Wiki: Web Collaboration

Product Description

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.

Their simple structure and straightforward operation make them a serious alternative to expensive content management systems and also provide a basis for many applications in the area of collaborative work. We show the practical use of wikis in carrying out projects for users as well as for maintainers. This 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. In order to exemplify the possibilities of the software, we use it as a project tool for planning a conference.

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #696515 in Books
* Published on: 2008-07-24
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 483 pages

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews:

"This current book moves on from introductory issues into more technical matters – thereby focusing on the creation of wikis using two of the most popular production engines – namely, MediaWiki and TWiki. … This is an interesting book which I would recommend to anyone who is interested in getting involved in the technical aspects of wiki creation. … the book is very well written – which makes reading it a pleasure rather than a chore. The book comes with an included CD-ROM … ." (Philip Barker, The Electronic Library, Vol. 25 (2), 2007)

"Wiki: Web Collaboration is one of the remarkably few books on the subject of wikis available … . It is written by three multidisciplinary authors from Germany, two with an information science background. … For someone contemplating installing and maintaining a MediaWiki-based wiki website, this is worthwhile material. … A short appendix gives additional information on installing TWiki, followed by a glossary, bibliography and brief index. Finally, there is a CD with wiki software at the end of the book … ." (Jonathan Bowen, The Times Higher, July, 2006)

"Wikis are open-source, free software that facilities Web collaboration. … There are highlighted tips, notes, and cautions throughout the text that provide useful information on working with the software. I found them both helpful and conveniently located in the text … . The book is an excellent translation from the German edition." (Linda Kenny Sloan, Technical Communication, Vol. 54 (2), 2007)

About the Author

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.

Customer Reviews

Informative but not always detailed enough3
I manage a TWiki installation for a large media company and bought this book when I was first hired to get myself more familiar with the system. At first it wasn't very useful because it looks at very specific uses of TWiki. However, as I've begun to work with the system and create my own applications, it has been a very handy supplement to the somewhat skimpy documentation in TWiki itself. For example, the section on Search Strings revealed its value only at the point where I needed to learn more about regular expressions in order to create more complex content management tools. I also have found the included tools and full installation of TWiki to be of great use in providing me with a TWiki sandbox for experimentation. However, as someone with an extensive background in techncial writing, I sometimes find the information provided to be lacking in enough detail; the section on skins and templates, for example, is useful for describing the mechanics of FreeSkin and FlexibleSkin, but doesn't provide enough information on how to use or modify these skins, or the complexities of managing templates. If you are a TWiki admin, or someone interested in creating TWiki applications, I would recommend this as a useful supplement to the documenation included with TWiki.

Should be called - 20% Theory 30% Mediawiki and 50%Twiki 2
I was expecting this book to be a guide on how to best design a Wiki for collaboration. Half the book is useless if you don't plan to use Twiki. With over 50 wiki's out there "what are the odds". I was very upset and returned the book. I felt ripped off for the price. If you are using Mediawiki, the first part of this book (Theory/Mediawiki) can easily be found on the internet.

learner's manual for MediaWiki and TWiki4
Wikis are an interesting experiment in collaborative effort on the Web. The best known example is of course Wikipedia. The authors cite this, but devote most of the text to explaining how to use MediaWiki and TWiki. Both have become popular for maintaining wikis, and are shown to be very easy to learn and use in a group effort.

Wikis have a notation all their own. But not too dissimilar to HTML, and just as easy to learn.

You can treat this book as a learner's manual for MediaWiki or TWiki. More generally, you might read it to see if your company or group should run its own Wiki, and the issues involved. The discussion is at a deeper technical level than elementary books on Wikis.