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A wiki is a type of web site that allows anyone to add content as well as edit content that has been added by other people. A major feature of wikis is their ease of use, and it is not necessary to know HTML (hypertext markup language) or other web technologies. All that is generally necessary in order to add or modify content is to type the desired text in a box in a web browser and press a few buttons. Wiki's can be an excellent way of generating and improving content, because they make it so easy for anyone to participate. The outstanding example is the Wikipedia, which is an online encyclopedia. The Wikipedia has a vast number of articles, many of which have a very good quality, and it is one of the most widely visited web sites. However, there are also some problems with wikis. One is that the great majority of the vast number that have been launched are not particularly successful. A major problem is lack of user participation. Even the Wikipedia has some problems, which include long-running disagreements among authors, occasional poor writing and vandalism. A number have been developed to deal with these problems, and they have had varying degrees of success. One of them is requiring contributors to register and provide a valid e-mail address. Another is the use of editors to review content. Wiki means quick in the Hawaiian language. Its first use in a user-generated content context was in 1994 by Ward Cunningham, a computer programmer. The Hawaiian word had stuck in Cunningham's mind after because an employee at Honolulu International Airport told him some time earlier to take the so-called wiki-wiki shuttle bus that runs between the airport's terminals. Created October 23, 2006. |