What is a Wiki?

From Wikipedia

A wiki (IPA: [ˈwɪ.kiː] or [ˈwiː.kiː]^[1]) is a website that allows visitors to add, remove, and edit content.^[2] A collaborative technology for organizing information on Web sites, the first wiki (WikiWikiWeb) was developed by Ward Cunningham in the mid-1990s.^[3][4] Wikis allow for linking among any number of pages. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for mass collaborative authoring.^[5] Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, is probably the best known wiki.^[4]

Wikis that are editable by the general public (such as Wikipedia) have been criticized for their reliability, simply because certain individuals may maliciously introduce disinformation.^[4] Proponents rely on their community of users who can catch malicious content and correct it. Wikis in general make a basic assumption of the goodness of people.^[4]

From Wiktionary

A collaborative website which can be directly edited by anyone with access to it.

From Meredith Farkas, creator of Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki

"In my opinion, there really is no better way of collecting knowledge from a diverse group of people online than a wiki."

Some Ways of Looking at Wikis

• It's not about elaborate design, it's about content.
• It's not about presentation of information, it's about collaboration.
• It's not about one or a few people sharing their knowledge, it's about the collective wisdom of an entire community of people.