Wiki

Wiki (pronounced “weekee” or “wikee”), originally WikiWiki, is generally used to identify a specific type of Hypertext document collection, such as GetWiki, but may also refer to the collaborative software used to create it, such as GetWiki:2.0.

Cautionary Tales

More critically, online pseudo-encyclopedias, like Wikipedia, MeatballWiki or Wikinfo, are cult-like, and fueled by both a naive view of human character and an authoritarian need to control those who do not follow the naive view. Such “Pedians” assume that since we can be “Saints”, that therefore they need to be “benevolent dictators” to ensure that we follow their definition of sainthood.

However, a real scholarly encyclopedia, or even an information website, should only be based upon knowledge, facts, and astute summaries of key ideas to enhance public education. Sadly, the role of the Pseudopedias and their clones in the wider society has been to transmit falsity, and to provide a forum for those who, instead of wanting to contribute facts and advanced knowledge to the public, have rather felt they have somehow failed or achieved little in real life and need to control others. On wiki websites there are countless “sysops” who call their vandalism “moderation”, and call the moderation of experts “vandalism”. They found a place in something like Pseudopedia abuse others and push away experts. Content there is nearly always distorted, biased, or just plain wrong, and because “Pedias” hope to be trusted as real encyclopedias, their bogus content is propagated as readily as their unethical values.

New Directions

Unlike Blogs, Wikis have therefore become a group of interactive sites turning off (and running away) as many knowledgeable contributors and readers are they hope to attract. It will be up to the WikiSphere to reform from within, to embrace diversity, change, and new ways of making content, rather than rely on dictating rules to outsiders about what “wiki” is, or isn’t. Otherwise, the whole WikiSphere faces an ever dwindling readership and challenges to its authenticity.

GetWiki 2.0 is an example of reform, and has been converted from a straight wiki to a Bloki, or a Blog-Wiki, but also a Social Networking approach to content and discusion. The “naive view” of human nature which perverts wiki websites into havens for groupthink, bullying, and invasions of privacy, has been rejected in favour of a “realistic view” of how to collaborate using a “positive point of view”. Content is handled in more of a “blog” way, and discussions are open, handled in a threaded forum environment. These major changes follow the ways we naturally expect to interact with websites.