Why Use A Wiki?

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WHY USE A WIKI?

An Introduction to the Latest Online Publishing Format

A WebWorks.com White Paper

Author:

Alan J. Porter

VP-Operations

WebWorks.com

a brand of Quadralay Corporation

aporter@webworks.com

WW_WP0309_WIKIpub

© 2009 – Quadralay Corporation. All rights reserved.

NOTE: Please feel free to redistribute this white paper to anyone you feel may benefit. If you would like an electronic copy for distribution, just send an e-mail to info@webworks.com

Overview

The aim of this paper is to introduce the concept of the Web-based collaborative authoring environment commonly referred to as wikis, and examine how they can be used in a corporate publishing environment. The paper also includes suggested techniques for transferring existing content from native authoring tools into a wiki format for online delivery.

What is a Wiki?

In simple terms a wiki is perhaps best described as a Web site that can be easily edited by anyone straight in the Web browser without need for any additional software.

The official definition of a wiki, by the wiki creator Ward Cunnigham in his book “The Wiki Way: Quick Collaboration on the Web,” gives a slightly more detailed definition.

Cunningham describes the concept of wikis this way:

• A wiki invites all users to edit any page or to create new pages within the wiki Web site, using only a plain-vanilla Web browser without any extra add-ons.
• Wiki promotes meaningful topic associations between different pages by making page link creation almost intuitively easy and showing whether an intended target page exists or not.
• A wiki is not a carefully crafted site for casual visitors. Instead, it seeks to involve the visitor in an ongoing process of creation and collaboration that constantly changes the Web site landscape.

From a publishing perspective, a wiki gives a means for documents to be created collaboratively among a group of authors without those contributors needing to learn a complex mark-up language. The basic premise can be very powerful in opening up content creation to subject matter experts and knowledge holders.

But wikis are far more than a simple collection of documents. Individual wiki pages can be easily linked to other wiki pages through a series of hyperlinks, thereby creating what is essentially a database that can be browsed, navigated, and searched.

Open Editing = Collaborative Authoring

Perhaps the most significant aspect of a wiki is how easy it is to create and update pages. In most wiki installations there is no review process before modifications are accepted, with changes appearing almost instantly.

This facility, while one of a wiki’s biggest advantages, is also perhaps the area of greatest controversy and concern to those new to wiki publishing.

Does having open access lead to chaos and devaluation of the material?

Most wikis require that anyone who wishes to contribute first register a user account. Depending on the wiki setup different type of accounts can be given different access and editing privileges. It is also recommended that wikis be set up with a login needed at the start of an editing session to create a wiki signature cookie to enable tracking of who makes edits.