A wiki is a website designed for collaborative editing, letting many people create, update, and organize content directly in a web browser. They emphasize simplicity and openness — pages can be created or modified without special technical skills, and most maintain an edit history so revisions can be reviewed or reverted. Common features - **Collaborative editing:** Multiple people can edit the same pages, occasionally concurrently. - **Edit history:** Every modification is recorded with a timestamp and the editor’s identity or IP address. - **Interlinking:** It’s easy to create links between pages, forming an interconnected knowledge base. - **Lightweight markup:** Pages are typically formatted with lightweight markup like WikiText or Markdown. - **Permission settings:** Access controls vary — from fully open editing to permissions for certain users or groups. - **Discussion pages:** Talk or discussion pages let contributors debate edits and organization. Typical uses - Crowd-sourced knowledge resources (e.g., Wikipedia) - Project documentation and internal company knowledge repositories - Cooperative writing and shared notes - Classroom and educational projects Benefits - **Fast collaboration:** Many people can collaborate and iterate quickly on content. - **Openness:** Visibility into edits and discussions shows how decisions were reached. - **Expandable:** They scale organically as users add more pages and topics. Cons - **Vandalism and false information:** Open contribution can result in deliberate or accidental misinformation. - **Inconsistent quality:** Content quality may vary widely between pages. - **Organizational issues:** Without clear governance, content may become fragmented or disputed. Illustration - **Wikipedia** — the largest example, maintained by the Wikimedia Foundation and contributed to by volunteers worldwide.