What is a Wiki?

Wiki as Web Community Software

Ward Cunningham and Bo Leuf designed the first wiki because they wanted to make their hypertext database collaborative.

From the very start, they decided that anyone should be able to edit any page from a simple Web form. While this may seem to invite vandalism, they overcame this problem by storing the history of each document. If vandalism does occur, anyone can roll the site back to how it was before the vandalism.

Making the site easily editable gives it numerous advantages. First, it encourages many people to participate to create the Website together, which is why wikis make great knowledgebases. On both public and internal Websites, wikis allow writers and editors direct access to the Website, reducing the load on IT staff. The following is a list of some public wiki knowledgebases:

• Wikipedia: an extensive online encyclopedia. The Wikipedia is one of the largest knowledgebase wikis. It has now come under a nonprofit organization, the Wikimedia Foundation. The Wikipedia is a good example of a wiki that stays very professional, and very on-task with its professional goals, even though the contributors are random volunteers from around the world. It has a number of very interesting features. The Wikipedia:
  • deals with vandalism democratically
  • lists all changes made to documents related to the current page
  • lists the contributions of registered users

• The Tcl'ers Wiki: a one stop shop for anything relating the Tcl programming language. This also is a publicly editable wiki that manages to provide a mindblowing amount of useful information. However, it has more of a community feel to it than does the Wikipedia. This more laid-back style of wiki doesn't diminish the quality of its content in the least. Their "welcome visitors" page gives a good insight into what makes The Tcl'ers Wiki special.

• The Emacs Wiki: Like the Tcl'ers Wiki, the Emacs Wiki is geared toward users of a particular piece of software. On the Emacs Wiki, users of emacs can swap ideas, documentation, and plugin code with each other. While serious in nature, the Emacs Wiki has built a community that enjoys a bit of humor as well.

Many companies and universities use wiki software to create internal knowledgebases, connect their employees/students, and provide a place for employees/students to share ideas and brainstorm:

• British Telecom: BT maintains numerous wikis internally to help employees collaborate. They also have set up TWiki as a B2B site to provide documentation on information standards and foster discussion with their customers.
• Colorado State University, USA: maintains numerous FAQs for students. If someone encounters and solves a problem, they can post the solution easily. IT staff just need a browser to edit the page. This wiki saves the University time and money, since they don't need specialized software to maintain an internal computer services Website.
• TWiki has been used by many top companies to connect people and manage information. Disney, Motorola, SAP, Secure Works, and Wind River all use TWiki. TWiki is even used in a mission critical role at Hammarskjold Information to manage the creation of a bi-monthly magazine. More success stories are available on the TWiki site.

Wikis make great community sites, as well. Many wiki software packages allow users to register for usernames, putting a face to all the changes a particular person makes. The MeatballWiki is a hub for such online communities. Wiki-ers from all over use to MeatballWiki to come together and link their wikis with each other. The MeatballWiki members have even created a clever, creative tour bus trip of wikis. Another great community Wiki is GreenCheese, which is a wiki dedicated to humorous writing. More ideas can be found at the Practical Wiki Applications FAQ. One author used a wiki to collaborate with several other authors and write a 120 page book in three days (read toward the bottom). When creating a community wiki, be creative!

Choosing Wiki Software

I purposely saved this discussion until now, because there are so many different pieces of software available. Here are some of the programs I've tried:

• Wiki Wiki Web (very nice): the original wiki, this one's plain and simple. WikiWikiWeb is written in Perl and requires no special database features on your Web host. One great feature of this wiki is the ability to autogenerate maps of the interlinked connections with surrounding pages. You can get WikiWikiWeb from the Running Your Own Wiki FAQ and the WikiBase page.
• UseMod (simple, excellent): a very simple-to-install Wiki -- the entire program is just a single Perl script. While it may seem like overkill to throw an entire Web application into a single script, UseMod is very compact, yet extremely powerful. The Meatball Wiki uses UseMod. Configurations are made through a convenient configuration file. UseMod has many features, including an RSS feed, but it manages to stay simple and easy to use. UseMod contains as many of the concepts of pure hypertext as can be implemented simply on the Web, including the handy ability to include bits of wiki content from other pages, a technique called Transclusion.
• TWiki (many features but somewhat confusing): the most complex wiki I've set up. Twiki is great because it has so many features, but at the same time, the amazing number of features also makes it confusing. If you have a lot of time, Twiki is immensely rewarding; if you don't, you will likely get lost. Twiki is often used by companies and workgroups because it has permissions systems, categorizing features, and even progress bars on TODO lists. Twiki is written in Perl as well; you can download it from Twiki's release page.
• Moin Moin (excellent, if you have Python): a simple to set up, powerful Wiki, if your Web host has Python support. MoinMoin also has user management support. The MoinMoin Wiki has more information on installing MoinMoin on the Install Documentation page.
• PHP Wiki (nice, if you have a database server, but complex): If you want a PHP Wiki, then PHP Wiki may be just what you want. It requires a SQL-based relational database server like MySQL or PostgreSQL to run. It has many features, including user authentication. Like TWiki, PHP Wiki has many features and can seem a bit complicated if you just want a simple wiki. Unlike most wikis, PHP Wiki has template support. Templates are hard to create and require a good understanding of PHP object oriented programming.
• PHP Wiki Processor (what can I say? I use it!): Why not use a Wiki in the role of a regular content management system? I decided to try it out, and am very pleased with the result. PHP Wiki Processor keeps track of my pages and links at my site. Since it's my personal site, I want to remain the sole creator -- I can't have anyone change my Resume, for example. So I set up PHP Wiki Processor to generate a set of static PHP pages from all my wiki pages. I can still edit my page online through a secure connection, but I decide who gets to change content on the site. When I load the site, I see an administrative wiki interface. Everyone else sees just a Website, which is how I want it. PHP Wiki Processor has simple, easy-to-use template support, and I was able to transfer my previous site header and footer easily. My knowledge of PHP did help, since I tend to tweak things endlessly. A thorough knowledge of PHP, however, is not necessary to use PHP Wiki Processor effectively.

Conclusion

Wikis are great hypertext tools that let one person or a group of people manage content easily. They are used to create static Websites, manage online communities, connect businesses with their customers, and even write magazines and books. Remember, the Wiki is "the simplest online database that could possibly work." The possibilities are endless!