What’s a Wiki?

“Wiki” is a Hawaiian word for “fast”.

It is also a website equipped with wiki software that allows for the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked Web pages. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites.

So, What’s WikiCity?

WikiCity is a website project designed to make towns accessible, defining each not just as a dot on a map or a collection of statistics, but as a chorus of raucous, opinionated citizens falling in love with their hometown all over again. Much like Wikipedia, WikiCity is a free wiki, and anyone can contribute. However, WikiCity is different from Wikipedia because it is designed to promote local community, commerce, tourism, education, and everyday life within the towns it serves.

What can I write? WikiCity is agnostic in terms of what local people people want to write. This includes local news, chronicled historical facts, upcoming events, and opinions.


Why is this project a good fit for students? The WikiCity project gives students a voice, while at the same time, providing them with the unique opportunity to collaborate not just with their classmates, but with the community as a whole. Regardless of the subject, instructors can closely monitor each student’s contributions, and all changes are tracked and time-stamped for added accountability. Best of all, the assignment itself is never complete. Instead, it is inherited by the community, thus allowing others to progress its quality, content, and accuracy. Other than that, it might just be fun. For additional information, check out the project plan.

How can WikiCity help promote local commerce? WikiCity helps both local businesses and the customers they serve. Despite the growing popularity of the Internet, most businesses have minimal, if any web presence. Using the “Add a new page” link from the navigation box on the left, WikiCity allows local businesses to quickly create a web presence for free, promote their product offerings, and if applicable, to generate additional customer traffic to their own existing web site.

Customers benefit too. WikiCity serves not just as a local directory, but more importantly, it gives customers a voice to share their buying experiences with the rest of the local community, thereby promoting commerce and continued customer service amongst the merchant community.

Who cares? The people of your community do! Never before have communities had an opportunity like this to collaboratively and collectively showcase everything they have to offer to themselves and the rest of the planet.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 13th, 2009 at 7:48 am and is filed under Kids, Local, Shopping, Unique Interfaces, Verticals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.