Wikipedia defines a wiki as “a page or collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language.” Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites.”
Etymologically, “ “Wiki" (/wiːkiː/) is a Hawaiian word for "fast. "Wiki Wiki" is a reduplication. "Wiki" can be expanded as "What I Know Is", but this is a backronym” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki).
So wikis have been big news for several years – but are they really so new?
Recently I have been fortunate enough to collaborate with a number of inspired professionals to enrich my practice, study and life at large. It is, in essence, an offline wiki. The sparkstorm of ideas that often ensues is one that simply cannot be tied down to one member of the group. Who is the author when an idea when it is built on contributions of different people?
This is social construction of knowledge at its finest. In fact, it is construction of knowledge that often does not yet exist. Construction at the very last outposts of knowledge.
Collaboration and the exhilarating synergy it brings is not new. But wikis have reminded us that the whole can be so much greater than the sum of the parts.
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