Wikuizzing The role of Wikipedia in Quizzing Avishek Basu Mallick IIM Ranchi

Why Wiki lends itself to quizzing

The obvious Provides the resources of a fantastic encyclopedia Gold mine of information placed in an organized structure In site Free Documentation license which can be exploited for applications beyond the encyclopedia

Why Wiki should be used in quizzing

Quizzing is a superb alternative use for encyclopedic data Mining Wiki would result in an array of questions from geography, history, sports, entertainment and science i.e. across all areas of human endeavour and study across the globe

Application of Wiki in quizzing

On-stage: The actual use of Wiki content and trivia in framing questions Online: Through quiz blogs, online treasure hunts and apps such as Quizipedia, Wikitrivia and Wikiwords. Also for generation of content for information based sites e.g. Brand History section of Quizzing.in

On-stage

Ease of access to specific information as compared to older resources such as newspapers and books Self-updating and exhaustive Generation of content for quizzes on very specific topics QM Rohit Nair (Quizworks, Quizzing.in) feels that the diversity of questions in general quizzes has increased post-Wikipedia

Quiz blogs

Mushrooming of quiz blogs following the arrival of Wikipedia Ease of maintenance and content generation Catering to a larger audience base and for a greater timeframe (i.e. forever) Domino effect in generating content for onstage quizzes

Online treasure hunts

Kickstarted by the popularity of Notpron A highly challenging form of the pursuit of knowledge which requires an extensive amount of trivia for its formulation In the last decade or so, almost all major engineering and management colleges across the country have conducted an online treasure hunt of their own using content generated from Wikipedia

Quizipedia

WikiTrivia

WikiWords

A flash game which uses the Wikimedia API A word or a phrase or a concept is shown on the screen with various branches and the objective of this game is to click away the nonrelated concept branches with time

Generation of content Brand History

Brand History was started on Quizzing.in with the aim of becoming the world's largest repository on brands The formulation and execution required extensive use of Wiki content In 2 months, Brand History helped Quizzing.in rise by around 200,000 rating points (according to Alexa data) and is still growing

The road ahead

Quizzing is an easy and fun way of increasing one's G.K. quotient A must in any postgraduate education option today including management and civil services Wiki can come out with self-sponsored quizzes to promote the same and help the world become a more knowledgeable place

A round of thanks

Rohit Nair for his views Jim Blackler for Quizipedia Alex Ksikes and Philipp Lenssen for WikiTrivia Cheshire Puss and Brain Dump for Wiki Words The audience present for listening me out

Contact details

Avishek Basu Mallick +91-8987700063 avishek.basumallick11@iimranchi.ac.in avishek.basumallick@gmail.com