By definition, a wiki is an open-ended, malleable creative medium. In his article “Wikis in the Classroom: A Taxonomy” Mark Phillipson identifies at least five unique types of wikis, each with their own benefits for your online community. What kind of wiki works for your group?
- The Resource Wiki. This type of wiki is aimed at a definitive knowledge base, as embodied by the inescapable Wikipedia
- The Presentation Wiki. This wiki genre is a content management workhorse, allowing collaborators on a project to pool their resources
- The Gateway Wiki. This wiki type, common in data-heavy group settings, is linked to a static resource like a census database. The wiki participants can analyze the static information source together.
- The Simulation Wiki. This is the “choose-your-own-adventure” wiki genre, which offers participants an immersive environment to navigate together. Think historical reenactment, role playing, or virtual reality — done wiki style.
- The Illuminated Wiki. This wiki type is a favorite of the author, Mark Phillipson, As a literature instructor, Phillipson used illuminated wikis by students to show their personal mental maps responding to a literary example. By adding text snippets, images, audio, and links to a starting text like a map, users of illuminated wikis can show their mental light bulbs firing.
Phillipson notes that these are hardly the only genres of wikis out there. How would you classify your wiki use — in the past, present, and future?
Phillipson, Mark. “Wikis in the Classroom: A Taxonomy,” in Wiki Writing: Collaborative Learning in the College Classroom, Robert E. Cummings and Matt Barton, eds. (Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press: 2008).
Brazen Words 