For better or worse, wiki software could change the way students share information and learn about Penn State classes and student groups.

Eberly College of Science Sen. George Chriss introduced a legislative plan to incorporate wiki software into Penn State student life during last week's Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Academic Assembly meeting. Assembly voted and passed the legislation Monday night.

The technology would be called the "Penn State Wiki."

Wiki is an online collaborative software that allows someone to change or add text and media on a Web page that others have posted. Users can change entries for numerous reasons, such as if they don't agree with the content or find incorrect information.

During the meeting, some assembly members expressed concern about students' ability to easily edit the pages, possibly allowing for offensive content such as racial slurs about student groups.

Information Sciences and Technology Sen. Rishi Das said during the meeting that derogatory or offensive comments could be posted on infrequently visited pages on the wiki, and no one would know about it to fix it. Prospective students who could potentially visit these pages could be discouraged from applying to Penn State because of these types of comments.

Liberal Arts Sen. Scott Sherbine said some users might consider the Penn State Wiki chaotic, but bigotry will not be accepted. Also, if posts are deleted, there is a function on the wiki that would allow people to see the history of edits and see what someone had said before its content was edited, he said.

While English courses that have been using wiki use anonymous posting, the Penn State Wiki could be set up so participants would not be anonymous. People would be more careful of what they say if they know their identity is public, Chriss said.

Wiki is currently being used in English 15 (Rhetoric and Composition) and English 202 (Effective Writing) classes to promote democracy and class interaction through blogging, editing and comments.

Chriss said any content problems could be locked down or removed by a moderator. He said the wiki would be a way to have dialogue about racial issues.

"Racial tensions have been around for years; only when you start to talk about them do they start to disappear," Chriss said.

The wiki software allows large groups of people to add information to Web pages to make them comprehensive and accurate, rather than having one individual update the page, he added.

Assembly Faculty Adviser Don Leslie said that if the assembly wanted Penn State to "support and maintain" the wiki, as the legislation states, issues of the software's benefits and costs would have to be addressed and taken to the right people in the administration.

Information Technology Services (ITS) spokeswoman Robin Anderson said because wiki is housed on a centralized server as an open source, there would most likely not be any cost to students.

Sherbine said that it would be a long process, but it's just a matter of people getting used to the software.

The date for the creation of the software is still undetermined, but ITS is collaborating with USG representatives on the Board of Trustees to begin the project, Anderson wrote in an e-mail message.