Wikis



=MediaWiki: Because ideas want to be free.=

=What is a wiki?= Wikis are websites developed by a user community. They allow users to add, delete, or edit content.

Mediawiki
MediaWiki is the power behind all of the famous Wikipedia sites. Wikipedia, established in 2001, was driven by UseModWiki on one server. As demand increased, performance suffered and a new method was needed to guide user inquiries through the ever expanding database. An interim solution was a MySQL database interfaced with PHP script software. This later was rewritten in 2002 to become the powerful MediaWiki software that guides our every inquiry through Wikipedia, Wikinews, Wikisource, Wiktionary, Wikibooks, Wikiquote, Wikiversity, and hundreds of personal, professional, and business websites.

=Who uses wikis?= Wikis were originally used by companies as one of their main collaborative software. Some __ schools __ and universities have also started using wikis to enhance group __ learning __.

=How is this relavent to techincal communication?= While MediaWiki is impressive, how does it enhance TechComm? Of course an obvious answer would seem to be, to create a Wiki! Wikis can be used for collaboration, project management, whiteboarding, brainstorming, and displaying metrics. Another idea is to incorporate a wiki into a blog. Now TechComm is full of writers and bloggers. Blogging offers a voice and outlet for writers but the blogging tools can be fairly limited. Add in the tools of a wiki and a blog becomes a power force for sharing and teaching. =About= As an extension of the 2001 PHP script developed by Magnus Manske, MediaWiki has undergone a very robust and continued cycle of updates. In November 2003 alone, three updates were released. 2011 saw the release of versions 1.17 and 1.18 with version 1.19 beginning release in April 2012. This continual updating has resulted in a robust PHP script/database combination capable of tracking, searching, recording and redistributing massive amounts of data. With over 3.9 Billion articles in the English language across about 350 servers MediaWiki has continued to show its strength and robustness.

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