How to Start and Lead a Wiki

By STC Online SIG February 2006

What is a wiki?

A wiki is an application running on a web server that allows anyone to edit a web page through a web browser, in an HTML form. Wiki pages typically are visible to all on the World Wide Web, and wikis generally allow any visitor to create an account and edit the wiki. A wiki may also run on a corporate intranet and be used for work on specifications or for learning. The name "wiki" comes from the Hawaiian "wikiwiki" meaning quick. The first wiki was created in 1995 by Ward Cunningham, WikiWikiWeb on the Portland Pattern Repository, http://c2.com/cgi-bin/wiki?WelcomeVisitors.

Features of a wiki

Look at existing wikis and decide the features that you want.

Wikipedia runs on MediaWiki software, which is derived from UseModWiki in the tradition of WikiWikiWeb, the first wiki. TikiWiki is also popular.

Steps to set up a wiki

  1. Determine how to host your wiki. Use a host that has a wiki or offers what is needed to build a wiki. Typically MySQL, PHP and Apache are required, but other configurations are supported depending on the wiki software.
  2. As needed, modify the Apache configuration or add MySQL databases and tables.
  3. Select and set up a license for the content of your wiki, such as the GNU Free Documentation License and Creative Commons license.
  4. Establish a focus for the wiki and guidelines. Clearly communicate these to visitors. Some wikis have few guidelines for content, style, length, or relevance. Their owners feel the more open the contributions allowed, the better.
  5. Publicize the wiki. Expect to continue this process over a long period of time.

How to add, change, and view pages on a wiki

  1. To create a new page, create a link to that page. To create the first page in a particular project on a wiki, create a link from the main page.
  2. To create a link to an existing or a new page within a wiki, put the title in double brackets, for example [[New Page]].
  3. If you want to create a new page as a subpage of the current page, if the syntax is enabled, make the link in the form [[/New Page]] for a relative link from the current page only, or [[Current_Page/New Page]] for an absolute link which could be from any page in the wiki.
  4. To put content on a new page, click the link you created for the new page, and on that page click the Edit tab. In the box, type the content. Click Save.
  5. To edit a previously existing page, navigate to that page and click the Edit tab. In the box, add or change content. Click Save.
  6. To view the "Talk" or "Discussion" page for an Article page, click the Discussion tab. Add relevant comments as close as possible to the bottom; sign with four tildes to add your username (~~~~). Click the Article tab to return to the page.
  7. To change the title of a page, click the Move button and enter the new title. Move the discussion page with the page.

Key formatting actions in a wiki

  1. Put your mouse over each of the buttons at the top of the editing box, to see what they do; experiment.
  2. To format something, for example, a header or a list, find a page with the formatting you want, click Edit, and copy the formatted text. Click Cancel. Return to the page you are working on, click Edit, and paste. Then change the content. Refer to the Help files for more information, and to the users' guide (http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki_User's_Guide for MediaWiki).
  3. To create a link to an external website, put the URL and name of the website in square brackets: [http://www.URL.com/ Name of Website]. This is rendered: Name of Website (http://www.URL.com/).

Tracking of changes in a wiki

When someone edits a page in a wiki, a line automatically appears in the "Recent Changes" list. Every time someone adds to, edits on, or deletes from a page, that change is logged. Small changes and large ones each are represented by on line.

  1. Click the link for Recent Changes to see the list.
  2. Click the History tab at the top of any page to see the list of changes for that page.
  3. Set up a Watchlist to keep track of changes on pages you are interested in. On the page of interest, click the Watch tab at the top OR in edit mode check the Watch box.
  4. To view pages on the watchlist, click the Watchlist link.
  5. To remove a page from the watchlist, on that page click the Unwatch tab.

Sources

How to Start a Wiki, eHow.com.

IGDAwiki: Quick Start Guide. International Game Developers Association.

Wiki Science: How to start a Wiki, Wikibooks.org. This page has an extensive list of free and paid web hosting services.

Resources

Wiki hosting services reviewed (wiki farms)

Wiki hosting and wikis to edit, http://www.wikicities.com/wiki/Wikicities

Wiki software (wiki engines) http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiEngines

Wiki software comparison, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_wiki_software

Top ten wiki engines, http://c2.com/cgi-bin/wiki?TopTenWikiEngines

Comparison table, http://www.wikimatrix.org/

Choosing a Wiki, http://c2.com/cgi-bin/wiki?ChoosingaWiki

Wikipedia Talk Page Guidelines, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Talk_page_guidelines

MediaWiki User's Guide, http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki_User's_Guide