DOCSLIB.ORG

The Social Design of Technical Systems: Building Technologies for Communities

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Social Design of Technical Systems: Building Technologies for Communities The Social Design of Technical Systems: Building technologies for communities Brian Whitworth with Adnan Ahmad Publisher: The Interaction Design Foundation Edition number: 1 ISBN print edition: 978-87-92964-02-1 Copy editor: Ailsa Campbell Reference validation: Armin Walinsky Graphics, interior design, and cover: Roland Szattler and Mads Soegaard Copyright clearance: Michael Thorman Proofreader: Ailsa Campbell Supervisory Editors: Mads Soegaard and Rikke Friis Dam Editorial assistant: Soeren Dam Typography: This text is set in Georgia Copyright: See section on Copyright Peer review: This book has undergone double-blinded peer-review based on the reviewing guidelines Production and dissemination of this work has been funded in part by SAP. For Audrey, Alex, Elaine, Elizabeth and the next generations Contents Preface ..................................................................vii Chapter 1. The Evolution of Computing ........................................1 Chapter 2. Design Spaces ...................................................31 Chapter 3. Socio-Technical Design ...........................................51 Chapter 4. Polite Computing ................................................77 Chapter 5. The Social Environment Model ...................................107 Chapter 6. Online Rights ..................................................149 Chapter 7. The Future. 177 Footnotes. 191 References ..............................................................201 Copyright Terms .........................................................213 Preface About this book A socio-technical system (STS) is a social system operating on a technical base. Email, chat, bulletin boards, blogs, Wikipedia, eBay, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are all socio-technical systems. Hundreds of millions of people use them every day, but how do they work? More importantly, can we build them better? This book is for courses on socio-technical system design. The field changes every year, so each chapter has questions for students to discuss, try out online and report back to the class. The general issues raised may interest users, designers and managers of so- cial software, or anyone interested in social computing. The book questions the view that computing is smart and people are dumb. It says that people in a community are ethical not because they foolishly ignore their self-inter- est but because they intuitively see community gains beyond themselves. As social stan- dards like privacy, freedom, democracy, ownership and transparency can guide online communities, so online successes like Wikipedia suggest new social forms for physical society. Information technology, like fire, is a good servant but a bad master. People and computers are better than people or computers if only people are the senior partner. Social computing takes human centered computing a step further, by introducing the community level. The aim of socio-technical design is no less than to civilize the Internet. The future is socio-technology not technology. We, the authors, hope you, the reader, find our book interesting and useful. Don’t be daunted by the breadth of ideas covered. If both computing and society are complex, vii how could they together be any less? As people are today building socio-technical sys- tems, there is a need for socio-technical design. The ideas presented in this book have been developed over the last decade. They work. They are proven perennials in the ever changing garden of computing. Brian Whitworth, January, 2013 viii ix x Chapter 1 1. The Evolution of Computing Computing is evolving to higher levels “ ” This chapter reviews how computing has evolved since it began, and what this means for “us all” who are building and using it. Chapter Table of Contents 1.1 A (very) Short History of Computing 1.2 Computing Levels 1.3 Levels as World Views 1.4 From Hardware to Software 1.5 From Software to Users 1.6 From Users to Communities 1.7 The Reductionist Dream 1.8 The Requirements Hierarchy 1.9 Design Level Combinations 1.10 The Flower of Computing 1.11 Discussion Questions 1.12 User-contributed notes 1.13 References 1 The Social Design of Technical Systems 1.1 A (very) Short History of Computing The first computer was conceived as a machine of cogs and gears (Figure 1.1) but only became practical in the 1950s and 60s with the invention of semi-conductors. In the 1970s, a hardware company called IBM1 emerged as the computing leader. In the 1980s, however, software became increasingly important, and by the 1990s a software company called Microsoft2 had become the computing frontline leader by giving ordinary people tools like word-processing. During the 1990s computing became more personal, until the World-Wide-Web turned Internet URLs into web site names that people could read3. A company called Google4 then offered the ultimate personal service, free access to the vast public library we call the Internet, and soon everyone’s gateway to the web was the new computing leader. In the 2000s computing evolved yet again, to become a social medium as well as a personal tool. So now Facebook challenges Google, as Google chal- lenged Microsoft, and as Microsoft challenged IBM. Yet to design a computer system one must define it, so what is computing? This deceptively simple question requires many answers because computing has re-invented itself every decade or so (Figure 1.2). What began as hardware became about software, then about users and is now about online communities. This chapter analyzes the evolu- tion of computing as it impacts computing design. 2 The Social Design of Technical Systems Figure 1.1: Charles Babbage (1791-1871) designed the first automatic computing engine. He in- vented computers but failed to build them. The first complete Babbage Engine was completed in London in 2002, 153 years after it was designed. Difference Engine No. 2, built faithfully to the original drawings, consists of 8,000 parts, weighs five tons, and measures 11 feet. Shown above is Serial Number 2, located in Silicon Valley at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California Courtesy of Jitze Couperus. Copyright: CC-Att-SA-2. Click for high resolution 3 The Social Design of Technical Systems Courtesy of Jitze Couperus. Copyright: CC-Att-SA-2. Click for high resolution 4 The Social Design of Technical Systems Figure: Details from Babbage’s difference engine. Courtesy of Jitze Couperus. Copyright: CC-Att-SA-2. 5 The Social Design of Technical Systems Figure 1.2: The computing evolution Courtesy of Brian Whitworth with Adnan Ahmad. Copyright: CC-Att-SA-3. 1.2 Computing Levels The evolution of computing is approached here using Bertalanffy’s general systems the- ory (Bertalanffy, 1968). This theory is based on the observation of discipline isomor- phisms, when different specialist fields discover the same abstract equation or law in different contexts, e.g. a social agreement measure that matches a biological diversity measure (Whitworth, 2006). Bertalanffy proposed a “science of sciences”, namely the study of systems in general, since sociologists study social systems, psychologists cogni- tive systems, computer scientists information systems, and engineers hardware systems. The isomorphisms of science are then general system rules that apply across disciplines. Applying general systems theory to the evolution of computing gives the computing levels shown in Figure 1.3, where a computing system can be studied as a mechanical sys- tem, a software system, a human system or a social system, by engineers, computer sci- entists, psychologists and sociologists respectively. Computing began at the mechanical level, added an information level (software), then a human level and finally a community level; it is an example of general system evolution. 6 The Social Design of Technical Systems Figure 1.3: Computer system levels Courtesy of Brian Whitworth with Adnan Ahmad. Copyright: CC-Att-SA-3. Table 1.1 shows how different levels change not only the system type but also what is ex- changed. So a physical system exchanges energy, a software system exchanges informa- tion, a human system exchanges meaning, and a community system exchanges memes5. Each level of a system evolution is built on the previous, so that social computing emerg- es from personal computing, personal computing emerges from software, and software emerges from hardware. As computing evolves to higher system levels, so its design also changes, from technical to socio-technical design. Levels can clarify the often confusing terms of computing. In Figure 1.3, a technol- ogy is any tool that people build to use6, e.g. a spear is a technology. Technology is de- signed and built by engineers. In contrast information technology (IT) is the application 7 The Social Design of Technical Systems of hardware and software, with a user implied. Computer science (CS)7 is then just about the software level, regardless of the hardware implementation. So information technol- ogy is not a sub-set of technology, nor is computer science a sub-set of engineering (be- cause software is not part of hardware). Human computer interaction (HCI) is a person in front of a computer, a human plus IT system, with physical, informational and psychological levels. Just as IT is more than hardware, so HCI is more than IT because it includes a human level. HCI systems exchange meaning, while IT systems exchange information. The semantic web vision of Tim Berners-Lee, the founder of the World Wide Web — his “dream for the web” — was a recognition
Load more

Recommended publications
  • My Cloud EX2 Ultra
    My Cloud™ EX2 Ultra Privater Cloud-Speicher Bedienungsanleitung WD Service und Support Sollten Probleme auftreten, geben Sie uns bitte Gelegenheit, sie zu beheben, bevor Sie das Produkt zurücksenden. Viele technische Fragen können über unsere Knowledge Base oder unseren E-Mail-Support unter http://support.wd.com beantwortet werden. Falls Sie dort keine geeignete Antwort finden oder Sie einen persönlichen Kontakt bevorzugen, rufen Sie WD unter der unten angegebenen Telefonnummer Ihres Landes an. Ihr Produkt schließt eine 30-tägige kostenlose telefonische Unterstützung während der Garantiezeit ein. Diese 30-tägige Frist beginnt mit dem Datum Ihres ersten telefonischen Kontakts mit dem technischen Support von WD. Der E-Mail-Support ist für die gesamte Garantiezeit kostenlos, und unsere gesamte Knowledge Base ist rund um die Uhr verfügbar. Damit wir Sie weiterhin über neue Funktionen und Serviceleistungen informieren können, denken Sie bitte daran, Ihr Produkt im Internet zu registrieren unter http://register.wd.com. Zugriff auf den Onlinesupport Auf unserer Produktsupport-Website unter http://support.wd.com können Sie unter den folgenden Themen wählen: Downloads – Laden Sie Treiber, Software und Updates für Ihr WD-Produkt herunter. Registrierung – Registrieren Sie Ihr WD-Produkt, um die neuesten Updates und Sonderangebote zu erhalten. Garantie- und Austauschservices – Informationen über Garantie, Produktersatz (RMA), RMA-Status und Datenwiederherstellung. Knowledge Base – Suchen Sie nach Schlüsselwort, Ausdruck oder Antwort-ID. Installation – Hier finden Sie online Hilfe zur Installation Ihres WD-Produkts oder Ihrer Software. WD Community – Tauschen Sie Ihre Gedanken mit anderen WD-Benutzern aus. Online-Schulungszentrum – Kommen Sie hierhin, um das meiste aus Ihrem privaten Cloud-Speichergerät herauszuholen: (http://www.wd.com/setup).
    [Show full text]
  • Common Tools for Team Collaboration Problem: Working with a Team (Especially Remotely) Can Be Difficult
    Common Tools for Team Collaboration Problem: Working with a team (especially remotely) can be difficult. ▹ Team members might have a different idea for the project ▹ Two or more team members could end up doing the same work ▹ Or a few team members have nothing to do Solutions: A combination of few tools. ▹ Communication channels ▹ Wikis ▹ Task manager ▹ Version Control ￭ We’ll be going in depth with this one! Important! The tools are only as good as your team uses them. Make sure all of your team members agree on what tools to use, and train them thoroughly! Communication Channels Purpose: Communication channels provide a way to have team members remotely communicate with one another. Ideally, the channel will attempt to emulate, as closely as possible, what communication would be like if all of your team members were in the same office. Wait, why not email? ▹ No voice support ￭ Text alone is not a sufficient form of communication ▹ Too slow, no obvious support for notifications ▹ Lack of flexibility in grouping people Tools: ▹ Discord ￭ discordapp.com ▹ Slack ￭ slack.com ▹ Riot.im ￭ about.riot.im Discord: Originally used for voice-chat for gaming, Discord provides: ▹ Voice & video conferencing ▹ Text communication, separated by channels ▹ File-sharing ▹ Private communications ▹ A mobile, web, and desktop app Slack: A business-oriented text communication that also supports: ▹ Everything Discord does, plus... ▹ Threaded conversations Riot.im: A self-hosted, open-source alternative to Slack Wikis Purpose: Professionally used as a collaborative game design document, a wiki is a synchronized documentation tool that retains a thorough history of changes that occured on each page.
    [Show full text]
  • Tiddlywiki in Science Education
    1 TiddlyWiki in Science Education Franco Bagnoli Dipartimento di Energetica & Centro Dinamiche Complesse Universita` di Firenze, I-50139 Firenze, Italy Email: [email protected] Peter Jipsen Department of Mathematics and Computer Science Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA Email: [email protected] Andrea Sterbini Dipartimento di Informatica Universita` di Roma 1, I-00198 Roma, Italy Email: [email protected] Abstract— We discuss here an ongoing experiment and questions are communicated and answered by which uses ASciencePad [1], an adapted version of Tid- voice, or using e-mail, web forms and chat forums, dlyWiki [2] as a support for teaching/learning physics but seldom stored and/or converted to a structured (elementary and advanced) to engineering students. form, like for instance a FAQ table. ASciencePad is a “live math notebook” that is editable with a modern browser and includes a WYSIWYG editor This almost one-way communication is rather with mathematical formulas and SVG plots. It allows unsatisfactory, especially when teachers and stu- also the inclusion of JavaScript simulations, that can be dents come from a very different background, like easily edited by users and therefore can be used as a in our case of teaching physics for two master playground for computational experiments. Our graph level courses in environmental engineering. Stu- drawing extension allows the construction of graph maps dents’ feedback, possibly in the form of an edited of the learning paths to help the student navigate through the notebook topics. frequently asked question (FAQ) list, is a didacti- This client-side tool is complemented by a wiki-based cally valuable tool.
    [Show full text]
  • Symantec Netrecon™ 3.6 Security Update 21 Release Notes Symantec Netrecon Security Update 21 Release Notes
    Symantec NetRecon™ 3.6 Security Update 21 Release Notes Symantec NetRecon Security Update 21 Release Notes The software that is described in this book is furnished under a license agreement and may be used only in accordance with the terms of the agreement. Documentation version: v3.6 040831 Copyright Notice Copyright 2004 Symantec Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Any technical documentation that is made available by Symantec Corporation is the copyrighted work of Symantec Corporation and is owned by Symantec Corporation. NO WARRANTY. The technical documentation is being delivered to you AS-IS and Symantec Corporation makes no warranty as to its accuracy or use. Any use of the technical documentation or the information contained therein is at the risk of the user. Documentation may include technical or other inaccuracies or typographical errors. Symantec reserves the right to make changes without prior notice. No part of this publication may be copied without the express written permission of Symantec Corporation, 20330 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino, CA 95014. Trademarks Symantec and the Symantec logo are U.S. registered trademarks, and Symantec NetRecon, Symantec Enterprise Security Architecture, Symantec Enterprise Security Manager, LiveUpdate, and Symantec Security Response are trademarks of Symantec Corporation. Microsoft, MS-DOS, Windows, and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Other product names that are mentioned in this manual may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies and are hereby acknowledged. Printed in the United States of America. 3 Technical support As part of Symantec Security Response, the Symantec Global Technical Support group maintains support centers throughout the world.
    [Show full text]
  • Symantec Netrecon™ 3.6 Security Update 24 Release Notes Symantec Netrecon Security Update 24 Release Notes
    Symantec NetRecon™ 3.6 Security Update 24 Release Notes Symantec NetRecon Security Update 24 Release Notes The software that is described in this book is furnished under a license agreement and may be used only in accordance with the terms of the agreement. Documentation version: v3.6 040930 Copyright Notice Copyright 2005 Symantec Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Any technical documentation that is made available by Symantec Corporation is the copyrighted work of Symantec Corporation and is owned by Symantec Corporation. NO WARRANTY. The technical documentation is being delivered to you AS-IS and Symantec Corporation makes no warranty as to its accuracy or use. Any use of the technical documentation or the information contained therein is at the risk of the user. Documentation may include technical or other inaccuracies or typographical errors. Symantec reserves the right to make changes without prior notice. No part of this publication may be copied without the express written permission of Symantec Corporation, 20330 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino, CA 95014. Trademarks Symantec and the Symantec logo are U.S. registered trademarks, and Symantec NetRecon, Symantec Enterprise Security Architecture, Symantec Enterprise Security Manager, LiveUpdate, and Symantec Security Response are trademarks of Symantec Corporation. Microsoft, MS-DOS, Windows, and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Other product names that are mentioned in this manual may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies and are hereby acknowledged. Printed in the United States of America. 3 Technical support As part of Symantec Security Response, the Symantec Global Technical Support group maintains support centers throughout the world.
    [Show full text]
  • Detecting and Analyzing Insecure Component Integration
    Taeho Kwon December 2011 Computer Science Detecting and Analyzing Insecure Component Integration Abstract Component technologies have been widely adopted for designing and engineering software ap- plications and systems, which dynamically integrate software components to achieve desired func- tionalities. Engineering software in a component-based style has significant benefits, such as im- proved programmer productivity and software reliability. To support component integration, oper- ating systems allow an application to dynamically load and use a component. Although developers have frequently utilized such a system-level mechanism, programming errors can lead to insecure component integration and serious security vulnerabilities. The security and reliability impact of component integration has not yet been much explored. This dissertation systematically investigates security issues in dynamic component integration and their impact on software security. On the conceptual level, we formulate two types of insecure component integration—unsafe component loading and insecure component usage—and present practical, scalable techniques to detect and analyze them. Our techniques operate directly on soft- ware binaries and do not require source code. On the practical level, we have used them to discover new vulnerabilities in popular, real-world software, and show that insecure component integration is prevalent and can be exploited by attackers to subvert important software and systems. Our research has had substantial practical impact and helped
    [Show full text]
  • Windows® Scripting Secrets®
    4684-8 FM.f.qc 3/3/00 1:06 PM Page i ® WindowsSecrets® Scripting 4684-8 FM.f.qc 3/3/00 1:06 PM Page ii 4684-8 FM.f.qc 3/3/00 1:06 PM Page iii ® WindowsSecrets® Scripting Tobias Weltner Windows® Scripting Secrets® IDG Books Worldwide, Inc. An International Data Group Company Foster City, CA ♦ Chicago, IL ♦ Indianapolis, IN ♦ New York, NY 4684-8 FM.f.qc 3/3/00 1:06 PM Page iv Published by department at 800-762-2974. For reseller information, IDG Books Worldwide, Inc. including discounts and premium sales, please call our An International Data Group Company Reseller Customer Service department at 800-434-3422. 919 E. Hillsdale Blvd., Suite 400 For information on where to purchase IDG Books Foster City, CA 94404 Worldwide’s books outside the U.S., please contact our www.idgbooks.com (IDG Books Worldwide Web site) International Sales department at 317-596-5530 or fax Copyright © 2000 IDG Books Worldwide, Inc. All rights 317-572-4002. reserved. No part of this book, including interior design, For consumer information on foreign language cover design, and icons, may be reproduced or transmitted translations, please contact our Customer Service in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, department at 800-434-3422, fax 317-572-4002, or e-mail recording, or otherwise) without the prior written [email protected]. permission of the publisher. For information on licensing foreign or domestic rights, ISBN: 0-7645-4684-8 please phone +1-650-653-7098. Printed in the United States of America For sales inquiries and special prices for bulk quantities, 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 please contact our Order Services department at 1B/RT/QU/QQ/FC 800-434-3422 or write to the address above.
    [Show full text]
  • Which Wiki for Which Uses
    Which wiki for which uses There are over 120 Wiki software available to set up a wiki plateform. Those listed below are the 13 more popular (by alphabetic order) wiki engines as listed on http://wikimatrix.org on the 16th of March 2012. The software license decides on what conditions a certain software may be used. Among other things, the software license decide conditions to run, study the code, modify the code and redistribute copies or modified copies of the software. Wiki software are available either hosted on a wiki farm or downloadable to be installed locally. Wiki software Reference Languages Wikifarm Technology Licence Main audience Additional notes name organization available available very frequently met in corporate environment. Arguably the most widely deployed wiki software in the entreprise market. A zero- Confluence Atlassian Java proprietary 11 confluence entreprise cost license program is available for non-profit organizations and open source projects aimed at small companies’ documentation needs. It works on plain DokuWiki several companies Php GPL2 50 small companies text files and thus needs no database. DrupalWiki Kontextwork.de Php GPL2+ 12 entreprise DrupalWiki is intended for enterprise use Entreprise wiki. Foswiki is a wiki + structured data + Foswiki community Perl GPL2 22 entreprise programmable pages education, public Wikimedia Php with backend MediaWiki is probably the best known wiki software as it is the MediaWiki GPLv2+ >300 wikia and many hostingservice, companies private Foundation and others database one used by Wikipedia. May support very large communities knowledge-based site MindTouchTCS MindTouch Inc. Php proprietary 26 SamePage partly opensource and partly proprietary extensions Jürgen Hermann & Python with flat tech savy MoinMoin GPL2 10+ ourproject.org Rather intended for small to middle size workgroup.
    [Show full text]
  • The Tiddlywiki Manual
    THETHE BOOKBOOK OFOF TT II DD DD LL YY WW II KK II ADVANCED CUSTOMIZATION LUIS J. GONZÁLEZ CABALLERO Advanced Customization Luis Javier González Caballero November 28, 2019 Acknowledgements This book would not have been possible without the help of people from the tiddlywiki google group. Special thanks to: • Ton Gerner for his help with css classes. • Riz for his help with templates. • Mohammad Rahmani for his wonderful wikis and plugins. • Chris Hunt for his Tiddlywiki coding notes. 3 Contents 1 Introduction 11 1.1 Key points............................................ 11 1.2 What is tiddlywiki........................................ 12 1.3 Starting with tiddlywiki..................................... 13 1.4 Reasons to use tiddlywiki.................................... 13 1.5 Elements of TW......................................... 14 1.5.1 The screen........................................ 14 1.5.2 Tiddlers.......................................... 14 1.5.3 The Story River..................................... 15 1.5.4 Tags............................................ 15 1.5.5 Fields........................................... 16 1.5.6 Text format........................................ 16 1.5.7 Transclusion....................................... 16 1.5.8 Templates......................................... 16 1.5.9 Filters........................................... 16 1.5.10 Macros and widgets................................... 16 1.5.11 Mechanism........................................ 17 1.5.12 Lists...........................................
    [Show full text]
  • From Web 2.0 to Web
    Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 and its Applications in Library Services Dr. Jagdish Arora Advisor, NBA Email: [email protected] Evolution of library technology (adapted from Noh (2012) Library 2.0 and Library 3.0 • Web 1.0 (Tims Berner Lee) • Semantic Web - 2001 (Tims Berner Lee) • Web 2.0 (Tim O'Reilly, 2005) • Web 3.0 John Markoff, New York Times, 2006) • Web 4.0 (Distant Dream?) • Library 2.0 coined by Michael Casey in 2006 • Library 3.0 • Library 4.0 This talk is addressed to: • Librarian 2.0 • Librarian 3.0 1996 (1 L W; 50 L U) 2006 (10 Cr W; 50 L) 2016 (100 Cr W; 250 Cr U) Web 1.0 to Web 4.0: Process of Evolution Subtitle comes here Web 1.0: Read Web 2.0: Read & Write Web 3.0: Read, Write & Web 4.0: Read, Write, /Awareness / Static (2006) Execute (2016) Execute & Concur (1996) • Web Connecting • Web Connecting • Intelligent interaction • Unidirectional / People / Human Knowledge & between machines and Passive transmission Centric Participative Intelligence users • Limited Interaction Web • Semantic Web: Web of • Internet of Things (IoT) with Users • Dynamic, Interactive Data; Virtual World • Human are upgraded with • No Content and Collaborative • Social Computing technology extension Creation Creation of Information Environment (Always On) • Social Networking • Multi-directional Sites (SNS) • Semantic connections • Bi-directional • Data filtered • AI Source: .... 6 Web 2.0 Web 2.0 is About Cultivating Communities . Shared Picture Shared Video Shared News Shared Shared Bookmarks Everything • SmugMug • YouTube •Digg • Photobucket •Twitter •MySpace • Vimeo •Redddit • Google Photos • Dailymotion •Pinterest •Facebook •Delicious • Snapfish • Twitch •StumbleUpon •Twitter •Grow News • Flickr • LiveLeak •Dribble •Friendster •Newsvine • ImageShack • Break •Orkut • Metacafe •Slashdot • Fotolog •Pocket •Snapchat Its About being in the User’s Space .
    [Show full text]
  • Awesome Selfhosted - Wikis
    Awesome Selfhosted - Wikis Wikis Related: Software Development - Documentation Generators See also: Wikimatrix, Wiki Engines - WikiIndex, List of wiki software - Wikipedia, Comparison of wiki software - Wikipedia. BookStack - BookStack is a simple, self-hosted, easy-to-use platform for organizing and storing information. It allows for documentation to be stored in a book like fashion. (Demo, Source Code) MIT PHP Cowyo - Cowyo is a feature-rich wiki for minimalists. (Demo) MIT Go django-wiki - Wiki system with complex functionality for simple integration and a superb interface. Store your knowledge with style: Use django models. (Demo) GPL-3.0 Python Documize - Modern Docs + Wiki software with built-in workflow, single binary executable, just bring MySQL/Percona. (Source Code) AGPL-3.0 Go Dokuwiki - Easy to use, lightweight, standards-compliant wiki engine with a simple syntax allowing reading the data outside the wiki. All data is stored in plain files, therefore no database is required. (Source Code) GPL-2.0 PHP Gitit - Wiki program that stores pages and uploaded files in a git repository, which can then be modified using the VCS command line tools or the wiki's web interface. GPL-2.0 Haskell Gollum - Simple, Git-powered wiki with a sweet API and local frontend. MIT Ruby jingo - Git based wiki engine written for node.js, with a decent design, a search capability and good typography. MIT Nodejs Mediawiki - MediaWiki is a free and open-source wiki software package written in PHP. It serves as the platform for Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects, used by hundreds of millions of people each month.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding Wikis: from Ward’S Brain to Your Browser
    06_043998 ch01.qxp 6/19/07 8:20 PM Page 9 Chapter 1 Understanding Wikis: From Ward’s Brain to Your Browser In This Chapter ᮣ Finding your way to wikis ᮣ Understanding what makes a wiki a wiki ᮣ Comparing wikis with blogs and other Web sites ᮣ Examining the history and future of wikis ᮣ How to start using wikis hen Ward Cunningham started programming the first wiki engine Win 1994 and then released it on the Internet in 1995, he set forth a simple set of rules for creating Web sites that pushed all the technical gob- bledygook into the background and made creating and sharing content as easy as possible. Ward’s vision was simple: Create the simplest possible online database that could work. And his attitude was generous; he put the idea out there to let the world run with it. The results were incredible. Ward’s inventiveness and leadership had been long established by the role he played in senior engi- neering jobs, promoting design patterns, and helping develop the concept of Extreme Programming. That a novel idea like the wiki flowed from his mind onto the COPYRIGHTEDInternet was no surprise to those MATERIAL who knew him. The wiki concept turned out to have amazing properties. When content is in a shared space and is easy to create and connect, it can be collectively owned. The community of owners can range from just a few people up into the thousands, as in the case of the online wiki encyclopedia, Wikipedia. 06_043998 ch01.qxp 6/19/07 8:20 PM Page 10 10 Part I: Introducing Wikis This chapter introduces you to the wonderful world of wikis by showing you what a wiki is (or can be), how to find and use wikis for fun and profit, and how to get started with a wiki of your own.
    [Show full text]