The Wiki in the Wild
What is a wiki you ask? Well, wiki is sometimes interpreted as the acronym (WIKI) for ‘what I know, is’, which describes the knowledge contribution, storage and exchange up to some point. Wiki software spawned from the concept of “open editing,” where visitors can create and edit any of the content, fostering knowledge collection, free information exchange, and an overall democratic use of the web.
Wiki, with an upper case W, and WikiWikiWeb, are both used to refer specifically to the first wiki ever created on March 25, 1995. That Wiki was, specifically, the Portland pattern Repository, which still exists today.
Wiki software is a collaborative application comprised of scripts, which allows user content to be stored in a database. A Wiki is a simple, open, content management system. Originally purposed for users to create web page content, Wiki’s are more specifically purposed today for tasks such as documentation servers. The wiki provides a system whereby individuals are allowed to submit documentation, or edit existing documentation, in good faith or by a simple authentication mechanism
The Gentoo Linux distribution maintainers provide the Gentoo Linux Wiki, allowing user contribution of documentation for that Linux distribution. Many Linux distributions are criticized for having a lack of documentation. An invitation to the public to add to the documentation for a free, open-source operating system is an advancing concept building on what has come to be known as the Web 2.0.
Another example of a wiki in the wild is Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. Here users in general and experts on specific topics from around the globe have built a massive collaborative database in the form of an encyclopedia, which could eventually overtake Encyclopedia Britannica in total content. Visitors to the Wikipedia may wish to contribute by adding something new, correcting existing content, or doing basic grammar and punctuation checks. Most visitors, however, just want to look something up; and there’s nothing wrong with that.
The Gentoo Linux Wiki and Wikipedia are powered by MediaWiki, a GPL licensed open source project. “Wikimedia is the name of a group of Wiki-based open-content projects run by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation; MediaWiki is the software developed for and used by these projects, but available for anyone to use and improve for their own projects.”
Some pitfalls of the wiki become apparent, visible even in our two examples. They are the result of unfortunate abuse by the unavoidable bad elements of the Internet. The Gentoo Linux Wiki struggles to deal with spam abuse. Advertisements have been injected into the wiki database, a problem likened to the early days of Usenet.
The Wikipedia also has its demons to contend with. Some experts are critical of the quality of content and accuracy of information in the Wikipedia. Some consider it useful only as a quick reference or starting point prior to doing serious research. Proponents are quick to point out that critics need only contribute by correcting errors or adding to the Wikipedia content.
Nevertheless, the wiki has a place both in private organizations, such as content repositories for corporate documentation by developers within an organization to public wiki sites inviting anyone to contribute to the collection of data for the benefit of the web community as a whole. The wiki is unique to the web and a sign of where things are hopefully heading, not where we’ve already been.
What is a Wiki also appears on LinuxChix Geek Girl News.