II. Technical parameters

1. Possibilities for using Wikis in teaching

There are many possibilities for teachers to use Wiki in their lessons:

1. Own “private” Wikis

1. Within LMS – e-learning environment (e.g. in Moodle, etc.)

2. Custom Wiki installation

3. Use of Wiki hosting or Wiki Farm

2. Use of existing Wikis

1. Passive use – source of information for students, e.g. Wikipedia

2. Active use

1. Creation/addition/improvement of entries on Wikipedia

2. Creation of Wiki portals, e.g. Enviwiki (Czech platform dedicated to education focused on the environment and sustainable development)

2. Technical parameters of the environment

MediaWiki software provides a rich set of basic functions and a mechanism for connecting to expansions to ensure other functions. We can differentiate several aspects (Wikipedia contributors, 2020):

2.1. Internationalization and localization

In light of the strong emphasis on the multilingual aspect, Wikimedia projects give considerable attention to internationalization and localization. The user interface has been fully or partially translated into more than 300 languages on translatewiki.net and can be edited by the pages’ administrators (the whole interface can be edited via wikis).

2.2. Installation and configuration

Installation of MediaWikis requires the user to have administrator authorization on a server operating PHP and a compatible type of SQL database. Some users find virtual host settings to be useful if the majority of the site runs under a framework (e.g. Zope or Ruby on Rails) that is to a certain degree incompatible with MediaWiki. Cloud hosting can eliminate the need to set up a new server.

2.3. Interface modifications

In order to make editing long pages easier, MediaWiki makes it possible to edit subsections of the page (according to its heading). A registered user can also mark that the edit is a minor one. Spelling, grammar and punctuation corrections are examples of minor edits, while the addition of paragraphs of new text is an example of larger edits. It can also happen that one user is editing while a second user saves his/her edits in the same section of the page. When the first user attempts to save his/her page, a conflict of versions arises. In this case, the second user has the opportunity to merge his/her content into the page that now exists after the page is saved by the first user. 

2.4. Interface for programing applications

MediaWiki has an expandable API (an interface for programming applications), which provides direct access on a high level to data contained in MediaWiki databases. Client programs can use the API to log in, gain data and send changes. The API interface supports certain JavaScript web clients and end-user applications (e.g. anti-vandalism tools). API interfaces can be accessed from the backend of another web server. 

2.5. Rich content

MediaWiki supports rich content generated by specialized syntax. For example, the software is delivered with optional support for drawing up mathematical equations with the help of LaTeX and a special analyzer written in OCaml. Similar functionality for additional content – from graphic timelines, mathematical equations, musical scores to Egyptian hieroglyphs – is available via extensions.

2.6. Monitoring changes

MediaWiki functions that help monitor edits include ones like Recent Changes, which provides a list of the most recent wiki edits. This list contains basic information on these changes, such as the user, summary of changes, the page being changed, and all markers (e.g. “possible malware”) added by modifiable filters that report abuse and by other extensions that help in the fight against changes that are not useful.

2.7. Navigation

Navigation through wikis takes place mostly via internal wikilinks. MediaWiki wikilinks implement the detection of a page’s existence, in which the link is blue if the target page exists on a local wiki and is red if this is not the case. If a user clicks on a red link, a call to create an article with this title appears. Thanks to page existence detection, it is practical for users to create “wikified” articles – i.e. articles containing links to other relevant subjects – without these other articles yet existing.