This is the second or third time that I have come into contact with a Wiki. In two undergraduate courses I have made a Wiki or used one in a group project. While the Wiki is a useful tool, I don't think that the Wiki is something that works well in every industry.
The Wiki site states that it can replace e-mail and keep information from different users all together. Many business people who are on the "go" and might be working on projects while out of the office still need a quick way to send ideas and thoughts electronically. The mobile e-mail systems are still the best way to do this. No one wants to go to a Wiki website, sign in, use the browser on a smart phone to navigate a Wiki editing page, write information, and then hope it all gets saved in a format that is legible to those who need the information.
So, I do believe the Wiki is a great tool and I have seen some excellent uses of the Wiki. I just don't think that it works well in every industry or is as quick and easy as the idea is pitched as. The newspaper that used the Wiki to post an editorial online and let users edit it as the saw fit was interesting as well. This is a perfect example of where a Wiki just won't work. Users were abusing the Wiki and basically caused the Wiki to have zero value to any reader by posting nonsense on it.
With all of that being said, I did enjoy making the Wiki and I can see that they can have value when used correctly. In an age where businesses can thrive from using instant feedback from customers, the Wiki fits nicely in the web 2.0 category.
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