What is a Wiki? "A Wiki can be thought of as a combination of a Web site and a Word document. At its simplest, it can be read just like any other web site, with no access privileges necessary, but its real power lies in the fact that groups can collaboratively work on the content of the site using nothing but a standard web browser. Beyond this ease of editing, the second powerful element of a wiki is its ability to keep track of the history of a document as it is revised. Since users come to one place to edit, the need to keep track of Word files and compile edits is eliminated. Each time a person makes changes to a wiki page, that revision of the content becomes the current version, and an older version is stored. Versions of the document can be compared side-by-side, and edits can be rolled back if necessary." -- Science of Spectroscopy

Wikis in Plain English (from Common Craft)

How to use this wiki

How to add content

1. First you must create a Wet Paint account and register to use the site.
2. Once registered, you can edit an existing page or create a new one. Use the tool links in the "Page Toolox" on the right (visible after you log in).
3. Use the "Navigation" menu in the upper left to find the appropriate page.
4. Note that the site is organized by nesting pages. For instance, if you want to create a page within the category of Transportation, go the the Transportation page before adding a new page; or you can select the page location from the menu when you create a page.
5. Don't worry if you make a mistake. Anyone registered to use the wiki can fix it, including you! That's the beauty of a wiki!
6. You can practice adding pages and content in the Sandbox area.

Wiki Ettiquette

Rule 1: Contribute some, edit often. The beauty of a wiki is the users can add to improve upon eachother's ideas. Contribute something, no matter how small or rough, and let others improve it.

Rule 2: Preserve the integrity of other's contributions. Edit to improve, not to eliminate. You may disagree with what another person has contributed. Try editing the entry to achieve a "neutral point of view" a perspective that acknowledges different ideas and notes weaknesses and strengths. An ecyclopedia entry shouuld be your model.

Rule 3: Use the forum to debate, discuss and muse. Each page has a discussion forum attached to it at the bottom. Use this for hashing things out.

Wiki Roles

Highly used wikis develop their own culture where users find their own unique roles. See the Wiki Patterns web site for some discussion of this. Perhaps you will become of the following:

WikiGnome

• A WikiGnome is a person who performs small edits on a wiki to continually improve its overall quality . (A WikiGnome is also often known as a WikiGardener) WikiGnomes are important to the success of a wiki because their edits increase the value of everyone else's content, such as:
• Cosmetic editing to keep the wiki from being overrun with "weeds" (typos, misspellings, poorly structured sentences and paragraphs)
• Add or fix links to make sure relevant content is navigable within the wiki
• Improve the flow and clarity of content improve the readability of the page
• Setting an example for other users of how and when to use the wiki.

Maintainer

• A maintainer is a person assigned or self-assigned to a page, space or section of a wiki who accountably takes responsibility for the quality of some of the content. The role may include that of a:
• secretary, collecting information from comments and meetings into the wiki
• refactorer, collapsing redundancy and inserting organization into a wiki
• solicitor, encouraging input from community members
• architect, categorizing pages, creating 'project' and 'overview' pages, assigning meanings to labels

Champion

• A passionate, enthusiastic champion is essential to the success of wiki because s/he will be able to generate interest, give the appropriate amount of training for each person at the right time, monitor growth of the tool and fix problems that could derail adoption.