If you've ever gotten lost in the Wikipedia, then you have at least a passing acquaintence with the world of wikis. But what's a wiki? We can go to the Wikipedia for that - "a wiki is a website that allows visitors to add, remove, and edit content." And that's not their definition - it's from the The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.If it all sounds vaguely Hawaiian to you, your instincts are correct. "Wiki" is Hawaiian for "quick."
And if, after you've read the Wikipedia wiki entry, you think "but allowing people to add, remove and edit content from a Web site is just asking for trouble," you're not the first to come to that conclusion.
But with the ever-present online options of password protection, you can get past that fear.
I admit to visiting the Wikipedia often - and that's not because I'm actually mentioned in it. But I find that there's such a huge amount of information there that I can satisfy just about any semi-fleeting desire for an explanation of things I have no idea about.
And I just had an experiencing showing me the dynamic nature of the wiki universe. I was looking for the page that mentioned me, and found it deleted. For the reason why, follow this link to the Wikipedia's deletion log. Suffice it to say I was mentioned in it, at one time.
There's even a place where you can set up your own wiki - for free.
Once you've set one up - what can you use it for?
Boards of directors can use a wiki for editing governance documents.
A collaborative group of people working on a new grant or on a grant report can use a wiki for developing those texts.
Any individual looking to build a base of information can use a wiki to reach out and find others with information to add.
I haven't actually constructed a usable wiki, although now that I've played around with setting one up, I can start to see the options it provides.
Now I just need to start producing information for it, and see what happens...
