<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

A wiki is a user-contributed and edited encyclopedia on the Internet.

The term originally comes from a Hawaiian word for "quick", and its use in this context was coined by programmer Ward Cunningham, who created the WikiWikiWeb. It is also now commonly conceived to mean "What I Know Is", which sums up the process neatly. The theory is that users will each contribute small pieces of knowledge in order to build up a large body.

There are challenges. Of course, people may post incorrect information, either accidentally or intentionally. However, wikis tend to be self-correcting. If someone posts the wrong date accidentally, and someone else changes it to the right one, the first person is unlikely to re-post the wrong date...they probably weren't certain initially.

In the case of vandalism, the moderators of the Wiki usually have some sort of control, and block a known vandal from access in the future. Other users will often address the issue as well: typically, more people want it to be right than want it to be wrong.

Wikis represent a form of "group wisdom". If a diverse group of people are asked individually to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar, the average number is more likely to be correct than any individual's answer. This issue is famously discussed in James Surowiecki's, The Wisdom of Crowds.

Sci Fi has been particularly well-suited for coverage in Wikis. Wikipedia, the most popula of the sites, has quite a bit of Sci Fi information. Wikis for individual Sci Fi works and universes have also been created, and can be rich sources of data.

Scifipedia itself is a Wiki.

External Links

• Wikipedia
• List of Wikis at Wikia.com (where people can create their own Wikis)

Additional Terms and Articles

Please click the Wikis category link at the bottom of this article for individual Wikis.