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Managers and system administrators seeking an affordable content-management solution should read this book. The Wiki Way shows to use Wiki as collaborative software, which allows users to post and edit content remotely. This book is all you need to get started with this free and exciting way to build and manage content.
The book is a guide to what Wiki software is and how to install, customize, and administer it within your organization. Early sections show the advantages of Wiki Web sites, which allow all users to add and edit content. While it might sound like a free-for-all, the authors suggest such Web sites have been used successfully in research, business, and education to document project designs, for brainstorming, and for otherwise creating content in a collaborative fashion. Case studies for such organizations as Georgia Tech, New York Times Digital, and Motorola give a glimpse of Wiki used in real settings, so you will get a sense of what to expect.
This book is also a guide to the nuts and bolts of downloading and installing Wiki and customizing it for your site. Sections on basic tweaks to Wiki's Perl scripts will let you customize your site to match your organization's needs. Standout material includes almost three dozen customization tips. This volume is illustrated with actual screen shots of Wiki, so you can get a sense of what it is like for users to work together in such an unrestricted fashion.
Throughout the text, the authors are suitably upbeat about Wiki's prospects for wider adoption, but they are realistic enough to note compromises (such as requiring passwords and restricting edit rights) required in business settings. They also survey the field of Wiki open-source projects and clones, as well as other similar content-management solutions (such as Zope and the emerging WebDAV?Create standard).
While it's hard to predict whether Wiki-based Web sites are for everyone, this book presents the pros and cons of a potentially exciting and useful tool that promotes collaborative content creation. This title can help any organization get going with a Wiki Web site, from the standpoint of planning, deployment, and basic administration. --Richard Dragan
Topics covered:
Book Info
Offers readers all of the information needed to understand, set up, run, and use a Wiki server, beginning with a tutorial on setting up Wiki, with background information. The CD-ROM contains the public license Wiki sources discussed in the text, as well as several case studies. System requirements not listed. Softcover. DLC: Wiki (Computer science).
Back Cover Copy
WikiWikiWeb?Create (aka Wiki) is an open source collaborative server technology that enables users to access, browse, and edit hypertext pages in a real-time context. Such servers are a critical tool for efficiently, and effectively, coordinating collaborative documents, databases, and projects. Unlike many alternatives, Wiki supports flexible, user-defined attributes and structure. It is easy to use, concordant with current technologies and standards, and requires little investment in hardware, software, or training.
The Wiki Way: Quick Collaboration on the Web compiles in one handy volume all of the information you need to set up, customize, and run a Wiki server. It offers an in-depth presentation of Wiki theory, practical implementation information, and many examples that demonstrate how to apply and adapt Wiki to the demands of various situations.
The book opens with a tutorial on setting up, running, and using a Wiki server, along with important background information on content structuring. It then presents a more detailed description of the core technology, Wiki server customization, and administration. The final section includes numerous case studies that showcase the Wiki technology in action.
Specific topics covered include:
The companion CD-ROM contains the public license Wiki sources discussed in the book, along with the means to run them--either stand-alone, or using the industry-strength Apache Web server. Complete Perl and Apache server packages for both Linux and Windows are also included.
About the Author
Bo Leuf has extensive experience in technical communication and teaching, coupled with a deep understanding of cross-platform software product design, user interfaces and usability analysis. He maintains several professional and recreational Internet Web sites, including one that provides commercial Web hosting and Wiki services for others. An independent consultant in Sweden for more than 25 years, Bo has been responsible for software development and localization projects. He is currently a freelance consultant and technical writer, specializing in software documentation, translation, and design-team training. He is a regular contributor to a major Swedish computer magazine, and a frequent speaker at technical conferences. Ward Cunningham is the father of the WikiWiki?Create concept and contributes his in-depth knowledge of "all things wiki". As the seminal hub of the wiki experience, Ward provided invaluable contacts with developers experimenting with wiki-clones. In addition, he contributes the original (licensed) source code on which the practical wiki examples in this book are based.
As Cunningham & Cunningham Inc. Ward and his wife Karen teach people to use objects--Ward is well known for his contributions to the developing practice of object-oriented programming, a variation called Extreme Programming, and the communities hosted by his WikiWikiWeb?Create. He created the CRC design method, which helps teams find core objects for their programs. Ward has written for PLoP?Create, JOOP and OOPSLA on these and other subjects.
Reader Review
good introduction to wiki concepts but assumes perl, September 9, 2003
Reviewer: Frank Carver from Ipswich, Suffolk United Kingdom
A "Wiki" is a web site, where every page is editable, by anybody with a browser. It may seem wierd, but it's a very powerful, and successful, idea. The most well-known Wiki has been running since 1994 with thousands of users.
This book covers how and why Wiki works, case studies of use, and installing, configuring, and customizing an open-source Wiki supplied on CD. If you know a little about Wiki, and want more, this is a great book. It's sprinkled with practical advice and gives real code examples for enhancements. It can also be inspirational and has got me buzzing with ideas. It has a fine index and all the "tips" are listed for easy reference.
Wiki's obscurity is its greatest weakness, though. If you have never heard the term "Wiki", you would never think to pick up this book. I also found that the assumption of Perl in the example software sections clashed with the language independent nature of the theory and case-study sections. And beware that the book ignores or glosses over a few things which require more effort than in other systems.
If you find it clumsy or slow to get things on a web site, if you are looking for an easy way to let people collaborate, or if you just want to make sense of all your scattered notes, read this book.
What creates the sense of community?, July 24, 2002
Reviewer: Rick Leir from Ottawa, Canada
What creates the sense of community that you feel in certain newsgroups, mailing lists, or IRC's? What drives people to gather there? If you find this question interesting, then look at Wiki: it is an example of a strong community on the web.
Wiki (the collaboration tool) can be thought of as a lightweight WebDAV?Create (web Distributed Authoring and Versioning) without n levels of standards committees. In a Wiki site, every page can be edited by anybody, and new page links 'spring into existence' automatically just by RunningCapitalizedWordsTogether?Create. This simple concept, created by Ward Cunningham, is surprisingly powerful. The technology behind it is also simple, and the wiki code that makes this work is written in perl, so if you want to add a feature or tweak it, then you can 'hack it'.
A visit to the original Wiki web site can be very rewarding, at [1]. At this site, the community includes many experts in Design Patterns and Extreme Programming (XP). You will find literate discussions on software and life in general.
Laird Cameron describes Wiki well in his Open Sources column [2].
This book is an overview of Wiki, and a detailed how-to look at the code. The book is casual and informal, well suited to the wiki culture. It explains the thought processes which went into the design of wiki planning, deployment, and basic administration. The book contains case studies from academia and the corporate world. The accompanying CD will get you going quickly.
You will want to read this book, if:
Wiki's perl source can be hard to read, and you will be wanting to change it. Maybe Wiki is an entertainment for your spare time, and then you can just play around with it. However, you probably need this book if you are deploying a wiki at work.
This book presents a relaxed, 'democratic' approach to Information Architecture. It encourages you to provide minimal structure: the inclusion of a search function, a recent changes page, users' mini-bios, and links to return to the top. The wiki users are encouraged to structure the content, and this book suggests how they might be encouraged to do so.
For counterpoint see Rosenfeld [3] who describes how to structure a conventional web site: organize information, help navigation, label the content, configure the search system, and manage the process.
I was interested by the discussion of the many Wiki clones, in Perl, SmallTalk?Create, Java, and others. Everyone has different preferences for UI features and implementation.
Also interesting was part 3, which discusses the Wiki culture. Wiki has fostered strong community spirit among those who have contributed to its design and implementation. People express diverse opinions yet work together well. Compare this 'atmosphere' with that of of some news groups where flames are common. When you set up a Wiki for use by your colleagues or students, you need to understand the group dynamics of a successful collaboration site, and this part of the book will help you to encourage people to take roles and get involved, thereby extending the community.
I have a few quibbles about the book and CD.
The book gets five stars at Amazon and a good review at Fatbrain. Recommended! At your bookstore, look for the cover drawing by M.C. Escher of two drawing hands, with nifty reflection effects.
By the way, you will have already heard of the untimely demise of Douglas Adams. His Guide to the Galaxy, similar to a Wiki, lives on at www.h2g2.com.
[1] http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki
[2] Server/Workstation?Create Expert Magazine, March 2001: http://swexpert.com/CC/SE.C12.MAR.01.pdf
[3] Rosenfeld and Morville _Information Architecture_, O'Reilly
[4] the errata page: http://wiki.org/wiki.cgi?WikiWayErrata
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