Here is an annotated list of software platforms used to run wikis.

 

Assignment

Wiki platforms -- Please include name of wiki platform, a link to the software provider, and your name or initials at the end of the entry.

• Questions to consider
  • What do you like or dislike about the software? (design, learning curve, etc)
  • What are some challenges & benefits in using, teaching, installing the platform?
  • If you are using the platform, would you recommend or not recommend this to someone, and why?
• Please try to avoid duplication. If someone has already added a review, make sure your annotation adds value to what was already said.
• Please try to put your entry in proper alphabetical order.

 

Example Entry

PB Wiki

http://pbwiki.com/

PBWiki is a wiki platform targeted to education professionals. I like it because it doesn't have ads, and I can easily add users and set their access levels. It seems pretty easy to use, the buttons on the top of the page resemble Microsoft Word and that is comforting to me. I am going to recommend this to my school librarian friend who teaches information literacy to fifth graders...they might get a kick out of it! -- Molly Knapp

 

Place Your Entry Below! 

 

 

DokuWiki

http://www.dokuwiki.org/dokuwiki

This wiki product was recommended to me by a colleague at SUNY Buffalo, where they are using it for their "HSL Wiki Farm."  As opposed to PB Wiki which runs remotely, DokuWiki requires local installation on a server. It will run on any web server supporting PHP. It is supposedly very clean and simple to use, I don't know I never used it. But one of the benefits of local hosting is greater security and ability to really lock-down pages. -- Marie Ascher

 

Google Sites.  www.google.com

I am pretty sure that "Google Sites" is a Wiki.  It looks and acts like a Wiki.  It's free and continues with the traditional clean look of Google.  I've been trying to create a site, but I can't quite get the professional look that you see in Google's examples.  So far, it's too difficult for me to edit easily, but I am a novice user. It's possible to control permissions, and readers may post comments. Google Sites looks like a good choice for library subject guides. -- Kent Mercer

I would consider Google Sites a wiki. In fact, NAHRS Nursing Resources wiki is a great excellent example of what you can do using Google Sites. Molly Knapp

 

 

 

Kerika

http://www.kerika.com/index.html

Kerika is a peer-to-peer graphical Wiki software. It can be used on Linux, Windows and Mac computers. It is different from Web 2.0 hosted services in that you must download the software application to your computer in order to use it. Information or a project file is stored locally on your computer rather than a central server. Kerika utilizes a visual approach to collaboration by using “idea pages” which can include graphs, pictures, drawings, etc. One problematic area is that information or project files must be stored locally on your computer rather than a central server. You must have the software downloaded on each computer you’d like to use in order to use it. It may be sufficient in some cases but this does takes away the option to be able to connect to a central server from any computer at any time as in Web 2.0 hosted services. Documents are shared through email to all the members who are part of a “team”. You can attach notes to documents rather than modifying the documents. There is also a record of versions for version control. Whether Kerika is a viable option for you would probably depend on the type of project, assignment or task you are working on. In my opinion, some pros include: graphical interface, document version control, collaboration capability. Some of the cons include: somewhat less flexible as Web 2.0 hosted services for accessibility “anytime, anyplace” from any computer, utilizes an email approach versus a centralized approach.

-Nichelle Midon

 

Kiwi Wiki

http://wiki.kiwi-project.eu/index.jsp?uri=http://www.example.com/FrontPage

Fortunately, editing is similar to that of other wikis I have worked with—Wetpaint and PbWiki.

Its philosophy is great: —“Knowledge in a Wiki”.  If we all take our experiences and 1)share them, 2)give them context and meaning 3)allow anyone to add information 4)without providing constraints on the structure of the information provided, the system will work to link related items together to enable us to benefit from our shared knowledge.  

I think there’s a steep learning curve, however, regarding working with the metadata/onotology used to organize the information:

“Types:ikewiki:User - foaf:Agent - foaf:Person - geo:SpatialThing - owl:Thing - pim:Person - rdfs:Resource - swrc:lastName.xsd:string - swrc:Person - wordnet:Agent - wordnet:Agent-3 - wordnet:Person -  swrc:homepage.xsd:anyURI -  swrc:phone.xsd:string - swrc:address.xsd:string -  swrc:email.xsd:string -  swrc:fax.xsd:string -  swrc:firstName.xsd:string”

This is for someone adept at metadata and eXtensible programs.  -Rachel Resnick

 

MediaWiki http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki

MediaWiki is a great wiki platform that can be used online or downloaded for larger sites. It is a little harder to use than other free wiki programs, but it is versatile. It also is familiar to most people because it is used by Wikipedia.

- Lindsay Blake

 

Netcipia

 

http://www.netcipia.com/xwiki/bin/view/Main/WebHome

Netcipia is a wiki and blog platform.  They claim to be the first participative suit available on the net.  It is intended for consumers, small and medium companies, non profit organizations, and education market.  I like this wiki because it has a free version and there are minimal limits.  The free version includes: 2GB storage per wiki, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited number of users, unlimited number of pages and unlimited wikis created.  Also, it is fairly easy to use.  It gives the option for private or public access to the wiki.  The tools to edit the wiki are located in panel boxes on the right side of the page (create a new blog, create a new page, etc.)  I would recommend the Netcipia platform to any small group that wants to collaborate but does not want the fuss of more complex platform.     

– Laura Frater

 

 

PmWiki

http://www.pmwiki.org/

PmWiki is meant for "collaborative creation and maintenance of websites".  It features different skins that can be applied to change the look of the wiki.  It also has access control features in which password protection can be applied to different levels of the site--the entire site, groups of pages, or individual pages--to control who can read and edit pages and upload attachments.  PmWiki states its philosophy here: http://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/PmWiki/PmWikiPhilosophy, and includes statements such as:

 

• Favor writers over readers
• Avoid gratuitous features (or "creeping featurism")

Although PmWiki does not add extra features, others have created extensions called "recipes" and they are available in the PmWiki Cookbook.  -- Deb Werner

 

SharePoint

www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/prodinfo/what.mspx

SharePoint by Microsoft can be used like a wiki. It is being used especially in hospitals. The Information Services Departments are not permitting the use of wikis as they are worried about security. Often SharePoint comes with the Microsoft bundle that an Information Services Department buys. It is loaded onto the computer like any of the Microsoft products would be loaded. SharePoint in my hospital is used within the confines of the network. It is not viewed from the outside. It is a very easy product to learn and to work with. I use this product for a Patient Safety informational area that is on our library intranet home page. SharePoint allows me to post announcements, list contacts, input important links with explanations as well as have a discussion board. There is a document section where I list the resources that the library owns on this topic. The site acts like a wiki as people can add items, delete items and make change.I would recommend  this to anyone who is not able to use a wiki at work. It is a good way to get to use to how a wiki works and get your people to use one.

Linda Spadaccini

 

 

Here at Olympic College we got a free version of SharePoint along with an MS bundle and are having some problems with it.  First, it’s very difficult to import images into content.  We’ve invented a convoluted work-around, but it’s very cumbersome.  Second, SharePoint seems completely incompatible with MS Word!—Kent Mercer

 

 

Social Text  hhttp://www.socialtext.net

I found this wiki engine in an entry in Wikipedia entitled “Comparison of wiki software.” It is a subscription engine that was first released in 2003; the latest stable release took place in October 2008. Features it offers include file uploading/attachments,  spam prevention, page access control, inline html, user-customizable interface, and document renaming. It is a hosted service without the need for installation. I downloaded a free 14-day trial and played with it. It took awhile to figure out how to set up the main page. It turns out that you delete all the helpful stuff on the screen and replace it with whatever you want. I think that the helpful information needs to stay and that a fresh dashboard be offered on a separate page instead. Users can follow other users, type in status updates like Twitter, I could not find a way to cut and paste without replace everything currently on the page - this is not good. Inserting images, tables, and links is easy to do. If someone wants to pay for a wiki that offers a lot of features that most free wikis do not, I would recommend this service. -- Lisa Travis

 

TiddlyWiki

http://www.tiddlywiki.com/

TiddlyWiki created in 2005 by Jeremy Ruston, is a free, open source wiki that can be customized by the use of extensions and plugins.  When I hear of wikis I usually think of a group or collaboration tool. The TiddlyWiki platform is presented as a wiki that can be used by an individual to function as a personal notebook and a task manager as well as a collaboration tool.  TiddlyWiki is set up as a single html file which make it easy to move around.  It can be emailed, put on a web server or shared on a USB travel drive.  Files can be viewed on all major desktop browsers and also on many mobile browsers including the iPhone.  I like this wiki platform because of the GTD (getting things done) applications.  One example of a task management and collaboration tool based on this platform is called Teamtasks.  On its website, Teamtasks is promoted as a "personal wiki". Since it is based on TiddlyWiki, it is a single page wiki with nothing to install and "nothing for the IT department at work to get in a tizzy about."  That sounds like a good recommendation to me! -- Christine Dziedzina

 

 

TikiWiki http://info.tikiwiki.org/tiki-index.php

Like Lisa, I found this through a comparison of wiki platforms on a blog entry at  ejustice org - http://www.ejustice.org/articles/2007/12/some-popular-low-cost-wiki-platforms/. Tikiwiki is a free content management system that uses wikis, blogs, RSS and others that are promoted as working seamlessly together. Doggipedia is an example of a wiki using Tikiwiki http://www.doggipedia.org/tiki-index.php. Tikiwiki is an open source fully functional and modifiable (though I suspect that you must have programming knowledge) that can be downloaded directly onto your server. However, there is a demo version you can play with on the website (which I tried to do but it was impossible to login!). The comment pages gives the impression that TikiWiki is not very intuitive, is too hard to install, is too slow and has limited community support. I would not use this system - I'd prefer to use one that was free and supported on the providers server.  - Catherine Voutier

 

Wetpaint was my first excursion: http://www.wetpaint.com/

....but neither I nor the folks who I engaged in using it became engaged! It seemed to not be intuitive, and it included ads, so futre attempts will be adless on my part. I so far like PBWiki, but have more exploration and experimentation to do. Jacque Doyle.

This was my first  expierence with creating a wiki. This is all so new to me that I will need more experiences  before  I feel I can use any site with ease of any sort.

 

Wetpaint offers ad-free sites to those who are using their wiki in an educational context.  See this page for details on how to apply.  I was launching a wiki for the Internal Medicine residency at our hospital and was able to get an ad-free version.  --Ellen Justice

 

Google Sites

sites.google.com

I, too, like Google Sites because of the "gadgets" feature that easily allows for several types of services/information/actvities on one screen.  I also appreciate the easy integration of Google calendar.  *Joan Colburn

 

WIKIMEDIA

 

I would like to add wikimedia.org at  http://wikimedia.org because they have images you often need. I could cheat and say pbwiki because we have been using that at work (www.twu.edu/library/) for some months for our meeting notes, committee progress, etc, but I need to learn something new. Wikimedia has pictures I often need to advertise and market library events and has great Scottish terrier doggy pictures I can use for "Dig out the Information You Need" campaigns since I am at a remote (from headquarters) campus and must make signs and marketing info locally. It has a information-packed page, so can be intimidating to teach to those who want a clean screen, but it has help info and a logical layout to me with the 'helper' bar on the left. The quality is great. Marilyn M Goff TWU Houston,Tx 

 

WIKISPACES www.wikispaces.com/ 

Established in 2005 by Tangient LLC, Wikispace hosts over 750,000 wikis with products and services designed for small classroom groups to large corporations and institutions.This wiki host has a basic look and feel that is easy to understand and not very distracting. You can also customize your own Wikispace with colors of your own choice and even add your own logo, to add company feel to your collaboration work.The basic Wikispaces service is free and funded by advertising, although there is a paid version that allows you to more fully customize your look and feel, while also offering you more user restriction options. The paid service is also advertising free and comes with more storage space.  Recommended for ease of use and lack of obtrusive advertising – Thomas Shreves

 

 

Zoho Wiki 

http://wiki.zoho.com/HomePage.html

The software seems fairly straightforward.  Despite not having any experience with creating websites or wikis I was able to create a test wiki with three pages in only a few minutes.  There are no ads and the basic service is free.  Paying for service gets you a custom domain and more storage space.  While I have not played with the permission settings, it looks like the options are extensive enough to make the wiki both secure and usable.   This online review http://pbs01.wordpress.com/2007/01/09/zoho-wiki/ overall had good things to say about the software but did not like the permission settings on the comments.   As to whether I would recommend Zoho Wiki to anyone else, I would say it is worth investigating.  At this point I don’t feel I have enough experience to truly recommend any wiki software.  -- Lisa Kilburn 

 

 

WikiDot

http://www.wikidot.com/take-a-tour:10

I have used pbwiki for many adventures and was delighted to expand my horizons to other platforms.  This one looks very good.  there are no ads, rss feeds are included; and one can imbed images. - Patty Williams