What are wikis?

A wiki is a collection of editable pages about a specific subject and is used by a team to collaborate on content about the subject.

A wiki owner creates a wiki, gives it a title, adds a description and tag, and specifies the initial members. Depending on their access permissions, members can read the wiki, add or edit pages, and add comments.

Consider an example where someone creates a wiki about birds in the US. The wiki creator titles the wiki "Birds of the United States," provides a description and specifies the members, giving them permission to edit existing pages and add new pages.

It's helpful to provide introductory information on the first page of the wiki. This information usually includes a welcome note, an explanation of the subject of the wiki, and instructions on using the wiki.

A wiki member who had a particular interest in birds of the southwestern US might create a child page of the welcome page and title it "Southwest." From that page, the member might create a child page for each type of bird in the southwestern US.

Another member of the wiki might create a peer page of the "Southwest", calling it "Northeast" and then adding child pages about Northeast birds.

These additions would produce the following hierarchy of pages:

Birds of the United States
 Southwest
  California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus)
 Northeast
  Orchard Oriole (Icterus spurius)

As other members begin editing existing pages, adding comments, or creating their own pages, the wiki becomes populated with detailed information. It soon becomes more complicated to find information about a particular bird. Users who are interested in a particular bird can search on the bird's name, look for that bird's name in the tags, or find the name in the page index.