A list of the main parts that make a wiki work:
The three key parts of a wiki
- People
- The soul of a wiki.
- Wiki pages
- The textual content of the wiki. A wiki's content is divided into individual "pages".
- WikiEngine
- The special software package used to run a wiki.
The next most important part
- RecentChanges
- This lets you see what other people are saying on the wiki. In addition to being useful to each user individualls, it serves important functions for the community.
- First, RecentChanges focuses community attention.
- Second, it calls attention to recent changes, allowing members to PeerReview each edit.
- Third, it provides a temporal structure to the activity on the wiki, as a counterbalance the WikiNow.
Other important parts
- Version histories
- Each page in a wiki "remembers" what it looked like before the most recent edit; in fact, on most wikis, the memory of wiki pages goes back a few weeks. This means that when you change a wiki, the previous version isn't destroyed; it still there in the version history if you need it. See also "revert", below, under "actions".
- WikiLink?
- A hyperlink on a wiki whose destination is a different WikiPage. On many wiki, links are automatically created when you type the name of a wiki page with the appropriate capitalization. This makes it convenient and quick to edit, because you don't have to enter the URL manually..
- LinkPattern
- The "appropriate capitalization" which serves as a signal to the wiki software that you want a certain word to become a WikiLink?. On this wiki, "CamelCase" links are used, which means roughly that the WikiLink? should start with a capital letter, then have some lowercase letters, and then have another captial letter (and then maybe some more lowercase letters).
- HomePage
- Frequent visitors/community members often create a "home" for themself on the wiki, in the form of a page named after them. They can put information about themself for others to see on the page. Also, others can leave messages for a person on their HomePage. A user's HomePage is sometimes compared with a FrontLawn.
Actions that people do, and events that happen
- Revert
- Short for "reversion". Because each page has a VersionHistory, it would be easy for someone else to change a wiki page back to what it looked like before your change; that event or action is called a "revert". Because this is so easy to do, this means that, in a way, each change to a wiki page is really only a proposed change. If a change is not accepted by the community, it will be reverted.
- Edit
- Also called a "change" or "Change". For example, "this page has had a lot of edits recently".
- Comment: a kind of edit that adds a new sentence, often signed, often to the very bottom of the page.
- ______: a kind of edit that fixes typos.
- ______: a kind of edit that distills a long thread into a short summary of the consensus and a description of the remaining points of view. One small part of InternetConcentration.
Discussion
Does WikLossary make this WikiParts page redundant?
- Partially, depending on which function you have in mind for this page. One difference is that I was thinking of this page as a single, concise page, which was focused not so much on defining various terms, but rather on letting the new wiki user know what the most important parts of wikis are, and how they interact. More like a "one page guide to the major organ organ systems of the human body" than a "medical glossary". But maybe other people have other goals for this page. – BayleShanks
See also
CategoryIntroductionToWiki