Swiki/CoWeb
Frequently Asked Questions
Introduction
A Swiki (or CoWeb) is a collaborative hypertext environment; anybody can create or edit the pages; pages are linked by their names. While at first this may seem dangerous, it is also amazingly powerful. The amazing thing is that it generally works. It turns out that we all know quite a bit about writing and talking together. We tend not to mess up one another's space, we tend not to talk trash, and we tend to try to contribute.
Swiki is based on the collaborative WikiWikiWeb by Ward Cunningham. The Wiki was originally ported to Squeak (Squeak + Wiki = Swiki) by Mark Guzdial.
See CoWeb Projects for more on how we're studying the CoWeb in the classroom.
See Papers (Swiki-CoWeb) for related papers.
Some Usage
Swikis have been used in a variety of ways. Here are some of the things that have been done:
- We have used Swikis for a cooperative radio where users could upload songs and change the play list.
- We have made it possible for E-classes (formerly Classroom 2000) to work in tandem with the Swiki.
- We have provided code that makes it easy for Matlab users to import and export Matlab code from the Swiki.
- We use the CoWeb in various Georgia Tech classes to serve as a way for the students to communicate and collaborate. One of the oldest and largest Swikis is the CS2390 Swiki, which was used for several quarters; it contains over 1600 pages.
On-line Examples
- 2CoOL: on-line studio class in Architecture
- Matlab CoWeb: a place to get and share information about Matlab
- Squeak Swiki: a very active swiki on the Squeak environment
Primary Investigators
Secondary Investigators
Outside Contributors
- Bert Freudenberg
- Kristine Nagel
- Bijan Parsia
Last modified 4 April 2006 at 1:26 pm by dorn |
