Wikis – a primer
By Mary Ellen Slayter on December 17th, 2008 | 465Comment on this posthttp%3A%2F%2Fsmartblogs.com%2Fsocial-media%2F2008%2F12%2F17%2Fwikis-a-primer%2FWikis+-+a+primer2008-12-17+21%3A16%3A18Mary+Ellen+Slayterhttp%3A%2F%2Fsmartblogs.com%2Fsocialmedia%2F%3Fp%3D465
Today we continue our primer series with an excerpt from the IAB’s User Generated Content, Social Media, and Advertising – An Overview.
In its most basic sense, a Wiki is collaboration, a Web site built through the contributions of many individuals.
Though not all wikis are open to everyone—indeed, many require some kind of membership or qualification to contribute—they are in many ways the most democratic manifestation of user-generated content. These individuals may never meet, or live in the same country, or even communicate, but the principle behind wikis is simple: All the world’s expertise, knowledge, and creativity can be harnessed through Internet collaboration.
The most instructive and well-known example of a wiki is Wikipedia, the free online, publicly editable encyclopedia. Launched in 2001, it has quickly become one of the most prominent—even trusted—reference sites on the Web. As of December 2007, it boasted more than 2 million articles in 253 languages, making it the largest encyclopedia ever. (read more…)
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