wikis

Web 2.0 technologies bring both opportunities and challenges to our formalization of collective knowledge and its use. The collective generation of knowledge without the control of a central authority has raised discussions in academia over the validity and the reliability of the knowledge generated. An online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, is central to some of these discussions. In this paper, I discuss academics’ views on and uses of Wikipedia as an academic source. A semi-structured interview protocol was used to collect data from a purposively selected group of graduate students and university faculty. Results revealed that participants have a positive attitude towards Wikipedia’s use for nonacademic purposes however they believe that use of Wikipedia for research and coursework should be limited. Participants’ views on and uses of Wikipedia mirror the opportunities and challenges Web 2.0 technologies present and provide an ongoing discussion for further enhancement of collective knowledge generation tools.

The production of online texts, especially within wikis, is far more similar to the creative processes of the Elizabethan stage than printed texts. Because Shakespeare continued to re-work his plays in conjunction with his actors and audiences, and these texts have been continually restaged to this day, they have never truly reached an immutable, teleological form. Thus, the collaborative tension between the multiple authors of a wiki article is more analogous to Shakespeare’s multi-layered, ever-shifting environment than the comparatively linear production processes of printed texts. This paper uses the text of King Lear and the “King Lear” Wikipedia article to demonstrate the similarities between Shakespeare's dramatic world and online tools.