Wiki Platforms

A wiki is a website where people can collaboratively edit content. There are a variety of wiki platforms with different features, including MediaWiki (used by WikiPedia), MoinMoin, TikiWiki, and TWiki.

Available Services

  • Evaluate benefits & risks of a wiki for an organization, develop initial requirements & prototypes, and recommend implementation strategies to address current and future needs.
  • Install & configure a wiki system, including plugin modules, visual themes, and role-based security.
  • Design & organize wiki site for consistency & ease of use, and deploy or migrate content from other sources.
  • Develop or adapt plug-in modules for specialized functionality.
  • Train technical & non-technical people to use a wiki effectively.

Sample Wiki Activities

  • Installed & configured wiki (TWiki on Windows) to support sales & marketing activities for an international company, supported key users through a multi-month prototype, deployed & customized extensions for weighted and indexed search,and migrated prototype to production server with ~500 users and ~2000 pages.
  • Installed, configured, & deployed content in wikis of educational resources for entrepreneurship (TWiki on Linux) and non-traditional learners (MoinMoin on Linux).
  • Developed & delivered hands-on training courses & workshops (1 to 6 hours in length), multiple conference presentations, papers, & book chapters on effective wiki use.
  • Wrote or rewrote wiki extensions:
    • Bibliography & CommonHeaderFooter plugins (TWiki)
    • Color & ISBN macros (MoinMoin)
    • custom themes for MediaWiki, MoinMoin, & TWiki

Questions to Consider

  1. Why use a wiki? What business or organizational needs do you want to address?
  2. How many pages, contributors, and readers do you expect the wiki to have?
    What are your security needs & concerns?
  3. Do you anticipate any special or unusual needs or requirements, such as extensive figures or images, or integration with other data sources or applications?
  4. Do you prefer a particular wiki platform? Why?
    (wikimatrix.org provides detailed comparisons)
  5. Do you prefer a particular hosting arrangement? Why?