WikiWhat?


 * What is a Wiki?

A Wiki is a webpage designed for collaboration between the Wiki’s users. A Wiki often has many pages, or ‘topics’, that allow for easy navigation, as well as make it easy to find needed information. Wikis such as Wikipedia use collaboration between users to update information, and ultimately form a detailed up-to-date online encyclopedia.


 * Brief Wiki History

The first Wiki was created in 1995 by Ward Cunningham. He was a Smalltalk developer who conceived it as a quick way to create and share ideas when working. The first public wiki, called the Portland Pattern Repository, facilitates the discovery and discussion of software patterns. Ward's Wiki is still working today. In fact, on its tenth anniversary, it had over 30,000 pages. The "wiki" name was inspired by the transit bus line at the Honolulu International Airport which is named after the Hawaiian expression for quick (wiki wiki).


 * Why use a wiki?

A Wiki makes it easy to work in a team or group without actually being in the same room. Wikis can also be edited and be read by any of the numerous members who use it. Information is stored, so it can be viewed at a later time, or edited as the information becomes out-dated.

The good thing about using a wiki is that if somebody knows about information that is incorrect, they can go in and change it as long as they are part of the Wiki.


 * It's just personal

Wikis are also great because they are opened to all users. Anyone can make and use a Wiki, for any reason. In fact many personal groups use Wikis for group collaboration on projects or on common interests. A group of friends could make a private Wiki just for their own amusement; or for collaboration of dates and times.


 * Business as usual

Anyone who has worked in a business can tell you what a nightmare document management can be. Emails go different ways, spreadsheets and Word documents get passed around, and no one knows who is the most up to date.The secratary who's been taking meeting notes and storing them on her hard drive isn’t in so everyone is lost. Wikis solve all these problems and unlike most content management systems, wikis are simple enough for non technical employees to use.


 * Who can contribute?

In a wiki there are readers, and there are writers. Readers can only view wiki’s and Writers can edit the wiki. Some sites allow anyone to be readers, and writers. Some wiki’s have some form of securtity that allows only member of a particular wiki to edit, or view a wiki. So who can contribute to a wiki varies on the settings of the individual wiki. If it's completely open to the public than anyone can contribute, if its limited to members than only members can contribute.


 * What about accuracy?

[|Click Here]

This is the link to the article the most famous case of “wiki-vandalism.” Not surprisingly, it took place on Wikipedia and involved a false biography. This case shows that accuracy can be a problem with wikis, even the most famous and largest ones, like Wikipedia. <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[|Click Here] <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This website also touches on the advantages and disadvantages of wiki use. It makes an interesting point in the Disadvantage section about how not only information can be inaccurate, but citations can be inaccurate. For instance, when editing a wiki it would be very simple for a user to post copyrighted material and either not cite the material at all, or cite it incorrectly, which gives the false pretense that whoever edited that post was the originator of that material.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One way to protect the accuracy of a wiki is through the “rollback function” that is often included. This allows administrators of wikis to restore a page to its previous content so that finding and removing false and inaccurate edits will not be a hassle. In other words, administrators know that inaccuracies will happen and that they’re impossible to avoid, so instead of trying to prevent them, they have developed ways to easily correct them.

== <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When retrieving information from wikis, there are certain criteria you should follow in order to ensure the validity of information.
 * == <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What criteria should we look for?


 * 1) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Trusted Website - The wiki should be hosted on a trusted or well-known website, such as Wikipedia or Wikimedia.
 * 2) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Trusted Authors - Check the authors who contributed to the article; read their user pages or past contributions to verify their knowledge and experience in the topic.
 * 3) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Dubious Information - Be skeptic about information marked with "Citation Needed" or "Dubious -- Discuss" tags, or other forms of 'warning' boxes displayed at the top of articles or in-text. In some cases, information may not be accurate in these cases. If in doubt, read the article's discussion page to see exactly what points are being disputed.
 * 4) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Professional Tone - Articles should be written in a non-bias, professional tone. Articles written in a casual manner or written on more discreet topics should be questioned for validity and authorship.

=== <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Recommended videos or tutorials to help get you started. === [|Wikis in plain english]

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Wikis In Plain English"

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|Semantic Wikis] <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Semantic Wikis"