Exploring Wikis: Instiki

Instiki

Instiki is another tool used to build Wikis. It is built using Ruby on Rails and runs as a standalone server. It can run on Linux, Windows and Mac.

It provides the usual features of wikis including version control, access to multiple authors,etc.
In addition, it provides the ability to add RSS feeds to postings, regular expression search,etc.

The instiki website lists many web websites that use instiki. This wiki is a easy to install and decently user friendly. I have it instaleed on an XP box on my home server. In my experience, itis slow across my home network.

Have you used instiki? How? Please let me know your experience with this wiki tool.

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Exploing Wikis: Mediawiki

Mediawiki


The word wiki is derived froma Hawaiian word for 'fast'. A wiki is a collaborative website used by individuals and organizations used for the organization and management of knowledge. A wiki can be easily edited by all those authorized to edit it. Typically wikis make it easy to edit,add new pages, make changes to existing pages or revert to previous versions of pages in the wevbsite. To enable this functionality, Wikis keep track of changes made to them.

Individuals can use wikis for note taking. Students could use a wiki as a collaborative tool. At MIT the project teams I belonged to used Wikis for knowledge,schedule and status management. Organizations use wikis to track projects, maintain manuals, to brainstorm ideas and as a repository to share and access information.

A wiki can have one or more adminstrators who may set the access privileges(read or write) to all those who use the wiki. In these series of articles we will take a look at several tools used to create wikis.
Wikipedia is probably the most well-known wiki. Theoretically it is the
encyclopedia that anyone can edit. The reality is that there are only some authorized to make changes to Wikipedia. Dedicated administrators monitor Wikipedia and act as gatekeepers to its contents. In these series of articles we will look at different tools used to create wikis.

Mediawiki
Do you want to make a wiki out of the same raw-material used to create Wikipedia? You can and you can do it for free. Mediawiki can help you set up the wiki. Earlier we took a look at XAMPP a software application suite that creates a website with the Apache webserver and has it running in minutes. Once you set up your Apache webserver with the MySql database, you can quicky install MediaWiki to it.

When you do install Mediawiki, you have a wiki that has the look and feel of Wikipedia. Lifehacker has a couple of great articles on installing and running Mediawiki. Mediawiki installed on a websever on your home network may be a great way to collaborate with family members and share useful information.

I plan to write about several tools used to build wikis. I'd like to if you have favourite wiki application and if you do what you like about it. Please answer this query in the comments below.
Related articles:
Customize MediaWiki into Your Ultimate Collaborative Web Site
Geek to Live: Set up your personal Wikipedia
Run Your Personal Wikipedia from a USB Stick

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My Web 2.0 Surfings for 10-16-2008

Jimmy Wales: How a ragtag band created Wikipedia

• Wales begins by saying that there is nothing radical about Britannica since 1962.
• Wikipedia, began with a very radical idea where anyone has access to the 'Sum of all knowledge'.
• It is written using wiki software and is run by volunteers.
• It is owned by the non-profit Wiki media Foundation founded by Wales.
• The goal of Wikipedia is to empower anyone, which is why it has an open licensing model so that entrepreneurs can use the content anyway they like.
• It is funded by donations and it takes surprisingly little to run.
  
• It has 2 million entries.
  
• Only 1/3rd of the traffic is to English websites.
• It is more popular than New York Times.
• NY times has several employees.

• Wikipedia has only one employee, a lead software developer.
• They have 90 servers in 3 locations managed by volunteers.
• It is like having a standby crew 24/7

How good is it?

• When quality checks are done, Wikipedia wins hands down.
• It is not perfect.
• The Bush-Kerry controversy articles were edited too often and had to be locked for a while.
  
• The controversies in Wikipedia, the media fusses about, are overblown.
  
• Most people seek neutrality.
  
• No side has a monopoly on ideas.

How is quality managed?

• Keeping the point of view neutral.
• Wikipedians do not talk about the truth and objectivity.
• Wikipedia does not take a stand on any subject.
• Every change goes to a 'recent changes' page that many have as watchlists.
• If someone vandalizes a page, the volunteers can restore that page.
• Wikipedia does have edits by many users. -Only 18% is done by anonymous users.
• It has 40 IRC channels and the people who work on the site are always in communication.
• These are semi professional smart people.
• Within the community the rules are left open ended.
• Deleting is done based on a voting system, the 'Google' test, etc.
• This is a more a dialog than a vote.

How is it Governed

• A confusion but a workable mix.
• Some amount of democracy
• The deleters are elected by the community.
• Some aristocrats in the community(Rick Kay and Angela)
• Wales is the monarch. ;)

In closing the Wikipedia people are not anarchists.
See the presentation here.

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