[LINK] RFI: Public Wiki Servers?

[Roger Clarke]

>Roger Clarke wrote:
>>  I'm involved in several organisations that could make use of a wiki ...

At 15:43 +0900 7/12/06, Jeremy Malcolm wrote:
>Try the Wikia first (http://www.wikia.com).  They host many useful 
>projects and are open to requests to host new ones for free.

I've now had a look at wikia and its cousins.

But they don't offer what I'm looking for.  Notes at bottom.

What I'm on about is the use of wikis by public interest 
associations, such as dog clubs, privacy lobby groups, and of course 
The Link Institute.

Such organisations need wiki-spaces with a variety of management 
models and privileges, e.g.:
1.  for the DISCUSSION OF ISSUES:
     -   create/read/write by anyone
2.  for the DEVELOPMENT OF POLICY:
     -   create/read/write by association members only
3.  for the DEVELOPMENT OF CAMPAIGN PLANS:
     -   create/read/write by Board members only
In all cases:
     -   delete by the Board Chair only (or their delegate/administrator)

Of these, most wiki services support only model no. 1.

Am I looking in the wrong places, using the wrong names?

Since typing that this morning, I've found the buzzword 'wiki farm':
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki_farm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_wiki_farms
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiFarms

A first pass located http://pbwiki.com/

I'm playing with it, but it appears that vital features aren't 
supported by this particular service, viz.
-   the edits made by the last person aren't visible
-   there appears to be no ability to display earlier versions

Any further leads or constructive observations much appreciated!

__________________________________________________________________________

Notes on wikia:

http://www.wikia.com appears to be a fully open collaborative space, 
comparable to wikipedia, but not restricted to encyclopaedia-style 
entries.  Think 'collaborative fan-zine' (The Muppets, Harry Potter, 
chess, even Macs - is anyone a fan of the Apple Macintosh any more?). 
It's depicted in one review as "the commercial counterpart of the 
non-profit Wikipedia".

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikia

http://scratchpad.wikia.com/ is a small shared space within wikia, 
set aside for experimentation.  Again it appears that 
read/write/delete are entirely open, without the ability to restrict 
privileges.

http://www.openserving.com/ is, well, I'm not quite sure what.  It 
isn't actually operational yet.  It appears to be an attempt to 
'monetise' (buzzword for 'exploit') the enthusiasm for wikis by 
giving people an opportunity to 'monetise' their idea for a wiki.  At 
this stage, the sole source of money seems to be Google Adsense-style 
click-through advertising fees;  but no doubt the business plan lists 
lots of other possibilities.  I gather it's also meant to be be an 
open-source alternative to MS Live.

See this of 20 Dec 06:
http://www.e-consultancy.com/news-blog/362386/interview-with-gil-penchina-of-wikia.html

_________________________________________________________________________

Some commercial products in the collaborative space:

HyperOffice (reasonable documentation)
http://www.hyperoffice.com/hypermain/hyperoffice_suite.cfm
http://www.hyperoffice.com/hypermain/document_version_control.cfm?menuset=product

SharePoint (appallingly bad documentation - what does it actually *do*??)
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsserver/sharepoint/default.mspx


-- 
Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/
			            
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW