Why use a Wiki?

In the third chapter of her book Stephanie presents the reader with information and examples as to why they should use a wiki and how they can be helpful in ones classroom.  She talks about how the way that we communicate with each other has changed and that we need to embrace this change and accept all the things that come with this change.  She also points out the inefficiency that can cripple some school systems because they don't have one uniform place where people can go to find information or to communicate with one another.  They included a chart in this chapter that kind of laid out the characteristics and structures of this system and how it could really be beneficial to people who decided to adapt the system of wikis.  It also gave examples in this chapter that showed how the uses of wikis helped to completely change a school systems forms of communication.  One of the most useful features that I noticed in this chapter is that it included a picture that showed the difference between using wikis and using email as a form of communication among people.  It just kind of reinforced the idea that when you are using email it is easy to leave people out of the loop and for different drafts of the same document to be floating around because certain people have only edited certain parts.  Where as when you use a wiki everyone has access to read and edit the same document when it is in one place and you don't have different versions floating around because one person edits it and then it is the same spot, you don't have to worry about someone only getting half of the message.  She also ends this chapter with some reflection questions to really help you think about how this chapter has helped shift your thinking on wikis.  I think the biggest thing that I got from the chapter is how much more efficient you can be when you are using a wiki, everything is in one online place that you don't have to worry about it getting lost on your computer or forgetting the paper that has all of your information.  The efficiency of it all is what really impressed me about the way they presented the wikis.