WikiWikiWeb
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
WikiWikiWeb is a term that has been used to refer to four things: the first wiki, or user-editable website, launched in 1995 by Ward Cunningham as part of the Portland Pattern Repository (the website was also later known as "WardsWiki"); the Perl-based application that was used to run it, also developed by Cunningham, which was the first wiki software (it was later renamed "WikiBase"); and the original general term for both wikis and wiki software.
The software and website were developed in 1994 by Cunningham in order to make the exchange of ideas between programmers easier. The concept was based on the ideas developed in HyperCard stacks that Cunningham built in the late 1980s.[1][2][3] He installed the software on his company's (Cunningham & Cunningham) website, c2.com, on March 25, 1995. Cunningham came up with the name WikiWikiWeb because he remembered a Honolulu International Airport counter employee who told him to take the Wiki Wiki Shuttle, a shuttle bus line that runs between the airport's terminals. "Wiki Wiki" is a reduplication of "wiki," a Hawaiian language word for fast. Cunningham's idea was to make WikiWikiWeb's pages quickly editable by its users, so he initially thought about calling it "QuickWeb," but later changed his mind and dubbed it "WikiWikiWeb."
The WikiWikiWeb's current WelcomeVisitors page contains the following description:
- Our site's primary focus is PeopleProjectsAndPatterns in SoftwareDevelopment. Nevertheless, it is much more than just an InformalHistoryOfProgrammingIdeas. It has a culture and DramaticIdentity of its own. In particular, all Wiki content is WorkInProgress and this will always be a forum where people share new ideas. WardsWiki changes as people come and go. Much of the information that remains is subjective or dated. If you are looking for a dedicated reference site, try WikiPedia.
Some words are written in CamelCase because this is the markup used to create inter-page links by WikiWikiWeb's software, WikiBase. Later wiki engines, such as MediaWiki, dropped this convention.
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[edit] WikiWikiWeb and its designated sister sites
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The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject. Please help improve the article with a good introductory style. (November 2009) |
| Site | Pages | Founder |
|---|---|---|
| WikiWikiWeb | 34226 | Ward Cunningham |
| WhyClublet | 4782 | Richard Drake |
| MeatBallWiki | 5122 | Clifford Adams, Sunir Shah |
| GreenCheese | (dead) | Peter Merel |
| TheReformSociety | (dead) | Peter Merel |
| The Adjunct | 737 | Earle Martin |
| WikiBase | 359 | Ward Cunningham |
| FitWiki | 225 | Ward Cunningham |
[edit] WikiWikiWeb as a precursor to other online communities
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This article may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (February 2008) |
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This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008) |
The WikiWikiWeb played an important historical role in the World Wide Web and the Internet because of its influence on other online communities. Its focus on specialized programming made its content relatively unintelligible to people outside the programming sphere; however, editors (so-called wiki citizens, or wikizens), visitors, and readers of the WikiWikiWeb took up the basic idea of making pages user-modifiable and created their own new wiki engines and wikis outside of the WikiWikiWeb.
Wiki communities outside the WikiWikiWeb implemented their wiki engines to create wikis focused on content other than programming. The versatility of wikis and their multiple applications is what subsequently made them popular in the Internet's communities.[4]
A notable example of the WikiWikiWeb's legacy is Wikipedia. A WikiWikiWeb user, programmer Ben Kovitz of San Diego, California, introduced the WikiWikiWeb to Larry Sanger of Internet company Bomis on the evening of January 2, 2001. At the time, Bomis was working on the online encyclopedia Nupedia; but that project failed, so Sanger suggested running an open encyclopedia on UseModWiki, an indirect clone of WikiWikiWeb's engine. Sanger presented the idea to Jimmy Wales, then head of Bomis, and he agreed. The UseModWiki-based encyclopedia eventually came to be known as "Wikipedia."
Other popular websites have since come to embrace the wiki method, such as Amazon.com, which in 2007 launched its own Amapedia after two years of trialing wiki technology for customer reviews for items.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ WikiHistory on c2.com
- ^ Interview: Wikinewsie Kim Bruning discusses Wikimania on WikiNews
- ^ Interview with Ward Cunningham on Google Video
- ^ http://blog.oregonlive.com/siliconforest/2007/07/a_brief_history_of_wikis_1.html
[edit] External links
- WikiWikiWeb
- WikiWikiWeb:WikiHistory, including comments by Ward Cunningham
- WikiWikiWeb:WelcomeVisitors
- WikiWikiWeb:WikiDesignPrinciples
- WikiWikiWeb:WikiBase — the Wiki Base software
- Correspondence on the Etymology of Wiki — Ward Cunningham
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