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[Contributing Editor Laura Scott blogs at rare pattern and pingVision.]
Wikis are hardly a new thing, but it seems that in 2006 we're seeing the more widespread adoption of wikis outside of the tech-savvy realm. Wikis are going big.
The Wikipedia (today) defines wiki as:
a type of website that allows users to easily add, remove, or otherwise edit all content, very quickly and easily, sometimes without the need for registration. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for collaborative writing.
Of course, the Wikipedia is itself a wiki ... and is something I find myself using daily, especially to look up technical jargon and specifications. But what about in politics, public health and shopping? Read on....
Wiki politics
The latest is the Congresspedia, launched today by the Center for Media and Democracy and the Sunlight Foundation. In their blog announcement, they describe the project's genesis:
We created Congresspedia because we were inspired with the wealth of information people had collaborated to create on wikis like Wikipedia, the Flu wiki and SourceWatch. We wanted to construct a new resource for citizens to research their members of Congress and inform their fellow citizens. In the spirit of "many hands make light work," we believe that by providing a platform to harness the efforts of the millions of people who use the web to read and write about our government, we can aggregate much of that labor into a central repository of information that will serve as a comprehensive record of the actions of our members of Congress. We think the format of Congresspedia will allow it to fill a role that blogs and news articles cannot by crafting living histories that fight the "memory hole effect" of coverage disappearing behind paywalls and into blog archives.
In addition, Congresspedia will benefit from the contributions and enterprise reporting of the Sunlight Foundation's bloggers, who will work with citizen journalists to produce original reporting that will be fed into Congresspedia. Down the road we hope to integrate the different money in politics databases Sunlight is funding into the site to provide even more tools for our contributors to rake the muck. Congresspedia is also overseen by a staff editor (me), who will provide fact checking and guidance to citizen contributors. The editor will work with the Congresspedia/SourceWatch community to review contributions for appropriateness, accuracy and non-partisanship.
Wiki flu
Also relatively new is the Flu Wiki (with a woeful misspelling in its URL):
Before the present avian flu pandemic, these tasks were formerly ceded to local, state, national and international public health agencies. But no one, in any health department or government agency, knows all the things needed to cope with an influenza pandemic. The world is filled with competent others who are likely to have credible and useful information about some aspect of each of these tasks. By pooling and sharing our knowledge, we hope to advance both preparation for and the ability to cope with events as they unfold.
Flu Wiki is not meant to be a substitute for planning, preparation and implementation by civil authorities, but instead is a parallel effort that complements, supports and extends those efforts. And while there are a small group of editors who will continue to administer and maintain the Wiki, it is the users of Flu Wiki who will shape its utility and relevance based on the contributions they make. We hope you will find the instructions sufficient to get started. You'll soon be learning on your own.
Wiki shopping
A fun new wiki is the ShopWiki, which is still in beta, and invites shoppers to contribute to the site:
- The wiki premise is simple: Every user has the ability to change, edit and update content on the site. It also means that every user that contributes to the site becomes a part of our wiki community.
- This site features numerous buying and gift guides to help narrow down your search options. Written by users like yourself, ShopWiki buying guides define some of the complex terms and give the insight you desire to find the best product for your needs.
- Want to contribute? Check out our writing wiki content page for some helpful tips.
The site also uses AJAX, which is how websites these days can update their pages right in front of your eyes, without a time-consuming page re-load. (For example, on this search page for PDAs, start typing in a brand name in the "Brand" box, and watch
