Wikis: What They Are and How to Get Involved

While browsing the Internet like 90% of the world does on a daily basis, you've probably came across a wiki at some point or another. This may sound like a weird term, like some sort of program or something. However, a Wiki is just another type of website, which works in a different way than most other websites.

A wiki is either a page, or a collection of pages which basically have been designed for anyone to be able to edit, change, and add new content to whenever they want. Some wiki's require its users to create an account, some simply allow anyone to post content with a simple guest name entered. It's really neat how these communities rise over time, wiki's are becoming very popular, and the content on these websites grows at a phenominal rate.

A lot of the time, these are used to power community websites. Wikipedia is a great example of this. Wikipedia is by far one of the largest wiki's that everyone knows about. A lot of people like to use this to obtain general information, and even write reports based on the information that other people have entered. There are issues with the credibility of the articles, however, since anyone can edit them. For more information on this specific wiki, view my article concerning Wikipedia is a writing resource.

Ward Cunningham was the developer of the first wiki software, and he described the wiki as "the simplest online database that could possibly work." Basically, all Wiki's are databases, in the fact that they're constantly updating, expanding, and growing with users as well as content. I love the fact that you can visit the same wiki everyday, and yet, never read the same content twice.

Wiki's are very easy to get into. Most allow you to create a simple account without any sort of credit card confirmation, or any type of hassle like that. For instance, check out the wiki I mentioned previously. Go to Wikipedia.org, and create an account. From there, you can easily post any information you want. On wiki's like this though, make sure to keep your information accurate and cite your legitimate sources for future references.

If you're interested in getting your own wiki started, you're going to have to search around the web for wiki server providers and what not. Some web hosters will allow you to create a wiki. Be aware that when you create a wiki, you're going to want to stick to a narrow topic. Wiki's are similar to a blog, in that a select audience is going to use them in most cases. Unless you make some sort of wiki like wikipedia, or wiktionary, or a news update wiki, in which would apply to just about anyone and everyone.

Wiki's could very well be the future of the Internet. Static pages are disspearing everywhere. Static pages are basically pages which don't update and no one can produce content for. A dynamic web page is built upon, commented on, etc. Wiki's are an extremely large dynamic webpage. They're constantly updated, and people that use the web today like to see updates to pages on a daily basis.