Online Collaboration..

Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia, is a wiki, or - a website that not only allows users to add content, as on an Internet forum, but also allows anyone to edit the content already present there. 'Wiki' also refers to the collaborative software used to create such a website.

[from Wikipedia]

What this means is that not only can one access the information on such a site, or append to it, he/she can even edit whatever content is already there, and that too in real-time. I was completely ignorant to the above fact, when I was using Wikipedia all this while. I never noticed the 'edit this page' button at the top of all the pages at Wikipedia (Ok, not all, but they have only the basic pages as non-editable). So if you search for IIT Bombay, and notice that there is a section on distinguished alumni, and out of the blues you feel that Kanwal Rekhi also deserves a mention there, you can add his name on the page then and there, as well as add an entirely new page with some information on him. This is what I did right now, to test the system, and just for kicks! You may have a look :)

Now, the success of Wikis is a very interesting phenomenon. When you allow anyone to edit the content in real-time and without screening, chances are that people would be more busy spoiling what is already there, than doing some good and adding value. This would be particularly true in the initial phases of the development of such an online collaboration. And even though they have monitoring systems, which can ban malicious IPs temporarily or permanently, it still is not tough to do harm. And the fact that such websites have survived such abuse, is great. And Wikipedia in English stands today as the largest Wiki in the world.

Overall, a great concept. Letting people constructively collaborate in a very effective manner. Nice.

~ Ankur.