Ways To Use Wiki

Wiki is having an impact on society, and has, by the nature of its flexibility, ease of use, extensability and simplicity, affected the ways some people view and use information. Even though other ways of interaction and collaboration are being discovered, experimented with with varying degrees of success, it may be that wiki is really only an InfantTechnology? which has been steadily maturing, extending and proliferating by its being put to many innovative uses. There are those who perceive in this NobleExperiment a potential for use which is only beginning to penetrate minds and processes. Is wiki a new way of relating to and expressing information? Is wiki more than a place, more than the relating of stories, ideas, ramblings and rants? Perhaps WardCunningham's contribution of wiki and the book WikiWay, gives us a glimpse of just what this technology really is: It is a "way", that is to say both a method and a means, a way to do things and a way to change things. It has truly had a profound effect on the way I not only see things, but also the way I use things. Where does it go from here? What uses can be seen for its "way"? This page intends to identify how it has been adopted, applied and used by individuals and groups, along with the "way" it has changed communication and collaboration in the process. --DonaldNoyes

Extracted from wiki pages :

My preferred way of using Wiki

Following certain persons participation
- to read your contributions. -- DierkKoenig (of KeithBraithwaite)
In the workplace
- we are using a small wiki for keeping Iteration Plans and Tech Notes. The wiki code is so simple it's a cinch to edit. We added an embedded dotgraph gizmo and SQL syntax coloring in an evening. If your folks are worried about security, why not add page versioning and keep all the old copies. Every so often, run through and dump out the old stuff or save it to an archive file. For more paranoid types, also keep the id of the machine that did the deed and/or add tracking cookies. Regular backups don't hurt either. -- EricBennett
- we are using a wiki at work for systems documentation, and every week in the staff meeting the director has the wiki on the big screen projector and types the minutes as the meeting goes along. Every time this happens in a meeting, the activity of the wiki is high for the rest of the day. -- SteveWainstead
- I ... created a wiki designed to support a small group of amateur artists/authors/etc... however, since most aren't WikiAddicts? like myself, they wouldn't have been comfortable with the idea of their work being editable. So I made it possible to have two parts to a page; one being a static part that can contain text and/or artwork, and another which is a standard wiki. That way people can post their work without worrying that it's going to be altered somehow. -- DanielChurch
- I'll also note that sometimes wiki just isn't worthwhile, particularly in many work domains. Wiki is a tool, just like anything else, and while it's fabulous in some cases, there are places where its advantages are dubious at best. I wouldn't want to replace the InternalRevenueService?? (as an American example) Web site with a wiki. It would be defaced too often. This isn't a weakness in wiki; wiki's just not appropriate in that sort of situation. An alternative is to create a Web site that is partially a standard Web site and partially a wiki, and grow the wiki content over time. This allows you to control that content that you want to control, but also encourage wiki pages to build themselves when there's a need to do so. -- BrentNewhall
- As a wiki (and TestFirst) evangelist at a new job, I installed EddiesWiki here, and started to put info in it that my colleagues should read at need, but which would have otherwise fallen thru the cracks:
  - If I write an e-mail to tell you X that you'll need to review later, you'll read the e-mail now. If I wiki the information, and send you the link, then later, when you need to review, you'll go to the wiki and follow the links ...
- April, 2003 - Wow! I just figured out how to run my own PersonalWiki without worrying about any kind of nonsense with cgi or html server on windows, or any other kind of special software. EddiesWiki runs completely on its own without a hitch! Now I can even write some documents for package and deliver by using wiki! -- MattSimpson
- About a decade ago we began adopting use cases as a better way to manage requirements. Just within the past year I've begun using wiki webs to hold use case-oriented requirements specifications (see http://www.usecases.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?WikiBasedRequirementsSpecifications), and just within the past couple days I've thought about writing patterns on how to do that. I agree innovation is exciting, but I think it's still possible within the context of crystalizing knowledge. --RS
- Over the years of using Wiki, my philosophy has oh so slowly changed from
  - trying to figure out the right way to do things, to
  - collecting what works -- SS

Others expressions and comments:

When you find someones comments agreeable, you might find other comments and contributions also to your liking. Go to their home page, click on the title and follow backlinks which fit your interests.

Pages with references to specific ways wiki can be and is used: WardsWiki

OtherSites?