Wikis

According to Wikipedia, the best-known wiki, and the Oxford English Dictionary, the authoritative source of meaning and usage of the English language, a wiki is a "collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone with access to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language."

The CommonCraft Show gives a nice, short description of Wikis in Plain English:


There are wikis about The Simpsons.
There are wikis about The Smithsonian.
There are big wikis, which cover thousands of topics in dozens of languages.
There are small wikis, which cover narrower topics like a single book.
There are wikis formatted specifically for mobile computing devices.
You can build your own, or contribute to an existing one.
Wikis can be password protected and private, or open for the world to see.
There are many options for hosting your wiki, both paid and free.
There is even a place (wikimatrix.com) where you can compare the features of 119 (!) different wiki platforms, features such as security, syntax features, usability, system requirements, etc. Novice users can create a wiki using a cross-platform, friendly interface wiki platform such as pbwiki.com, wikispaces.com, or even wetpaint.com. Advanced users or individuals who want to do some development in their wiki environment can surely find something on this list to appeal to them as well!

Why would you use a wiki in your organization? One word: Collaboration.

An example of a wiki about librarianship is Meredith Farkas' Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki.
Another is the LIS Wiki.
An example of a wiki at work in a library: The Pennsylvania State University Libraries Knowledgebase.
There are many others. Perhaps you have a favorite?