Wiki and Collaboration

Wiki is the short form for “WikiWikiWeb” and is derived from the Hawaiian expression “wiki wiki” meaning “fast” or “quick”. A wiki is essentially a collection of Web sites connected via hyperlinks. While there is a wide range of wiki systems available (e.g. MediaWiki1? , MoinMoin2? , TWiki3) with different purposes and audiences, all of them share the following common properties:

• Editing via Browser.

Content is usually edited via a simple browser interface that can be used without installing any additional (expensive) software. This makes editing simple and allows to modify pages from everywhere in the world with only minimal technical requirements. As a consequence, content creators can access and update the wiki from wherever they are, e.g. at work, at home, at conferences, nowadays even while travelling.

• Simplified Wiki Syntax.

Content is usually expressed in a simplified hypertext format (‘wiki syntax”) that is much easier to use for non-technical users than e.g. HTML. Formatting thus does not require knowledge of HTML.

• Rollback Mechanism.

Changes to the content of a wiki are versioned each time they are stored, i.e. previous versions of pages are kept. This allows to revert back to earlier versions of a page e.g. in case important parts have been accidentally deleted or undesirable modifications have been made by someone else. Also, most wiki systems allow to compare two versions of a page, making it possible to identify changes between edits quickly.

• Unrestricted Access.

In most wiki systems, access is completely unrestricted – i.e. anyone can correct, modify, complete, or even delete anything. While this might seem strange, and even dangerous, from a traditional perspective, practice shows that the system works: on the one hand, ill meaning users are rather rare; on the other hand, all changes can easily be undone using the rollback mechanism. Note that some wikis still allow to apply further access restrictions using users and groups as found in traditional content management systems.

• Collaborative Editing.

The above-mentioned properties combined make wikis an ideal tool for collaborative editing. As soon as someone creates content, others can contribute to it, extend it, correct it, etc. Many wiki systems provide further support for collaborative editing, e.g. by means of discussion forums, summaries of changes, and list of last updates.

• Strong Linking.

Pages in a wiki are usually strongly linked with each other using hyperlinks. The reason for this is that the simplified wiki syntax makes it very easy to define a link to another page in the wiki. For example, in many wikis a link is defined by enclosing a word in square brackets, or by using a so-called “CamelCase” where a word contains several upper-case letters. Links to non-existing pages are usually rendered in a different colour. If a user clicks on such a link, the system redirects him to a view where he can create the non-existing page. In many wikis, this is even the only way to create a page. Links in a wiki are the most important tool for navigation. Therefore, many systems allow not only to follow links in the direction they are defined but also in reverse direction (“back-links”).

• Search Function.

As a further tool for navigation, almost all wiki systems allow a full-text search over the content of all pages.

• Uploading of Other Content.

In addition to creating text content, some of the more sophisticated wikis allow uploading of arbitrary (multimedia) content, like documents, images, program code, etc.

Unlike other groupware or content/knowledge management tools, a wiki system gives users almost complete freedom over the content development process without rigid workflow, access restrictions, or predefined structures. Users need not adapt their practice to the ”dictate of the system”, but can allow their own practice to define the structure. This is important, because different domains often have – or even require – different kinds of workflow.

As a recent survey on the popular technology site Slashdot showed, wiki systems are currently used for a wide variety of purposes, including:

• encyclopaedia systems: collect knowledge in a certain area (e.g. Wikitravel5) or unrestricted (e.g. Wikipedia6) in a community effort with contributions from a wide range of users

• software development: collaboratively create documentation, collect ideas, track bugs; most of today’s high-profile Open Source projects (e.g. Apache, Mozilla, OpenOffice? ) use wikis for coordination

• project knowledge management: project tracking, brainstorming and exchange of ideas, coordination of activities, agenda tool for collecting topics of meetings, project notes repository, knowledge base, staff directory

• personal knowledge management: sketchpad to collect and elaborate personal ideas, addresses, dates, tasks, bookmarks, etc.

• collaborative writing: authors work collectively on a writing (short story, novel, etc.) which is immediately accessible by readers for their enjoyment

• CMS/knowledge base: collect content, connect content, simple publication tool

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