Wiki: Pedia

A wiki is a website designed for collaborative editing, letting many people create, update, and organize content directly in a web browser.

Wikis prioritize ease of use and openness: pages can be added or changed without technical expertise, and most track every edit so changes can be reviewed or undone.

Common features
- **Collaborative editing:** Numerous contributors can work on pages, sometimes simultaneously.
- **Edit history:** Every modification is recorded with a timestamp and the editor’s identity or IP address.
- **Interlinking:** It’s easy to create links between pages, forming an interconnected knowledge base.
- **Lightweight markup:** Pages are typically formatted with lightweight markup like WikiText or Markdown.
- **Permission settings:** Access controls vary — from fully open editing to permissions for certain users or groups.
- **Discussion pages:** Dedicated discussion pages enable contributors to coordinate and discuss content.

Frequent uses
- Community knowledge bases such as Wikipedia
- Project documentation and internal company knowledge repositories
- Group writing and collaborative note-taking
- School and instructional projects

Advantages
- **Fast collaboration:** Many people can collaborate and iterate quickly on content.
- **Openness:** Edit histories and talk pages reveal how content decisions were made.
- **Expandable:** They scale organically as users add more pages and topics.

Limitations
- **Vandalism and false information:** Public editing can lead to vandalism or incorrect information.
- **Inconsistent quality:** Articles can differ greatly in depth, tone, and reliability.
- **Organizational issues:** Lack of structure or rules can lead to disorganization and conflicts.

Example
- **Wikipedia** — the best-known wiki, run by the Wikimedia Foundation and built by volunteer contributors worldwide.