Getting+Started

=Getting started =

 ** Step 1: Decide on use of a wiki hosting service or a stand-alone wiki installed on your servers ** Free, online (wiki farms)
 * Wikispaces.com
 * PBWorks.com
 * Google Sites
 * WetPaint.com

 Free, opensource (installed on your server)
 * MediaWiki (used by Wikipedia and familiar to most people)
 * TikiWiki (http://info.tikiwiki.org/tiki-index.php)
 * PhpWiki (http://phpwiki.sourceforge.net/) to name a few.

 You should begin this decision process by deciding which features you need or want to have on your wiki then conduct research to identify the hosting service or software that meets those needs. A list of resources that will aid you in your research is located in the Recommended Reading and Resources section of this book, and on the book wiki: http://wikifiedschools.com. Your selection at this point will dictate your choice of hosting options:  · Install the wiki software or “engine” of your choice on your server, which is either your own hardware, or a server that you rent from a web host. In this option you are responsible for and in control of all aspects of installation, maintenance, upgrades, and support.  · Create a wiki on any of the free hosting wiki farms. Someone else is generally in control of installation, maintenance, upgrades, and support. You are able to focus on content, organization, business process, and social functions of the wiki. ** Step 2: Informal, grassroots implementation **  Allow early-adopters to start using the wiki in their departments or teams. <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">** Step 3: Action Research – document best practices specific to your organization, and determine what works and what doesn’t work for your school or district ** <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"> Document your processes as the wiki develops and allow your early-adopters group to develop user guides for your organization. <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">** Step 4: Focus, Structure, and Guidelines ** <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"> Before rolling out to other users, determine a focus for your wiki, decide on any kind of basic structure for content (keeping in mind that this will change as the wiki grows), and develop some basic community guidelines for content creation, editing, and user interactions. <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">** Step 5: Roll out to other users with training, support, and mentoring ** <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"> A common question is “How do I get people – all people at all levels of skill and comfort with technology — to use the wiki?” <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"> Mentors & coaching — not just one-shot training workshops  <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"> RSS feed subscriptions (can go to email)  <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"> **Step 6: Nurture, encourage, and celebrate successes and innovative use**  <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"> Grow your wiki by nurturing and encouraging your users, then take time to recognize success and innovative uses of the wiki. Has someone learned a new way to embed other media or developed an effective way of using wiki pages with teacher teams? Highlight those accomplishments on a “recent news” section of the wiki, and encourage those users to share their accomplishments through a workshop that they can facilitate to teach others what they have learned or developed.