Wiki: Pedia

<p>Wikis are websites built for collaborative authoring, allowing numerous contributors to add, edit, and structure content online. Simplicity and openness are central to wikis: anyone can often add or change pages without technical knowledge, and edits are usually logged for review or rollback. Main features - **Collaborative editing:** Several contributors can edit pages, sometimes at the same time. - **Edit history:** Each change is logged with a time and the editor’s name or IP. - **Interlinking:** Creating links among pages is straightforward, which helps interconnect content. - **Lightweight markup:** Simple markup languages (such as WikiText or Markdown) are used to format pages. - **Permission settings:** Some wikis are open to anyone; others limit edits to registered users or specific groups. - **Discussion pages:** Dedicated discussion pages enable contributors to coordinate and discuss content. Typical uses - Community knowledge bases such as Wikipedia - Internal documentation and company knowledge bases - Group writing and collaborative note-taking - School and instructional projects Benefits - **Fast collaboration:** Contributors can rapidly create and improve content. - **Openness:** Edit histories and talk pages reveal how content decisions were made. - **Expandable:** They scale organically as users add more pages and topics. Drawbacks - **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** — a well-known wiki operated by the Wikimedia Foundation and written by volunteers around the globe.</p>