Everyone is familiar with Wikipedia, a wiki that is collectively created and curated. Well, wikis of various size, color and shape have been around for the past five years or so. There are desktop based wikis (such as VoodooPad for OS X), self hosted wikis and web application wikis.

Definition Of

First off — what is a wiki? It’s a strange word, but common enough now that it has been added to the new Oxford American Dictionary.

And although the definition states that a wiki is a web page, desktop applications have been created to give you the same functionality. Actually, the definition is fairly broad and could cover various types of current tools.

But of course, we’re focusing on what the web offers in this category.

Purpose

So, other than large scale wiki’s like Wikipedia, how can you or your team use a tool like this on a smaller scale?

For starters, many corporate intranets would include some feature that resembles a wiki — multiple users can contribute to the content. And the basic purpose behind the rise in wiki’s. There has been a push to move from the traditional folder hierarchy and move to tools that give users a wiki-style of format for working repositories of documentation.

So if you want to be able to collaboratively work on files, with more than one person giving feedback or modifying a document, than wiki’s are a good option. They can also be used for communication with their bulletin board-style of input.

Best Available Options

And so, if a wiki is a good fit for your team, here are some of the best web applications available in this genre.

The Best

cctext

Still in beta, cctext looks extremely promising and I think it can be the leader in this space. A clean design is a great start, but it also has all the features you’d want. This includes their workspaces, which contain message board-like ‘topics’ and related files.

Pricing: $4 per user per month

Google Sites

More of a collection of web page, Google Sites offers much of the functionality people associate with a wiki. You can add various components to a page, such as announcements, file storage, and lists. You also have the availability to control the access users have to each page.

This is perhaps not what people think of when they think wiki, but it fits the definition.

Pricing: Free

Backpack

Again, this is probably an option that many would not consider to be a wiki, but it fits the earmark. A web page — or rather, a collection of web pages — Backpack can play the role of a wiki very well.

With the options available on its pages and writeboards, Backpack can give a group of users all that is needed to openly collaborate on content.

Pricing: Free / $24 / $49 / $99 / $149 (Monthly)

PBWorks

A more ‘traditional’ wiki-style tool, PBworks is one of the most popular wiki tools on the web. It offers similar features with collaborative page editing, document sharing, message boards and auditing.

Pricing: Various plans from free to $240 per user per month. Yearly plans also available.

The Rest

Not What You Expected?

There’s a chance that I threw some of you off by the inclusion of some of the tools here. When people think wiki, they most often think of something like Wikipedia. But the man from which the term originated described as wiki as thus:

the simplest online database that could possibly work

And Wikipedia lists the following common usages of wikis in general:

Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites, to power community websites, for personal note taking, in corporate intranets, and in knowledge management systems.

And even though we’ve come to view wikis as knowledge management systems like Wikipedia, all the web services listed above fit the definition of a wiki.

Now you simply have to choose the one that best suits your needs.