Perhaps you may know the Wikipedia. In case you have been living in a hideout for the past 10 years, the Wikipedia is a on-line encyclopedia, with a particularity: anyone can add or edit its content. This means that millions of people can contribute their knowledge on a topic, forming the most comprehensive encyclopedia ever. Of course, anyone can edit an entry with bad intentions, so it isn’t 100% rigorous, but it’s a small price to pay for having the greatest source of knowledge at a click.
The Wikipedia appeared in 2001, and today, personally I can’t imagine living without it, and I’m sure I’m not alone. Its growth has been spectacular, having in its English edition more than 3 million articles (a number unreachable for any traditional encyclopedia).
The name “Wikipedia” comes from the fusion of 2 words: “wiki“, which in Hawaiian means “quick”, and encyclopedia. However, the word “wiki” has now become more than just a funny word in a foreign language, the word embodies a philosophy, an evolution of the Internet focused on users. In fact, such websites have taken much of the blame for the origin of the “Web 2.0” (which I will speak about another day).
Wiki philosophy
We can say that all the websites that have “wiki” in their name share the same philosophy. Anyone who enter there can edit the contents and add new ones. Naturally, there may be private wikis for business projects, for example, or wikis in which is required to be registered. In general, the purpose of these sites is to share knowledge, and others can correct or extend the knowledge that another one had shared before. In this way, you get a very broad, contrasted and virtually without errors source of knowledge.
What is MediaWiki?
MediaWiki is, plainly, the software that Wikipedia uses. If someday, surfing the Internet, you have found a page almost like the Wikipedia (except for its contents), I bet you that it used MediaWiki. Is free software, which lets you have your own Wiki (if you have a web server) without much effort.
The difference between a Wiki and a forum, for example, is that in a forum you can write a message, and another user can respond to it, and so on. In a Wiki, however, you can modify another person’s message (article), supplementing or correcting it.
What websites are using MediaWiki?
Hundreds, thousands, millions? of web pages. Rare is the company dedicated to Internet business over 20 employees which doesn’t have an internal wiki. Most universities use some wikis to upload califications or homework. Even pages as diverse as Uncyclopedia (parody of Wikipedia, ideal for some laughs) or WikiNovela (a very strange project, aimed to create a wiki-shaped novel). And as anyone who wants it can have a Wiki, I’m sure the number will increase.
What is Wikimedia?
Wikimedia is a non-profit organization, which is behind projects such as Wikipedia (encyclopedia), among many others, including WikiQuote (famous quotes), Wiktionary (dictionary), Wikibooks (free books), etc. All these projects have in common that they use the MediaWiki system, sharing the same ideals of freedom.
What’s this article’s title?
The “wiki-” vogue. Well, simply this: the Wiki philosophy is in vogue, and even if someone says that word, we immediately think about the Wikipedia, many more websites are jumping on to this car. Without going any further, Google, with its “wikisearches”, lets get certain results appear first in your searches, or disappear, and share these preferences with your friends. Another approach to Wiki (reinvented) is Google Wave, a great page that I have spoken about on another occasion.
Everything “wiki-” seems to sell more, and more importantly: if you have a “traditional” website (eg this blog), if you want to fill it with content, you must write it yourself. In contrast, in a Wiki, the work is shared among all those able and willing to cooperate (by the way, making the owner of the site work less). It’s the Web 2.0 philosophy, the Web focused on the user, the Internet user is a content creator, instead a simple reader.
Tell us about the future
I still have to buy a crystal ball … well, here we go.
It’s clear that Wikipedia will continue to grow or, at least, it will remain the indisputable reference website. Google Wave is the latest example of a Wiki hybrid system, but certainly it won’t be the last one. Systems in which any person can complete the information on a page will be increasingly common, kicking in the Web 2.0: Internet is no more a book that you can only read its pages, to become a worldwide network of people, opinions and knowledge.
Yes, I know that my prediction is quite ambiguous, but honestly, I don’t know what will be invented next year on Internet software… because if I did, I’d invent it first hahaha.
