Copy of Social media for research: Wikis/collaborative editing

What is a wiki, and how could it help with your research?

Explore the showcase of different ways in which researchers are using wikis, and try them out for yourself by using the links on the right hand side.

Wikis can focus on a particular subject area, enabling researchers in the field to develop a specialist resource such as a community of practice, online manual etc.

They are particularly well-suited for content which needs to be regularly updated.

As wikis are generally easy to use, they are a great way of enabling members of the public to contribute to a research project, such as 'crowdsourcing'. They can be configured to allow as much editorial control as required.

Some examples are below:

Here are some other types of collaborative editing tools.

The Digital Humanities awards highlight interesting projects around the world. They include a category for projects which have failed, so there is plenty from which to learn....