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A wiki is a collaborative editing tool that allows anyone to change the information on a webpage. While most people are familiar with large online wikis, such as the famous Wikipedia, wikis don't have to be public, nor do they need to large. In fact, wikis are a great tool for small groups to edit documents, share ideas and work collaboratively.
A wiki is an excellent way for groups to collaborate and edit documents without needing to constantly e-mail files and keep track of who has added what to the document.
Whether you set up a local wiki on your intranet and allow team members access that way or simply post a wiki online using one of the many cloud-based services available, wikis can be a very helpful addition to your workflow.
==How to set up a wiki==
Setting up a public wiki is easy, simply sign up for one of the many free wiki providers on the web. Such cloud-based tools work well for information that you don't mind being public. If you wiki is going to be used for something more sensitive we recommend setting up the software on a private server.
Once you wiki is up and running you'll want to have all the members set up a basic profile page. This allows you to control what happens on the wiki -- like watching edits on a per-user basis to track contributions and correct unwanted changes.
There are many types of wiki software available and there are subtle differences between them, but most have the same basic features -- page editing tools, a discussion page for discussing changes, a history page that allows you to see, revert and compare pages and more.
Most wiki software offers tools for non-technical users such as a WYSIWYG editor for making page changes in an interface that looks very similar to an e-mail or a word processor application. Most also come with documentation and help pages.
==Using Advanced Features==
While the focus of the wiki is the basic document editing page, other features can be useful, especially the discussion page, which allows contributors to debate edits to the main page, suggest improvements and more.
The history page is also useful for comparing revisions. Simple select an earlier version of the page and compare it to the current page to see what your members have added and changed over time.
Most wikis also offer a way to track changes by page, section or even user and you can set up notifications -- for example your wiki can send you an e-mail every time someone edits a particular page or whenever a particular person edits any page.
==Simple Wikis==
Don't need all the history tracking, user profiles and advanced features of full-fledged wiki? No problem, there are also plenty of dead simple wikis that make it easy to edit a page without all the other features distracting your users from the main point -- collaborating on a document.
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