On Mon, 10 May 2004, David Reid wrote: > At first I thought it would be a great idea... But then I got to thinking > that if this followed the concept of a traditional Wikiwikieb, when an > author/contributor submits a topic of discussion, and the context, > completeness or accuracy of that topic get's FUBAB'ed, is the original > author gonna continue maintenance on the page/topic/thread/doc?
And of course, this gets right to the crux of the biscuit. A wiki web site (for those who have already asked me off-list) is one where all pages can be edited by anyone at any time. The term 'wiki' is supposedly Hawaiian meaning 'quick', and a wiki web site makes creating content very easy and quick. Anyone can add a page or a link, or change existing text. However... pages are archived and users can see all the changes too. Unpopular changes can be changed back -- by anyone. But the neat thing is that a community can build a body of information organized and cross-referenced in whatever way the participants think is important. The original wiki web is at http://c2.com/cgi-bin/wiki?WikiWikiWeb if you want to get a taste. However, I like the PhpWiki version at http://phpwiki.sourceforge.net/phpwiki/ (simpler syntax, more expressive, and I already have Php and MySQL set up.) But back to the biscuit and its crux. I think authors in a wiki environment would just have embrace the fact that they're writing in sand on a virtual beach... below the high tide line. Grok the aesthetics of wabi-sabi. But from what I've seen of the active wiki sites, they seem to be strangely stable and flourishing even though they seem so exposed to abuse. I would like to believe that good backups and an active community who keep the place tidy and interesting would be all that's needed. But read the WhyWikiWorks and WhyWikiWorksNot links on any wiki site and decide for yourself. What could we do with it? For starters, we could build a pretty good knowledge base... for MapInfo, MapBasic, .NET, MapInfo bugs and work-arounds, or like you see in the wiki SandBox links, we could just screw around. Basically, I see it as something somewhere (think spatially now) inside the triangle of a mailing list, a web site and a chat group. I think this group could do something with a wiki site. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge... anyone want to set one up? - Bill Thoen --------------------------------------------------------------------- List hosting provided by Directions Magazine | www.directionsmag.com | To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message number: 11685
