April 2006Tooling Around
by Gloria McConnell
Wiki A, B, C’s
“Techwr-l and other lists have been buzzing with comments and questions about wikis and Twikis; [could you] present in an upcoming Tooling Around?” wrote one Rough Draft reader. Very good topic; without further adieu, here are some basic details about some of that buzz…
Who else is out there? What features exist?
Although I had used wikis and could give a basic definition before this article was written, much of it is my impression of the information I’ve found in researching the topic. I’ve tried to credit my research sources. It’s entirely possible that I’ve misinterpreted something, however; anyone with greater knowledge is invited to set the record straight! Send an email to gloria.mcconnell@honeywell.com.
What is a wiki?
According to the Wikipedia (by far the most prominent public wiki), a wiki is a Web site where documents can be “written collectively in a very simple markup language using a web browser. Individual pages in this environment are ‘wiki pages,’ while the entire body of pages, which are usually highly interconnected via hyperlinks, is the wiki.” Wiki also refers to the software (the “engine”) that facilitates the operation of such a Web site. Wiki’s inventor, Ward Cunningham, called it “the simplest online database that could possibly work.”
From the first wiki site, created just over a decade ago and dubbed “wikiwikiweb” : “’Wiki’ is a composition system; it's a discussion medium; it's a repository; it's a mail system; it's a tool for collaboration… it's a fun way of communicating asynchronously across the network.” (http://c2.com/cgi/wiki)
Wikipedia includes a very good write-up on wiki fundamentals, and it demonstrates a wiki as it explains, so you do not need me to cover the same territory. If wikis are new to you, see the Wiki entry at that site www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki.
My research indicates that most wikis exist in the business and academic environments; whether we will see a growth of public wikis like Wikipedia is unclear.
What does “wiki” stand for?
Wiki is not an acronym or abbreviation; as you can learn from Wikipedia, the name is derived from the Hawaiian term “wiki,” which means “quick.”
The “quick” in wiki is not about response time or transmission speed; with a wiki, what is fast is the speed with which pages can be created and/or updated. If you are reading a wiki page and see an error, in many cases you can edit the offending page on the spot.
How accurate are they?
If anyone can edit wiki pages, how do we know they are accurate? We don’t. Wikipedia itself acknowledges the risk: “Its open nature allows vandalism, inaccuracy, inconsistency, uneven quality, and unsubstantiated opinions.” Some constraints exist—typical users cannot delete pages, for example, but the main source of validation is the vigilance of wiki users themselves.
Since its inception, Wikipedia’s accuracy has come under scrutiny. Last year, several issues were raised focusing on both accuracy and bias of certain articles. A study by Nature magazine, however, revealed that science articles in Wikipedia are about as accurate as those found in Encyclopedia Britannica. (Internet encyclopaedias go head to head, December 2005)
If necessary, most wiki engines include administrative features that allow you to set permissions for the editing of pages. Limiting who can change a page to specific users is one way to minimize errors.
How about TWiki™?
TWiki is the trademarked name for an Open Source Wiki platform for “TWikiSites.” Key benefits of TWiki are easy revision control—every change ever made to a page can be tracked—and availability of access control lists. These features make it well suited for corporate wiki sites.
(Side note: The name “TWiki” is capitalized unusually to deliberately distinguish it from “Twiki,” a character from the old Buck Rogers TV series.)
Who else is out there? What features exist?
In addition to TWiki, many other wiki engines exist (over 200 according to some sources)—Confluence, Dolphin Wiki, Moin Moin, XWiki, to name a few. The feature list for them all is significant and varies from wiki to wiki. If you are interested in a summary of products and features, return to Wikipedia and see the Comparison of wiki software article.
Features for wiki administration
From an administrative standpoint, many wikis provide the ability to password-protect pages, restrict users, and provide various level of administrative control. Others, however, allow open access to the entire wiki.
Because all wikis are open source, any wiki can potentially adopt features found in other wikis by simply accessing and customizing the source code. Some wikis allow the development and use of plug-ins for specialized purposes, such as enhanced editing, sending of email, and many, many more (depending on the wiki).
Features for wiki contributors
Most wikis use the same basic page formatting functions (i.e., text editing and image, table, list, hyperlink, and file insertion). Features that are aimed at wiki contributors include inter-wiki linking, link checking, archiving, a “sandbox” area to practice formatting, and user support. Some wikis provide a WYSIWYG editor, spell-check, and/or features such as drawing tools or equation editors.
Features for wiki users
The following features are primarily for the user who is seeking information, but may not be planning to contribute: a search function (either title or text search may be possible), friendly print capability, page index or topic list, tabbed format providing an article (topic page), discussion area (would say it’s similar to a blog), edit history, and ability to compare selected versions.
The following figure, taken from the footer on the TWiki site, shows some typical contributor and user features.
How can a wiki be used?
A wiki might not typically be used for traditional user documentation, which is often considered validated information regarding a specific release of a specific product. But think about it... If you post a PDF in a wiki article, you could allow appropriate users to add comments in the article’s discussion area. The discussion can be monitored and the PDF updated as needed. (You, the document author, could also explain or defend something you’ve done.) The wiki’s history area tracks each time you update the PDF; it might include specific details regarding changes you make.
Or, you could take the TWiki approach and incorporate document content right into the wiki itself. See TWiki Documentation for an example.
A wiki can definitely be used as a document management tool. Other possible uses include those listed in the following table. Is this all? Of course not!
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Use |
Discussion |
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Company intranet |
Because content is maintained by employees, the theory is that outdated and inadequate intranet content can be minimized. The reality may be different. Employees everywhere are busy; wiki organization can suffer; personality issues/disagreements may exist. Formal responsibilities may need to be assigned for the monitoring and update of wiki content; write access to various topics may be needed. For other opinions on potential pitfalls, see the TECHWR-L. For example, technical writer Joe Malin writes “Wikipedia also illustrates the most important part of a wiki: moderation/editing. An unmoderated, unedited wiki will quickly devolve into a morass of unorganized pages with excessive duplication. I have seen at least one internal wiki exhibit this behavior.” (RE: Getting started with wiki? February 2006) In fact, keep these sorts of pitfalls in mind when reading the remainder of this table. |
|
Knowledge base or FAQ system |
This usage seems like a perfect match for a wiki. With proper organization and monitoring, support engineers can enter information and solutions about the problems they encounter every day. Customers may be allowed to enter discussion groups as well. Instead of all of that knowledge residing in each engineer’s head, the wiki makes it possible for all appropriate users to find it when needed. |
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Software design and documentation |
One of the original and highest uses of wikis, because they allow easy collaboration, tracking, and recordkeeping. Here’s what Eric Baldeschwieler, Director of Software Development of Yahoo!, had to say: "We use TWiki internally to manage documentation and project planning for our products… Our development team includes hundreds of people in various locations all over the world, so web collaboration is VERY important to us. TWiki has changed the way we run meetings, plan releases, document our product and generally communicate with each other.” (http://twiki.org/, quote from 2004) |
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Tracking issues (“bugs”) and features |
The TWiki Codev site itself is managed this way. Codev is TWiki’s main collaboration area for TWiki development. For a taste, see the Codev home page, and click the Bugs changes link. |
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Broader collaboration |
Follows naturally from discussions above. |
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Software or documentation archive |
Ditto above discussions. Sometimes wiki archiving is compared to programs such as Lotus Notes; wikis are much easier to use. |
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Internal message board |
For example, use a wiki for job listings. That type of message board would definitely need restrictions as to who could post or change information. What about a company carpooling message board, though? |
Hope that this introductory article on wikis has been helpful to you. If you have wiki experience, please send us some info about your experiences!
