Have you ever used a Wiki? A Wiki is a collaborative, cooperative web site, usually open for anyone (and everyone) to contribute towards. Sounds chaotic, doesn’t it.
On first encounter, most people (myself included), think that the idea that everyone is an editor must lead to a low signal-to-noise ratio - to a site that contains little of worth.
Strangely enough, wikis work. Most have a lot of high quality content, and very little noise. They just tend to be a little disorganised - some call it organic.
I’ve read the Original Wiki extensively (and contributed a little). It makes fascinating reading - all content and no bells and whistles. If you want fancy web design, this ain’t the site for you. But if you want real content, reasoned discussion about professional development … that’s another matter.
This Wiki has over 20,000 pages of content, most of it useful and interesting.
My thoughts on Wiki’s were prompted by an article I saw today on Artima, where Ward Cunningham talks about his motivations when developing the idea of a wiki.
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