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=What is a Wiki and How Does It Fit Into Web 2.0?=

A Wiki is a web page designed by one and edited by many. The first wiki software was designed by Ward Cunningham and Bo Leuf in 1995, they called it WikiWikiWeb. Since then, there have been millions of wikis generated. Why do so many people use or have wikis? Well, there are many reasons to have a wiki,and as Nathan Matias explains to us in his "What is a Wiki?", exactly what some of those good reasons are. Now that we have a few reasons to use wikis, how will we incorporate them into Web 2.0? I found an article written by Dion Hinchcliffe titled, "Blogs, wikis, and Web 2.0 as the next application platform", that explains a lot. Hinchcliffe says that "wikis are an excellent starting point for creating Web 2.0 applications because they are already the most basic models for capturing and sharing content. This is a large part of the reason why they have become so popular; by lowering the barrier to user contributions by offering simple usage models". The applications that will come out of the wikis will be situational, or "as needed". Relying on consumer/user to instantly update companies and creator of problems, improvement suggestions, etc.
 * 1) Wikis Simplify Editing Your Website. Each page on a wiki has an edit link.
 * 2) Wikis Use Simple Markup. No need to be fluent HTML, you only need to know a few basic markups.
 * 3) Wikis Record Document Histories. Wikis keep tabs (diff) on you, which is good if you are always making mistakes!
 * 4) Creating Links Is Simple With Wikis. Wikis store your website content, allowing for quick links to pages.
 * 5) Creating New Pages Is Simple With Wikis. You can link to a page that does not exist, so if you do, the wiki makes it for you!
 * 6) Wikis Simplify Site Organization. Organize how you want, if you want.
 * 7) Wikis Keep Track of All Your Stuff. Because of the internal hypertext database, wiki knows all of you back links.
 * 8) Many Wikis are Collaborative Communities. Anyone can edit! This will help your wiki grow.
 * 9) Wikis Encourage Good Hypertext. While it is encouraged, it does not have to be common knowledge. Wikis have built in features to make hypertext as easy as typing.

These are just a few ways that wikis fit into Web 2.0.

Hinchcliffe, Dion. "Blogs,wikis, and Web 2.0 as the next application platform" //ZDNET.// 06 Jun. 2006. Web. 03 Sept. 2011. <[|Blogs, wikis, and Web 2.0 as the next application platform | ZDNet]>

Matias, Nathan. "What is a Wiki?" //Sitepoint.// 03 Nov. 2003. Web. 03 Sept. 2011. <[|What is a Wiki? Article » SitePoint]>