Wiki

Anja Ebersbach is an information scientist. She is a university and technical college instructor, and is also active as a freelance IT trainer. She is working on her dissertation on the topic of "Wikis as Tools of Scientific Work." Markus Glaser, also an information scientist, primarily works as a web and application programmer, where he specializes in MediaWiki and TWiki systems. Dr. Richard Heigl, a historian, works as a freelance instructor, IT trainer and moderator of large group seminars. He is primarily occupied with the planning and moderation of wiki projects. Alexander Warta, information scientist, is a doctoral candidate employed at Robert Bosch GmbH in Stuttgart. He is a specialist for the wiki software Confluence.

A book about wikis! That's what people need. Because with wiki technology, lots of people can freely work - gether - they can even generate very large works in the intellectual realm. See for yourself: Today, we still marvel at our massive church buildings, each c- structed over a period of centuries, requiring an immense amount of labor and often bearing the cultural stamp of all of the epochs during which it was created. Someone just has to begin by placing stone upon stone and motivating the people nearby to help out a bit. In places where such enthusiastic fellow men and women lend a hand and donate materials, great things can emerge. And where they are absent? Either scant ruins remain, or the iron will of a pharaoh is required, an army of drivers, the sweat of a people and a mountain of gold. Great things can also be created in that way - take the Py- mids: a clear concept, no blending of styles, pure will. Those are two very different paths. The one entails passionate people devotedly building something together for the common good; the other: A single will manages a variety of resources to achieve a set goal. Wikis are tools with which lots of people with a minimum of - ganization, planning, money and time can create something together and communicate with each other from several scattered computers or over the Internet.

This book shows the practical use of wikis. It includes a step-by-step introduction to wiki philosophy, social effects and functions, a survey of their controls and components, and the installation and configuration of the wiki clones MediaWiki, TWiki and Confluence.

Wikis are Web-based applications that allow all users not only to view pages but also to change them. The success of the Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia has drawn increasing attention from private users, small organizations and enterprises to the various possible uses of wikis.

Preface.- Preface.- Wiki!?.- The Wiki Concept.- Our First Wiki: MediaWiki.- The Installation.- First Steps.- The Core Functions of MediaWiki.- Formatting.- Multi-Page Structures.- Components: the Function Pages.- Administration.- Extensions.- Life in MediaWiki.- TWiki, the Jack of all Trades.- Installing TWiki.- Working with TWiki.- Formatting in TWiki.- Searching in TWiki.- Structured Data with Forms.- Installing TWiki.- Administering TWiki.- Designing a TWiki..- TWiki as a Project Kit.- Preliminary Thoughts: What is a Project?.- Conceptual Phase: Collecting Ideas and Outlining the Project.- Composing the Project Plan.- Preparing for your Event.- Executing and Documenting an Event.- Go with the Flow: Confluence.- Installing Confluence.- Overview.- Formatting.- Organization.- Settings.- Tools with a Future.- Technical Challenges.- A few Wiki Projects.- The Art of "Sowing" Wikis.- Social Perspectives.