don’t want to get too carried away with the depth of the change but to illustrate the point,lets compare the original website forms to say … the monk-produced Bibles of the 13th Century – a trifle expensive, beautiful, laboriously hand printed and produced, decorated lavishly then carefully chained up for the peasants to view (and click on). The wiki, compared to that, is almost a scruffy exercise book – inexpensive (freeish ), simple, uglyish, quick to produce, definitely not fancy but… available to all. And … you never know what will end up in the exercise book. Suddenly everyone can have as many as they need and drive the content themselves.The wiki’s power lies in the fact that anyone can produce it and people can work on it, and in it, together. It’s easy.
 * "...The biggest thing about these self-publishing tools is that they’re self-publishing, natch. You don’t need to be a geek to be able to publish to the ‘net anymore - and this stuff has the potential to “fix” the web, which was supposed to be a dynamic network of linked content published by individuals, but got co-opted into a variation of the TV broadcast model, with users sitting in front of glowing screens receiving the content that The Man wants to feed them (picture a scene from Max Headroom or something). Instead, we can effectively publish our own content, with whatever authority we can muster." -- [|**D'Arcy Norman**]****∞**

=**Edit This Page**= Of course you can still find wiki’s which rely on some programming knowledge but generally anyone who can find their way around a word- processing programme can “Edit This Page”. What do you need? Well, you'll probably want a hosted offer with //WYSIWYG// editing and a page history. //WYSIWYG ??? – “What You Sees Is What You Get”//. And, if you’re in education you’ll be looking for something for free (to match your budget). There are plenty of hosted wikis that match the criteria above and sites which will help you compare and contrast wiki offers such as [|wikimatrix.] Following the steps to find a wiki type that meets your needs, will also give you some background knowledge about wiki forms.

Here are a few choices … (Google them) Most hosted sites have minimal monthly charges but one or two are beginning to offer [|free sites to educators] (without that annoying advertising on the pages). One click from any member, in say, “Wikispaces”, provides access to a basic tool bar which allows members to write without fancy fonts, insert pictures, upload files and powerpoints, link to other sites and embed media (like Youtube & Teachertube videos etc). As soon as anything appears in the wiki it is open to other members and //any// one can change //any// thing. (Gasp.) But don’t panic. Another handy thing about wiki’s is their ability to keep track of the history of a page as it’s revised. Every time someone makes changes to the content of a wiki page, the saved changes to the content become the current up-to-date version, and the older version is stored away for safe keeping. You can identify when pages were changed and by whom. Very handy when working with children and other easily – distracted adventurers.
 * @Wiki
 * BrainKeeper
 * CentralDesktop
 * ClearWiki
 * Cospire
 * EditMe
 * Metadot Wiki
 * Netcipia
 * nexdo
 * PBwiki
 * SamePage
 * SeedWiki
 * Socialtext
 * StikiPad
 * Wetpaint
 * Wikispaces