ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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I'm in the process of implementing an internal wiki called, Twiki for the
St. Louis Science Center. The idea is to use it for employee education
(both in content and workplace functions), communication, project
management, group organization/meeting itineraries, and any other function
anyone can imagine. Twiki is free, you can run it on a cheap computer
(just make sure it gets backed up!), and it uses a free open source OS
(Ubuntu Linux). The challenges are getting everyone on board in terms of
understanding how and why to use it. The "how" is especially important
because if you want to use it in a deep or meaningful fashion, there's a
bit of a learning curve. Luckily, if all you want to do is post
information, that curve is pretty small. The "why" is also problematic:
why can't they just use e-mail or a shared calendar? I believe there is
certain nonlinear/time independent pieces of information that gets lost in
e-mail (especially those of us who are e-mail pack rats or keep a very
clean inbox). For example, I hate having to go to someone where half the
conversation is "What do you do here?" and that's inevitable when you're
in a large organization.
The challenge for a public wiki is to make sure the content contributed is
valid, appropriate, and basically, not spam. Of course, that takes a lot
of man hours to do if your wiki becomes popular. Hopefully, there will be
a dedicated user community that can keep tabs on it (if not, you'll spend
a lot of company time deleting spam if your user registration is open).
Since it's user generated content, you should be prepared for the wiki to
go in a direction you had not anticipated. For example, if you wanted you
wiki to be a repository of life sciences information, then don't be
surprised if it turns into a wiki about nanotechnology or bioinformatics:
it depends on who your users are and what they're interested in. We've
all been apart of discussions that veered of their original paths, and the
same can happen to wikis. That being said: wikis are wonderful tools for
education. I would encourage science centers to adopt small wikis for the
camp/classroom programs: have your campers/students create their own
wiki! By doing this, your students will take ownership of their learning
and will engage others in debating whose content in valid/best to use,
etc. Now, after they leave the program, do you keep it up as a resource
for them? Do you erase it for the new class? Does the new class add on
to the previous work by the last class? I think there are a lot a reasons
why you may or may not do any of these, but any which direction you go,
it's a very powerful learning tool.
If you haven't seen this, here is a fantastic video that explains what and
how wikis work!
http://www.commoncraft.com/video-wikis-plain-english
Frank Kusiak
Cyberville Gallery Leader
Saint Louis Science Center
5050 Oakland Ave
St. Louis, MO 63110
Office: 1-314-286-4659
Fax: 1-314-286-4606
Stan Orchard <[log in to unmask]>
Sent by: Informal Science Education Network
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05/29/2008 08:47 AM
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Wikis?
ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
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I'm looking for examples of wikis used by science centers/museums.
Preferably, public uses that I can show but would also welcome any
examples of internal uses. Membership, education, ??? Any and all
examples please. The more the better. Thank you!
Stan Orchard
Pacific Science Center
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