A book about wikis!

That’s what people need.

Because with wiki technology, lots of people can freely work together – they can even generate very large works in the intellectual realm. See for yourself: Today, we still marvel at our massive church buildings, each constructed 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 Pyramids: 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 organization, planning, money and time can create something together and communicate with each other from several scattered computers or over the Internet. Wikis are the technology for that first path of volunteers with a common idea. This book introduces wikis and provides you with enough tools to create your own wiki; your own work platform. Yet the book will also invite you to join the animated discussion on what one can do with wikis and where it is better not to “abuse” them. It is the intriguing question of those two stimuli: enthusiasm and will. Allow me to explain by using an anecdote. Some time ago, I received a letter from a reader regarding my books. Someone wrote that he had inserted my name in the Internet lexicon ‘Wikipedia’. He wrote that he initially only added a bit of preliminary data on me and would continue to work on it. I was mighty proud that I was now to be listed in an encyclopedia, and checked on the Internet right away under “Gunter Dueck,” but I could’nt find anything. I found strange messages indicating that there had been an article related to my name but that it had been deleted. The reader I mentioned was angry, and he tried posting his article again, but it again was deleted. Days later, another “person” wrote something reasonable. That remained on the Internet for a few days, but disappeared again, ostensibly due to violation of copyright laws. Now wide awake, I then

attempted to find the email address of the person deleting everything. I wrote: “Hey, why?” The answer: “The image most likely violates copyright, and the text presumably as well. I am one of the authorized persons assigned to quality and legal issues”. I argued:

“The picture of me was taken by my daughter Anne in our garden; I give it to everyone. And the text is taken from the cover of one of my books. I grant my permission to use that.” Three hours later, “my” entry was back online again. Now I get nervous wondering if the article has been defaced or deleted. Do you understand what I mean? Anybody can do with me what he wants! If that is the case – is everything true that is listed in Wikipedia? Can I treat the information as being just as authentic as what I find in a book? Will anyone award me damages if, through a false entry in Wikipedia, I lose a bet or my reputation as a scientist? Questions abound regarding a variety that grows on its own power! Of course, you could also see it positively. “Wiki lives!” It changes, develops, grows – however, it needs to be weeded, and its garden protected from thieves (lexical vandalism).