Wiki

From Envirowiki

A Wiki is a collaborative editing interface (often a website), run on a piece of software called a wiki engine. There are numerous implementations of wiki software, and all have various advantages and shortcomings.

The basic idea behind a wiki is that everyone knows something, and no-one knows everything, so the best way to collate all the relevant information is to get everybody to pitch in just a little bit. This means, that if someone has some information about, say, trees, they can write a short page with everything they know. Other users can then read the information posted. If they find some information missing, or incorrect, they can freely add to or edit the page, thereby improving it's information. Eventually, after many edits, the information should become close to complete.

In addition, wikis usually have a certain simplified syntax, allowing users to easily format text (italics, bold, etc), add internal or external links. This makes it easy to join the dots between various disparate pieces of information.

Envirowiki is based on the Mediawiki wiki software, the same software used by Wikipedia.