A wiki is a page or collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites, usually as a very simple form of content management.
#29795
An Almost Final Farewell to Desktop Word Processing
The era of desktop publishing is over, and I must bid Microsoft Word and several other desktop applications good-bye. In case you think I'm singling out Microsoft, it's not just MS Word, but also OpenOffice, GoogleOffice, or any application that makes what we used to call 'documents'. Nowadays, I'm simply using a wiki for collaborative information sharing and a blog for online reporting.
Albing, Bill. Carolina Communique (2007). Articles>Word Processing>Online>Wikis
#31107
Baselining Documentation on a Wiki
The dynamic nature of wikis can cause a few headaches when you need to baseline documentation that's on a wiki to correspond with the release of your product. This blog post looks at some ways in which you can try baselining wiki content.
DMN Communications (2008). Articles>Documentation>Technical Writing>Wikis
#25056
Beyond the Blog: Wikis and Blikis
Blogs are about to give way to a new development. Wikis are web sites within which any user can quickly and easily edit much of the content, without HTML. This idea regarding user-generated online content goes beyond the comment posting of a standard blog. Blikis are blogs that have wiki support, so that users can edit the comments posted.
Streight, Steven. Blogger.com (2005). Articles>Web Design>Wikis>Blogging
#31882
Businesses not as Keen on Blogs and Wikis? We Had a Hunch
Despite all the excitement in the technical communications community over Web 2.0 technologies like wikis and blogs, it looks like companies are still reluctant to tie the knot for a variety of reasons.
DMN Communications (2008). Articles>TC>Wikis>Blogs
#31114
Can Lightweight Markup Languages Be Used for Documentation?
A lightweight markup language uses syntax that is similar to wiki syntax -- keyboard characters are used to define formatting. This blog post argues that if your documentation needs are simple, and you have a low or non-existent budget, then a lightweight markup language might be worth investigating.
DMN Communications (2008). Articles>Documentation>Programming>Wikis
#30550
Catalyze is a member-driven community for all professionals involved in defining business systems, designing software applications and creating websites. If you are a business analyst, usability professional, UI designer, information architect, interaction designer, product manager, project manager or anyone else involved in the definition process of software applications, this community is for you and will be worth your time.
#31489
In this podcast, Stewart talks about the following: the advantages of using a wiki for your technical documentation; why lack of advanced styles in wikis isn’t a major problem; the relentless focus on simplicity with wikis; choosing the right wiki among dozens of wiki engines.
Mader, Stewart and Tom H. Johnson. Tech Writer Voices (2008). Articles>Interviews>Wikis
#29575
Folksonomies - Cooperative Classification and Communication Through Shared Metadata
This paper examines user-generated metadata as implemented and applied in two web services designed to share and organize digital media to better understand grassroots classification.
Mathes, Adam. University of Illinois (2004). Articles>Information Design>Metadata>Wikis
#31446
For Conference Support, Consider a Wiki
For the last couple of months, I’ve been developing an online list of major trends that are transforming public relations, with links to sites, articles and quotes that in one way or another prove the point and that I know I’ll someday want to get back to. It’s something like my own personal tagging system, maintained in a wiki.
Forbush, Dan. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Web Design>Public Relations>Wikis
#31885
Going from Word to Wiki: A Few Thoughts
An overview of how one technical communicator moved a Word document to a wiki, and some of the issues involved.
DMN Communications (2008). Articles>TC>Wikis>Microsoft Word
#31841
Provides a recap of how the online, wiki-based Carolina Communique evolved and won an Award of Excellence in the Newsletters: Web & Online category of the 2008 APEX Awards for Publication Excellence
Sapir, Rick. Carolina Communique (2008). Articles>Content Management>Newsletters>Wikis
#29555
HBS Cases: How Wikipedia Works (or Doesn't)
An ongoing tension within Wikipedia is characterized as the inclusionists versus the exclusionists. The inclusionists argue that one of Wikipedia's core values is that it should be open to all ideas, that truth emerges from a variety of directions. Better to include than exclude. The exclusionists see Wikipedia's utilitarianism diminished if too much froth clouds the valuable information inside. These people delete material they consider inappropriate. The case offers students a chance to understand issues such as how online cultures are made and maintained, the power of self-policing organizations, the question of whether the service is drifting from its core principles, and whether a Wikipedia-like concept can work in a business setting.
Silverthorne, Sean. Harvard University (2007). Articles>Knowledge Management>Policies and Procedures>Wikis
#31394
If you're a professional communicator, chances are good you've already asked yourself whether it's time to start your own blog. But there's another tech question that you probably have not yet asked yourself, and perhaps you should: Is it time to start your own wiki?
Forbush, Dan. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Web Design>Blogging>Wikis
#29554
Is a Documentation Wiki in your Future?
If we can solicit user participation in a Web 2.0 knowledge community (a volunter wiki documentation, for example), we might have a powerful means for creating high quality content. But how should this process work?
Hackos, JoAnn T. Center for Information-Development Management (2007). Articles>Documentation>Content Management>Wikis
#28125
Your staff may already be using one of the most productive collaboration tools ever built.
Dickerson, Chad. InfoWorld (2004). Articles>Collaboration>Content Management>Wikis
#31185
Making Wikis Work for Scholars
For all the hand-wringing over whether Wikipedia is a legitimate source for completing college assignments, some professors are quietly incorporating it into their classrooms and even their research. Others, noting features of the Web site that contribute to inaccuracies and shortchange the value of expertise, are building variations on the model that are more amenable to academics and to peer review.
Guess, Andy. Inside Higher Ed (2008). Articles>Research>Online>Wikis
#31109
Musings on User-Generated Documentation
User-generated documentation is a big issue in technical communication circles. If properly done, tapping into the knowledge of users can improve the quality and breadth of your documentation.
DMN Communications (2008). Articles>Documentation>Technical Writing>Wikis
#31517
The Newest Online Communication Tool: Collaborative Web Pages Anybody Can Edit
A wiki is a web site that anybody can change. You may have already visited a wiki without even knowing it. Wikis are poised to become one of the most important online communication tools we’ve seen in a long time. While blogs are justifiably getting most of the attention paid to the online world these days, wikis are quietly weaving their way into both the external and internal communication world.
Holtz, Shel. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration>Wikis
#31047
Patterns of Revision in Online Writing 
This study examines the revision histories of 10 Wikipedia articles nominated for the site's Featured Article Class (FAC), its highest quality rating, 5 of which achieved FAC and 5 of which did not. The revisions to each article were coded, and the coding results were combined with a descriptive analysis of two representative articles in order to determine revision patterns. All articles in both groups showed a higher percentage of additions of new material compared to deletions and revisions that rearranged the text. Although the FAC articles had roughly equal numbers of content and surface revisions, the non-FAC articles had fewer surface revisions and were dominated by content revisions. Although the unique features of the Wikipedia environment inhibit strict comparisons between these results and those of earlier revision studies, these results suggest revision in this environment places unique structural demands on writers, possibly leading to unique revision patterns.
Jones, John. Written Communication (2008). Articles>Editing>Online>Wikis
#31568
Talking About Wikis with Stewart Mader
An interview done by Scott Nesbitt of DMN Communications. Nesbitt talks with Stewart Mader, author of the book WikiPatterns. In the interview, Nesbitt and Mader discuss adopting wikis, how best to use them in an organization, building communities around wikis, and why Mader is so passionate about wikis.
Nesbitt, Scott and Stewart Mader. DMN Communications (2008). Articles>Interviews>Wikis>Podcasts
#27999
Using a Wiki as an Organizational Portal
We explain why we chose a wiki-based content management system (CMS) as the basis for the portal for KeyContent.org. We compare various tools and discuss other sites that have implemented similar software for collaborative solutions.
Albing, Bill and Rick Sapir. KeyContent.org (2006). Presentations>Technology>Organizations>Wikis
#29565
Using a Wiki to Write About Wikis
Academic writers are used to having their ideas encapsulated and enshrined in printed text (e.g., a journal article or a book), but publishing them in a wiki strips them of this protection. What happens when strangers change our writing? Since the traditional academic publishing paradigm has not caught up with the open-editing, peer-to-peer model, are we equipped to deal with the paradigm shift that wikis represent? These are issues we consider in this short piece.
Wilder, Hilary and Sharmila Pixy Ferris. Journal of Electronic Publishing (2007). Articles>Writing>Content Management>Wikis
#29544
Wiki is a category of web server software that allows users to contribute content. Collaboration is the key to Wiki, which is designed as a powerful system for online communities to build web pages and web sites. Unlike blogs and forums, all users are allowed to contribute and edit existing content. Wiki is derived from the Hawaiian term "wiki wiki" meaning "quick". The concept behind a Wiki is that collaboration on projects will move it along quicker.
Small Business Software (2007). Articles>Content Management>Web Design>Wikis
#31117
Whikibility Cultural Key Drivers: Quickness
The fact that a Workplace could be considered 'quick' is not properly linked with the easiness to find information or with the speedy level of the communications: in this context it is linked to the Wiki feature of assuring a real-time updating access to contents and resources (data, information or knowledge and physical resources).
Cammarata, Vincenzo. Grow Your Wiki (2007). Articles>Content Management>Collaboration>Wikis
#31186
Admit it: You sometimes consult Wikipedia. Scott McLemee wonders if you should write for it, too.
McLemee, Scott. Inside Higher Ed (2006). Articles>Publishing>Online>Wikis
