"This month, I'll examine TWiki, a tool that can be
used for online collaboration. It's free, powerful and relatively
easy to setup. The name TWiki is a nod to the original Wiki and the
weird little robot from the 80s TV show, Buck Rogers in the 25th
Century. (Interesting bit o' trivia -- the voice for TWiki was
provided by the legendary Mel Blanc for part of the series run.)
The word Wiki itself comes from wiki wiki, which is a Hawaiian
phrase meaning "quick." The original Wiki was created by Ward
Cummingham, and the concept has taken off in a big way. There are
now many Wiki clones written in a variety of languages. A Wiki is a
collaborative online environment that allows anyone (by default,
anyway) to add or edit material. It goes beyond simple text editing
by making it easy to link pages and implement search features and
revision control.
TWiki is somewhat complicated to use. Potential contributors
must learn TWiki shorthand in order to create and edit pages. Many
Wikis require users to register before contributing; the
combination of intellectual investment and exposed identity reduce
the Anonymous Coward phenomenon that often reduces online
communities to inane chatter. (The concept of allowing anyone to
post anonymously is, in my opinion, vastly overrated.)
Additionally, the constant revision factor means that banal and
useless content will probably wind up on the virtual cutting room
floor soon enough. If the majority of contributors are concerned
about the quality of the information, anything that is off-topic
will get weeded out."
