Posted
07 December 2002 @ 10 AM

Tagged
web

9 Comments

Wiki

I had read long back about Wiki and its possible uses on websites. It didn't excite at that time because I found weblogs uninteresting(!). But when I started blogging, I felt the need for keyword-based browsing on a weblog. Everything2 was the perfect thing to happen, I thought. And then I happened to see PikiePikie the wiki software and WikiWiki, the wiki weblog tool. Well, they are good, but very primitive. And that's the reason for the low popularity. They are too confusing. Even I took sometime understanding what is going on. But still, I feel, weblogs using Wiki would be the future. Even Erik Benson thinks so. He has a page on Wiki. There is still a need for the killer app for Wiki. Or probably I haven't found one. Probably I should make one for myself. It should be something between the extremely liberal WikiWiki and Everything2. WikiWiki allows you to edit any page and add as many keywords as you like. For example, I just created my homepage here. E2 instead needs you to login and then allows creation of keywords and pages.

Then there are some things I fear about Wiki weblogs. Too much of automatic linking between pages might drive search engines crazy. And real information may get hidden beneath a sea of links. A bad example can be this one. And unless there is some authentication mechanism, anyone can edit or delete text from your page. Unlike that, Everything2 seems more organised and lesser `link-crazy`. Also, creation of keywords is a bit restricted. There is moderation.

For more on Wiki - Google Directory. And I was pleased to know that there is one Indian site using wiki.

9 Comments (closed)

Posted by
sonal

08 December 2002 @ 11 AM

that's interesting. i've used a Swiki ( a Wiki implemented in Smalltalk) for a few classes in college.... but I've never thought about using one for my blog.

Posted by
codey

08 December 2002 @ 2 PM

confusing is an understatement as far as wiki is concerned.....

Posted by
Nilesh

08 December 2002 @ 5 PM

Codey,
That is the exact reason for Wiki's non-popularity. It hasn't become simpler. Just like weblogs used to be earlier. They were only for geeks. The killer apps MT/Blogger/LJ made them as simple as A click here, a click there and there you go.

Posted by
Arnab Nandi

11 December 2002 @ 3 PM

All keywords found in the text within will get linked, but dropped idea until exams get over. When I wrote TpT, I had thought of this - a massive interlinked poetry database. This is why the texts have a nodename field... but as the size grew, all my designs / algorithms became extremely inefficient. It's been over 2 years since, and I have'nt seen anything better that E2's concepts to handle this. No wonder E2 is such a demanding engine - not runnable on shared servers like mine :) And of course, stupid exams.

Posted by
Nilesh

11 December 2002 @ 11 AM

All keywords found in the text within will get linked, but dropped idea until exams get over. I have been thinking of an MT plugin for Wiki for over a month now. Not only keywords , Wiki needs more.

Posted by
Nilesh

09 December 2002 @ 7 AM

Then why didn't you go ahead, anand?

Posted by
anand

08 December 2002 @ 7 PM

Twiki is promising ... I have myself played with wiki systems and was thinking at one point about starting a wiki based indian blogger's list :-)

Posted by
Jayant

10 December 2002 @ 6 PM

I used to use Wiki earlier. Loved E2 but requirements to run it on your own site seem crazy. Last week I was thinking of building a plug-in for MT which does exactly that. Use excerpts field to fill in keywords. Create a container tag. All keywords found in the text within will get linked, but drooped idea until exasm get over.

Posted by
anand

09 December 2002 @ 3 PM

It is the same old story ... Everybody wants the other to start it :)