What’s a Wiki?

I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes we in the RSS world throw geeky terms around like everybody else should know what they mean. But you don’t need to feel left out if you still think that a wiki is a watering hole in the Star Wars films.

So what is a wiki? Type wiki into Google and you will find a definition something along the lines of “a website or online resource that lets users collectively add and edit content.” The best-known online wiki is Wikipedia, a popular collaborative encyclopedia. Search for a subject in which you are interested and see what Wikipedia comes up with. My own experience has been mixed, depending on the subject matter and the writer. But it’s a good place to get basic information about almost any subject.

Another example of how a wiki works can be found in The New York Times, which set one up on the topic of Bridge Disasters after the 35W collapse in Minneapolis. The Times created a wiki site which, besides running current stories on the recovery efforts, gathers together as much information – timelines, documents, articles, websites, photographs, video, reader comments – into one place. Confused by the Times reporters’ analysis of the documents? Read them yourself and draw your own conclusions.

Like anything posted on the Internet, all information on a wiki is as good or trustworthy as the source who wrote it. Take anything you read on the Internet with a certain caution. That said, wikis are an excellent way to find pertinent and relevant information about a subject.