Curtin Colloquy

Wiki is another one of those buzzwords you’ve been hearing and possibly wondering about. As with other technology/web phenomena, there’s been a lot written about wikis, and there are lots of examples of wikis around as well. I’ll do my best to give you a bit of an introduction and point you to sites where you can learn more.

Definition
One definition of wiki is that it is “The simplest online database that could possibly work”. More detail: “Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly.”

In many cases, anyone reading a wiki can choose to edit the information displayed there. You click the ‘Edit’ link on the wiki page and you’re away. Once you finish, you click ‘Save page’ or ‘Update’ and the changes or additions you just made are instantly incorporated into the wiki. Yes, it’s that easy. (Not all wikis are open to all and sundry – you will need to have a password to be able to make changes.)

Where did the word itself come from? Most online sources (such as Wiktionary) will tell you that it is “From Hawaiian wikiwiki ‘quickly’.” Another explanation, which I hadn’t heard of until I started really looking at the word’s origins, is that it is an acronym for “what I know, is” (see Wikipedia).

Uses
Probably the most famous wiki is Wikipedia. It is an online encyclopaedia that has been built from scratch by ordinary people! Anyone can contribute to or edit Wikipedia. Wikipedia has been around since 2001, and there are around 60 different language versions. For the English language version alone there are more than 818,000 articles (as of 20 November 2005). There has been much debate about Wikipedia – how accurate/unbiased/good is it? See, for example, this quite fierce critique, and this more recent overview of Wikipedia. Another overview of the impact of Wikipedia and wikis in general is available at Cnet. (Before this post gets completely hijacked by a discussion of Wikipedia, I’ll just say that as librarians we all need to be aware of it, especially when showing clients how to search for information on the web and how to determine if information is authoritative, and so forth. For another librarian's view of Wikipedia, take a look at Michelle McLean's blog.)

Because a wiki is so easy to edit, it is seen as the ideal collaborative tool, allowing groups of people to share information. In the corporate world, teams can use wikis to work together on projects.

I recently created my own wiki, just to experiment with, and I am pleased to confirm that it is very easy to use. I’ve been using my wiki to collect information and links to sites and articles on technology and libraries, so please do take a look at it. You are also welcome to be a contributor to it if you’d like, but you will need a password to edit or add stuff, so please ask me for the password if you’d like to check it out. (I’m also happy to give you a quick introduction on how to edit and so forth, so let me know.)

Benefits and drawbacks
So why are wikis good? Sean Forman says it very succinctly:
“Very easy page and structure creation.
Each contributes as able.
Gives free rein to go-getters.
Formation is evolutionary.”

But of course, it’s not all good – as Sean points out again:
“Graffiti happens.
Infringement happens.
Gardening is required. [the analogy of tending a garden is widely used when discussing wikis – sites that host or allow you to set up your own wiki are often called wiki farms]
Who owns what?
Not a discussion forum. [It’s not always obvious who provided or edited the information.]
Difficult to impart a chronology on documents.
… Formation is evolutionary.”

For more wikis to look at, take a look at my list.