The History, Application and Future Potential of Wiki‟s An Interactive Qualifying Project Report Interactive Qualifying Project Report completed in partial fulfillment of the Bachelor of Science degree at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA Submitted to: Professor Fred J. Looft (advisor) Professor Xinming Huang (co-advisor) QIAN WEI [email protected] STEFAN GIUSTI [email protected] February 27th, 2009 ___________________________ Advisor Signature ___________________________ Co-advisor Signature Abstract: This report discusses the future of collaborative work and wiki systems, with a strong focus on educational impact of collaboration. This report shows the research done by the team on current wiki systems and course management software. The research is used to determine guidelines for the proper implementation of collaborative systems as well as provide specific innovations for collaborative systems. The report is meant to pave the way for more efficient and streamlined course management systems to improve higher education. ii Acknowledgements We would like to thank Professor Fred J. Looft and Professor Xinming Huang from Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute for their guidance, instruction and help. Also, we wish to express our gratitude to Sir Robert Brown, Manager of Computational Facilities and Administrator of Computer System of Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute for the technical support during the past twenty-one weeks. Your time and efforts are greatly respected and appreciated. Our group would like to graciously thank Xin Geng and Gao Wei for their great help and invaluable insights. iii Authorship Page This report was co-authored and edited equally by each contributing author. The group assumes all the responsibility for the authorship and editing of this report. Qian Wei Stefan Giusti iv Table of Contents Abstract: ........................................................................................................................................................ ii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................... iii Authorship Page ........................................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables and Figures ........................................................................................................................... vii Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1: History of the Wiki and its Origins ........................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 What is a Wiki? ............................................................................................................................. 2 1.3 The First Wiki ............................................................................................................................... 3 1.4 The Wiki Compared to Other Websites ........................................................................................ 4 1.5 Wiki Characteristics ...................................................................................................................... 6 1.6 Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 2: Capabilities and Existing Applications of Wiki Systems .......................................................... 7 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 7 2.2 Social Implications of Wiki Systems ............................................................................................ 7 2.3 The Capabilities of Wiki Systems ................................................................................................. 8 2.4 Existing Wikis and Their Applications ....................................................................................... 10 2.5 Wiki Applications ....................................................................................................................... 16 2.6 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................. 19 Chapter 3: The Potential of Wiki Systems ................................................................................................ 20 3.1 The Potential of Wiki Systems ................................................................................................... 20 3.2 Project Statement ........................................................................................................................ 20 3.3 Goals and Objectives ................................................................................................................. 21 3.4 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................ 21 Chapter 4: Survey of MyWPI Reactions ................................................................................................... 22 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 22 4.2 Survey Expectations .................................................................................................................... 22 4.3 Do the Participants Use MyWPI? ............................................................................................... 24 4.4 Do the Participants Believe Note Sharing is Beneficial? ............................................................ 27 4.5 Suggestions on Current MyWPI System..................................................................................... 30 4.6 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 30 Chapter 5: Collaboration in the Ideal Course Management System ......................................................... 31 v 5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 31 5.2 A Wiki as a Collaborative Writing Tool ..................................................................................... 31 5.3 Discussion Threads on Course Documents ................................................................................. 33 5.4 Wiki as a Scheduling Tool .......................................................................................................... 35 5.5 Features for More, and Meaningful Contributions ..................................................................... 35 5.6 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 37 Chapter 6: Conclusions and Recommendations ........................................................................................ 39 6.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 39 6.2 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................. 39 6.3 Recommendations ....................................................................................................................... 40 References ................................................................................................................................................... 41 Definitions .................................................................................................................................................. 43 vi List of Tables and Figures Table 2.1 14 Table 2.2 16 Table 2.3 17 Figure 1.1 3 Figure 1.2 4 Figure 2.1 11 Figure 2.2 11 Figure 2.3 12 Figure 2.4 15 Figure 2.5 15 Figure 2.6 16 Figure 4.1 24 Figure 4.2 25 Figure 4.3 26 Figure 4.4 27 Figure 4.5 28 Figure 4.6 29 Figure 5.1 33 Figure 5.2 34 Figure 5.3 36 Figure 5.4 37 vii Executive Summary Wiki, a new web concept, has provided a unique way for people to share information. The first wiki was created by Ward Cunningham in 1994. Ward, as a Smalltalk programmer, intended to use the web to allow every programmer to manage and share their ideas. Wiki systems have been improved dramatically in the following years. A wiki is different from other websites in that it allows anyone to edit the content. Like other web sites, a wiki page can contain hyperlinks which direct the current page to another page. Hyperlinks also enable cross referencing between numbers of pages, which makes wiki pages organized and connected. In addition, the history reversion function from the wiki system allows any page to be reverted to a previous version. Due to these characteristics, wiki systems are usually good for people collaborating on a certain subject. Today, the most well-known wiki site is probably the Wikipedia.org, a free online encyclopedia which allows anyone to edit its entries. Beyond