why_a_wiki

Why a wiki for this literature review?
This page http://tagunity.wikispaces.com/why_a_wiki

The tradition model for academic research, I suppose, is to produce a thesis that seeks to pose and then answer a research question, use scientific reasoning, be persuasive and provide a logical structure (most often in the form of a linear argument). The research is supposed to be the student's own work, under the supervisor's guidance. In this model, the 'work' is seen as created and edited by an individual //before// submission. Wiki-writing may be seen as counter to much of this tradition, since may may be created collectively, in increments, and may be written first and edited later (Jackson, 2006).

A considerable amount of academic writing is published directly to the Internet, often in PDF format (e.g. Paquet, 2003; Tharp, 2005). What however is one to do to find out about the current research interests of, for example Sébastien Paquet? Or a current bibliography on communities of practice?

A wiki (e.g. Tagunity ([]) offers the chance for the writing and reading to happen within a much tighter time frame than the traditional thesis-submission model. There is potential for a research to use a wiki as a tool to help emerge him or herself in a community of interested researchers, practitioners, or technology developers.

There remains a tension however, between the logic of wiki writing 'write first, edit later' (Jackson, 2006), with its potential for 'conversational writing', and the traditions of scholarly research, and academic writing. This wiki makes no attempt to resolve or explain these tensions, except to suggest that a literature review like [|tagunity] could be seen as a work in progress, an initial attempt to engage with a topic, on the way to becoming part of an ongoing conversation with other interested researchers (e.g. cofpractice-biblio; TaxoCoP).

Reference
Jackson, J. (2006). //The amazing wikis//. Retrieved August 27, 2006, from []

Paquet, S. (2003). //A socio-technological approach to facilitating knowledge sharing across disciplines//. Unpublished Ph.D, Université of Montréal. Retrieved September 28, 2006 from []

Tharp, K. (2005). //An individual-centered approach to the design and implementation of an online community network//. Unpublished Ph.D, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, Australia. Retrieved June 30, 2005 from []

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