[Web4lib] The Wiki: An Environment For Scholarly Conversation and Publishing

[McKiernan, Gerard [LIB]]

Colleagues/
 
I recently had the opportunity to give a brief presentation at the _Science in the 21st Century: Science, Society, and Information_ conference that was held at the Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada, last week.
 
ABSTRACT
 
The Wiki: An Environment For Scholarly Conversation and Publishing
 
"The Medium Is The Message ... The Audience Is The Content." 
 
Marshall McLuhan. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964.

A "wiki is a ... collaborative space ... because of its total freedom, ease of access, and use, [and] simple and uniform navigational conventions ... ." "[It] ... is also a way to organize and cross-link knowledge ..." Ward Cunningham, Father of The Wiki (Leuf and Cunningham, 2001, 16). Most wikis provide the user with a set of navigation or utility tools such as the ability to create and edit a page, view recently changed pages, and rollback to previous page versions. In addition, many wikis include a discussion forum for proposed page changes.

Among its many perceived benefits are its potential for facilitating a more creative environment and expanding knowledgebase, and a significant ability to harness the power of diverse point-of-views in creating collaborative works.

In this presentation, we will speculate on the Wiki as a digital environment that not only supports current scholarly practices, but more importantly, offers a framework for their enhancement and transformation.
 
A Link To The PPT (2003) and >>Various A/V Recordings<< Of The Presentation Are Available At 
 
[ http://tinyurl.com/5o6wzs <http://tinyurl.com/5o6wzs>  ]
 
>>>Please Feel To Comment About The Presentation<<<
 
Enjoy!!! // Happy Monday! 
 
/Gerry 
 
Gerry McKiernan
Associate Professor
Science and Technology Librarian
Iowa State University Library
Ames IA 50011

gerrymck at iastate.edu

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