Before taking this class, the only wiki that I had ever looked at was Wikipedia. I definitely defined it more by the -pedia than the wiki. Richardson has totally enlightened me on how "without the wki, this encyclopedia, this growing repository of all we know and do, could not exist." I knew that anyone could edit Wikipedia, but I didn't really think that many people did. I assumed it would be edited by people who were really interested or informed on a topic, not just everyday users. I had no idea how many people were editors of Wikipedia. I like Richardson's conclusion that we are "collecting the sum of all human knowledge".
I share the same worries as Richardson mentions as far as reliability on Wikipedia. I find it comforting that the majority of users are committed to the correctness of the entries, and the usefulness of the site. I really appreciate his statement that, "Each entry is the groups best effort, not any one person's."
In terms of using wikis in our classrooms, the similar concern arises in terms of students posting inappropriate content, or erasing someone's work. The safety net of the history button brings ease so that hopefully the student can be identified, and either way the previous version of the page can be restored. I think most students will really take ownership when they realize that the site is their own to create and edit. I think that the greatest power that the use of wikis has in the classroom is that "students begin to teach each other."
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