Wiki

A wiki (IPA: /wi?ki?/, "weekee" http://c2.com/doc/etymology.html) is a web application that allows users to add content, as on an Internet forum, but also allows others (often completely unrestricted) to edit the content. The term Wiki also refers to the collaborative software used to create such a website (see Wiki software). In essence, the wiki is a vast simplification of the process of creating HTML pages, and thus is a very effective way to exchange information through collaborative effort.

History

Wiki software originated in the design pattern community as a way of writing and discussing pattern languages. The Portland Pattern Repository was the first wiki, established by Ward Cunningham on March 25, 1995. http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiHistory He invented the wiki name and concept, and implemented the first wiki engine. Some people maintain that only the original wiki should be called Wiki (upper case) or the WikiWikiWeb.

Related Topics:
Design pattern - Pattern language - Portland Pattern Repository - Ward Cunningham - March 25 - 1995

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cunningham coined the term wiki after the "wiki wiki" or "quick" shuttle buses at Honolulu Airport. Wiki wiki was the first Hawaiian term he learned on his first visit to the islands, when the airport counter agent directed him to take the wiki wiki bus between terminals. According to Cunningham, "I chose wiki-wiki as an alliterative substitute for 'quick' and thereby avoided naming this stuff quick-web." http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiHistory The term "wiki" sounds vaguely similar to the word Wicca (a religion), but they are completely unrelated. See also: List of computer term etymologies.

Related Topics:
Wicca - List of computer term etymologies

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the late 1990s, wikis increasingly were recognized as a promising way to develop private- and public-knowledge bases, and this potential inspired the founders of the Nupedia encyclopedia project, Jimbo Wales and Larry Sanger, to use wiki technology as a basis for an electronic encyclopedia: Wikipedia was launched in January 2001; it originally was based upon UseMod software, but later switched to its own, open source codebase, now adopted by many other wikis.

Related Topics:
Knowledge base - Nupedia - Jimbo Wales - Larry Sanger - Wikipedia - January 2001

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the early 2000s, wikis were increasingly adopted in the enterprise as collaborative software. Common uses included project communication, intranets and documentation, initially for technical users. In December 2002, Socialtext launched the first commercial open source wiki solution. Open source wikis such as MediaWiki, Kwiki and TWiki grew to over 1 million downloads on the Sourceforge repository by 2004. Today some companies use wikis as their only collaborative software and as a replacement for static intranets.

Related Topics:
Collaborative software - Socialtext - MediaWiki - Kwiki - TWiki - Sourceforge

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 2005, the Los Angeles Times experimented with using a wiki in the editorial section of its web site. The Wikitorial project was quickly shuttered as vandals quickly defaced it and features to help distribute administration of the site had been disabled.

Related Topics:
Los Angeles Times - Wikitorial

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Today, the English-language Wikipedia is, by far, the world's largest wiki; the German-language Wikipedia is the second-largest, while the other Wikipedias fill many of the remaining slots. Other big wikis include World66, a wiki travel guide, and Susning.nu, a Swedish-language knowledge base running UseMod software. The all-encompassing nature of Wikipedia is a significant factor in its growth, while many other wikis are highly specialized. Some also have attributed Wikipedia's rapid growth to its decision not to use CamelCase.

Related Topics:
World66 - Susning.nu - CamelCase

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~