Cyber Behavior with Wikis

Cyber Behavior with Wikis

Tünde Varga-Atkins, Debbie Prescott, Peter Dangerfield
Copyright: © 2012 |Pages: 14
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0315-8.ch014
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Abstract

This entry summarizes research about cyber behavior with wikis. Wikis are collaborative websites allowing the easy creation of interlinked webpages using text editors. The first wiki tool was created by Ward Cunningham, and the first online wiki-based encyclopedia, Wikipedia, appeared in 2001. Currently, three types of wikis exist: public, organizational, and private/educational wikis. This article identifies six areas of wiki research and its leading researchers. These areas are: (1) the wiki way (wikis as part of the suite of Web2.0 tools), and Wikipedia; (2) wiki growth and contributor roles; (3) what motivates people to contribute to wikis; (4) how the authenticity of wiki articles is ensured; (5) the use of wikis in education; and finally (6) how researchers consider the way wikis have impacted on various aspects of human life. The entry closes with suggestions about possible future research directions on online behavior with wikis.
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Introduction

Wikis are collaborative websites and are part of a suite of web2.0 technologies which include blogs, social bookmarking and networking sites that facilitate information sharing or the creation of knowledge bases on a large scale. A wiki is a “website that allows the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a text editor” (Wikipedia 2010). This article synthesizes the existing research knowledge about cyber, or online, behavior with wikis and considers the ways in which people interact with, and contribute to, the different types of wikis. It examines what these contributors’ characteristics are, what motivates people to contribute, and in turn how interacting in and with wikis impacts on human life.

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