An Introduction to Wiki

With the speed at which things develop on the internet, if you are not yet familiar with the concept of the Wiki, then you’re not one of the “in” crowd, and it’s about time you get to know what a wiki is.

A wiki is a web application that allows users to add content, as on an Internet forum, but also allows anyone to edit the content. The term Wiki also refers to the collaborative software used to create such a website (see Wiki software).

Wiki (with an upper case W) and WikiWikiWeb are both used to refer specifically to the first wiki ever created (March 25, 1995). The WikiWikiWeb is part of the Portland Pattern Repository, a section of a Portland, Oregon, web site operated by the company Cunningham & Cunningham. Wiki proponents often spell ‘wiki’ with a lower case “w”. The name is based on the Hawaiian term wiki wiki, meaning “quick” or “informal”. Sometimes wikiwiki (or Wikiwiki) is used instead of wiki.

In their early days, Wiki’s we’re used on private networks for co-ordinating projects, but then went into the internet. Today, wiki’s are best known as the concept that drive some of the web’s best information resources, such Wikipedia, which would have been impossible without the collaborative power of a Wiki. The best part about a wiki is that no single person or party is responsible for it’s content, which is contributed by the entire community.

Wiki’s can be compared to and contrasted with forums, which are in some ways very similar, since both are information rich, and the content comes from a community, but where forums tend to reflect the community’s opinions, Wiki’s are better organised information databases, but unlike a forum, you cannot expect human interaction at a Wiki, and even if you do, it’s unlikely to be as active as a forum.

With more and more people participating in building a wiki’s database of information, wiki’s have become a very popular, and one of the most information rich resources on the internet. In fact, in several cases, you can find much more information on a Wiki than an electronic encyclopedia, such as Encarta or World Book, because unlike a CD or DVD, you can store much more information online, plus Wiki’s also provide excellent links to other web sites.

Contributing to a Wiki is very easy. In most articles, you will see an “edit” link or button. Clicking on it will bring up a text editor interface. Now, all you have to do is write your content and submit it with a small overview, and provided the moderators think your content deserves to be inducted, then it will become part of the original content. Similarly, you can submit changes to original content, or request it’s removal, along with a valid cause of course. Some websites like Wikipedia and Wikitravel are filled with all sorts of general information. So the next time you go out to buy an encyclopedia, think twice, would’nt an internet connection be better ?