History of wikis

Ward Cunningham, the developer of the first wiki software, WikiWikiWeb

The history of wikis began in 1994, when Ward Cunningham gave the name "WikiWikiWeb" to the knowledge base, which ran on his company's website at c2.com, and the wiki software that powered it. The wiki went public in March 1995, the date used in anniversary celebrations of the wiki's origins.[1] c2.com is thus the first true wiki, or a website with pages and links that can be easily edited via the browser, with a reliable version history for each page. He chose "WikiWikiWeb" as the name based on his memories of the "Wiki Wiki Shuttle" at Honolulu International Airport, and because "wiki" is the Hawaiian word for "quick".[2]

Wiki software has some conceptual origins in the version control and hypertext systems used for documentation and software in the 1980s, and some actualized origins in the 1970s "Journal" feature of NLS. Its distant ancestors include Vannevar Bush's proposed "memex" system in 1945, the collaborative hypertext database ZOG in 1972, the NoteCards system from Xerox, the Apple hypertext system HyperCard. As was typical of these earlier systems, Cunningham's motive was technical: to facilitate communication between software developers.

Many alternative wiki applications and websites appeared over the next five years. In the meantime, the first wiki, now known as "WardsWiki", evolved as features were added to the software and as the growing body of users developed a unique "wiki culture". By 2000, WardsWiki had developed a great deal of content outside its original stated purpose, which led to the spinoff of content into sister sites, most notably MeatballWiki.[3]

The website Wikipedia, a free content encyclopedia, was launched in January 2001,[4] and quickly became the most popular wiki, which it remains to this day. Its rise in popularity (it was in the top ten most popular sites in 2007[5]) played a large part in introducing wikis to the general public.[4] There now exist at least hundreds of thousands of wiki websites, and they have become increasingly prevalent in corporations and other organizations.[4]

  1. ^ "Wiki History". C2.com. Archived from the original on June 21, 2002. Retrieved October 8, 2010.
  2. ^ Andrews, Lorrin (1865). A dictionary of the Hawaiian language to which is appended an English-Hawaiian vocabulary and a chronological table of remarkable events (PDF). Henry M. Whitney. p. 514.
  3. ^ "Meatball Wiki: AboutThisSite". meatballwiki.org. Archived from the original on June 8, 2023. Retrieved June 24, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c "Wikipedia : Definition, History, & Facts". Britannica.com. Archived from the original on January 21, 2022. Retrieved January 9, 2022.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).