Here we describe how to be creative with federated wiki - reading (navigating) the wiki page lineup, writing in wiki and collaborating through wiki.
In this site, and in all the foprop sites, **wiki means federated wiki**. This is a second-generation form, developed 30 years on by the same inventive programmer - Ward Cunningham - who discovered the wiki principle out of which Wikipedia, for example, has been built. For contrast, we'll use the term *orthodox wiki* for that first-generation kind of wiki . Federated wiki
The page you're reading now is in a (federated) wiki.
# Reading (navigating) in wiki The way wiki works is different from ordinary pages that we typically see in a web browser. Wiki pages appear side by side in the same browser tab - this is called **'the lineup'**. The lineup is more complex but more powerful than the multiple tabs we often work with in the browser, and it's possible to get lost as further pages are added. The wiki lineup of pages
So: follow the tips in Reading (navigating) in wiki
# Writing in wiki Writing is where wiki shows is nature and its value. It's a medium for writers, and writer-collaborators - rather than passive readers. While orthodix wiki developed as a medium for consensus or authoritative voice, wiki generates 'a chorus of voices'. Each site can be written in by just one person, 'the owner'. Chorus of voices
The page in wiki is also complex and flexible. The paragraphs are not just chunks of text, with links to other pages. They also can be small centres of active computing, 'aware' of other paragraphs in the same or different sites; paragraphs have active relationships with other paragraphs. This enables a write to assemble a powerful array of means in a page, and in a wiki site. Paragraphs and plugins
> Initially, this wiki will prioritise the needs of readers and newcomers who are not (yet) writers. So the section on reading/navigating will be filled out before we develop much on writing.
See:Writing in wiki
# Collaborating through wiki Writers in wiki are not in a vacuum. Far from it. Any page in wiki can be forked by a reader-writer, into one of their own wikis. When edited there, the original author can know that this has happened, view the revised page, and if they want to, fork it back again. This makes wiki intrinsically collaborative. Pages remember who has written them (the sites that their paragraphs have been on). Collaborative link
Tools like Recent changes enable a reader to see which pages in the neighborhood have been edited recently. This makes wiki a kind of 'awareness engine'. Wiki doesn't 'push' (send notifications, messages, etc). But awareness of what others are doing in wiki is available through 'pull' tools like Recent Changes and collaborative links. Awareness engine
Thus, a large part of the federating that wiki allows is grounded in deliberate social relationships as distinct from automated software processes. Learning and collaborating in pods, through neighborhoods held in common, is an important mode that wiki is designed for. Podding
Wiki is designed to be limited in the capabilities that it furnishes for writer-reader interaction. wiki does not 'push'; it has a text-based interface; it doesn't include audio or video channels. For collaboration, other complementary channels are also needed. Other channels - The extended trinity
# What federates in federated wiki? Starting at the bottom: - paragraphs federate with paragraphs - in the same wiki site or in other sites. Computational processes can be coded into page plugins. - pages federate - through being adventitiously forked (migrating) across sites - perhaps sites of other writers, perhaps the author's. - pages visually federate in the browser and in the reader's awareness, by being viewable inside the lineup of other sites' pages - pages and sites federate by explicit links - of course: this is what hypertext and wiki are all about. - sites federate the browser (where much of the computational work goes on) with the server. Some functions live on the server (producing 'green' wiki pages in the lineup). - farms (servers) federate with farms. All wiki pages are in one 'wikiverse'. - writers federate with writers, using wiki's capacity as an awareness engine. They can form 'pods' and other kinds of creative associations.
DOT strict digraph rankdir=LR node [style=filled fillcolor=lightyellow penwidth=3 color=black fontname="Helvetica"] HERE NODE node [style=filled fillcolor=lightblue] WHERE /^Next/ LINKS HERE -> NODE node [style=filled fillcolor=white] HERE NODE WHERE /^Next/ LINKS HERE -> NODE node [style=filled fillcolor=white penwidth=3 color=black] LINKS HERE -> NODE node [style=filled fillcolor=white penwidth=1 color=black] HERE NODE LINKS HERE -> NODE node [style="filled,rounded,dotted" fillcolor=white] edge [style=dotted] HERE NODE BACKLINKS NODE -> HERE STATIC strict digraph {rankdir=LR node [style=filled fillcolor=lightyellow penwidth=3 color=black fontname="Helvetica"] "Preview Next Diagram" node [style=filled fillcolor=lightblue] "Preview Next Diagram" -> "Next Page" node [style=filled fillcolor=white] node [style=filled fillcolor=white penwidth=3 color=black] "Preview Next Diagram" -> "First Link" "Preview Next Diagram" -> "Agile" "Preview Next Diagram" -> "Next Page" node [style=filled fillcolor=white penwidth=1 color=black] node [style=filled fillcolor=white penwidth=1 color=black] "Agile" "Agile" -> "Agile Experience" "Agile" -> "Agile Mindset" "Agile" -> "Agile Practices" "Agile" -> "Agile Paradigm" "Agile" -> "Agile Story" node [style=filled fillcolor=white penwidth=1 color=black] node [style="filled,rounded,dotted" fillcolor=white] edge [style=dotted] "Preview Next Diagram" "mh graph snippets" -> "Preview Next Diagram" "Graphs of CHECKS" -> "Preview Next Diagram" "Try Backlinks Diagram" -> "Preview Next Diagram" "Dynamic Diagrams Improved" -> "Preview Next Diagram" "Journal Fork Survey" -> "Preview Next Diagram"}