JuliannaEven if you don’t know what a wiki is, it’s likely you have come across one recently – Wikipedia – the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet, with over 7 million articles in over 200 languages (and still growing). The reason I say you’ve likely come across it is because Wikipedia has great search engine ranking, so whether you’ve searched for “marketing” or “RSS“, “search engine optimization” or even “wiki” a Wikipedia entry was near the top of your results.
The majority of people still aren’t using wikis, or don’t know what they are, but it is a collaborative tool that can really help you manage your business, organize an event or communicate with a group, and they are a lot easier to use than you might imagine.
What is a wiki?
A wiki is a Web site that allows users to add, remove and edit content, creating a collaborative space online to share information. According to Wikipedia, “the word wiki is a Hawaiian word meaning ‘quick’. Wiki systems are therefore designed so that their content can be made available in a quick and uncomplicated manner.”
Private wikis can be used as dynamic Intranets, allowing members of an organization or company to share information, work on documents, and organize projects and events, or they can be shared publicly and used by anyone, examples of this are Wikipedia and the technology ‘unconference‘ Barcamp. Public wikis are usually moderated and users often have to login to publish to the site, while private wikis require login for access.
How do wikis work?
Each wiki page is a standalone web page that you edit like a Word document, but save as a Web page. It is connected to the network of other pages in your wiki through hyperlinks. You can create, edit and save a page, and then someone else can come along and do the same. Each person adds more information, creating a knowledge base for the group.
A private wiki can be a great way to collaborate on documents, have an ongoing brainstorming session, organize an event and consolidate all your communication in one place. However you use a wiki – you will find that centralized communication is one of the greatest benefits, allowing you to stay organized and on top of what’s coming up next.
You can easily create your own private (or public) wikis at PB Wiki and Wikispaces.
Learn more about how wikis work and how you can use them by watching the Common Craft short video – Wiki’s in Plain English.