Happy Birthday Wiki!

Today I'm celebrating the birthday of the world's first wiki. On this date in 1995, WikiWikiWeb, created by Ward Cunningham, was made public. A wiki is a user-editable website. Cunningham came up with the name when remembering a recommendation to take the Wiki Wiki Shuttle at the Honolulu International Airport. Wiki is a Hawaiian word for fast. His idea was to make the pages quickly editable by users. After initially thinking about naming it "QuickWeb" he settled on WikiWikiWeb. The software and website were developed in 1994 by Cunningham in order to make the exchange of ideas between programmers easier. Over time, the actual site has become to be known as WardsWiki.

Don't think this creation is just for geeks though. I've created many wikis on various topics. Even my Mom (a senior adult) manages her own wiki! There are thousands of wikis on the Web today. Who hasn't heard of Wikipedia? Also, WikiLeaks has certainly been in the news during the last year.

Maybe you've thought about hanging a shingle on the World Wide Web. Sure, practically everyone is on Facebook these days -- but often you need a place to publish information and files. Plus, many need a place where a group or team can share information or collaborate in developing content. A wiki may be the solution for you. Using a wiki farm (or wiki service), you can easily create web-based content. No technical expertise (e.g., no programming code, no special language) is required for many WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) wiki services. Wikis can help eliminate the e-mail threads among group members in communicating and obtaining information. With wikis, you can make real-time updates of web-based content, without waiting for the technical support team to update web server files. You can avoid transferring document attachments to a distribution list through e-mail. You can access current information real-time -- no longer referencing outdated documents or attachments that you previously received. You can build and manage communities using wikis!

Ok, you may be wondering how a wiki could be used by you. Here is just a short list of examples:

• Make a travel scrapbook
• Organize the carpool to school, rehearsals, or sports practices
• Create a website about your hobby
• Create a website for your small business
• Log your favorite recipes on a site -- and just logon from the ski cabin next winter
• Create an emergency contact site for your family members to connect during times of crisis
• Create a home inventory (using a private wiki that only your family can edit and view)
• Create a site for your book club
• Create a site for your group to write a book
• Make a site to plan your next party
• Make a site to plan the school trip
• A reunion site for your class or family
• Create the site for your child's sport team (e.g., with practice and game schedules, listing who's responsible for team snacks, to post team photos, to post game statistics)

You can learn everything about wikis from Everything Wiki -- it's a wiki about wikis! If you want to share a wiki with the world, post a comment on the Wiki'd Places blog.

Image credit: www.thecontentwrangler.com