A wiki is essentially a website that anyone can edit.
Yes, that means change, add to, delete... anything you want. But that's not
to say that you can't make users 'log in', lock pages from editing or add
any other functionality you want.
For example, PHPWiki is a simple wiki whereas TikiWiki is a fully functional
'groupware' system based on a wiki.
Wikis almost always rely on 'soft
security' - so it's easier to clean up any graffiti than it is to make
it.
And people aren't that motivated to do it in the first place!
Probably the best way to figure out how to use a wiki is
to try one out. Click here to play with the incorporated subversion
wiki's sandpit (register
first - necessary to beat the emerging problem of wikispam!).
In education wikis are frequently used as tools for collaboration or
sharing of materials. For example if learners are collaboratively creating
anything in text they can do it using a wiki. Wikis can also be a motivating
medium for sharing work or developing portfolios & collections (for
example, of creative writing).
Brian Lamb's Wide
Open Spaces: Wikis, Ready or Not explains much of the potential
of wikis and A
Catalog of CoWeb Uses (.pdf) is a great set of examples of wiki
use.
Phpwiki is
a straightforward wiki tool and a clone of the original WikiWikiWeb.
here.
Tiki is a hugely
functional wiki / content management system. If you're after a wiki
that will do whatever you want then this is for
you... you'll have to put in the hours to get it sorted first though! Try
out an incsub version here.
We're more than happy to investigate hosting other php / MySQL wikis
like PMWiki or others.
