How did all this begin?

You may have only recently heard about wikis as a new approach to managing web-based content or for collaborating with others. A wiki (pronouced "wickie" or "weekee") is a member of the group of "social software" --- that is, software that provides some level of interactivity between individuals. The first wiki was developed over 10 years ago, actually pre-dating blogs by about two years. Wikis are in their second decade of use.

How did this phenomenon begin?
The first Wiki was created in 1995 by Ward Cunningham, a Smalltalk developer, who conceived it as a quick way to create and share ideas when working. The first public wiki, called the Portland Pattern Repository, facilitates the discovery and discussion of software patterns. Ward's Wiki is still working today. In fact, on its tenth anniversary, it had over 30,000 pages! His site has a lot more information about the history of Wiki. A video is available on Channel 9 Forums with Ward describing how he came up with the idea for the wiki. By the way, the "wiki" name was inspired by the transit bus line at the Honolulu International Airport which is named after the Hawaiian expression for quick (wiki wiki).

The result of Ward's development was the creation of a web-based collaboration tool with applications for use in many areas. Since its creation over a decade ago, dozens of Wiki implementations or clones have spawned on various server platforms, including a number of open source software projects. There are now several wiki engines (the wiki software) available for installing and hosting a wiki. There are also many wiki farms where a wiki space can be hosted (some free and some for a fee) on a server or group of servers where the wiki engine is installed and maintained by someone hosting the central service.

For more information: Ward Cunningham and Bo Leuf authored a book about using wikis.

Image credits:
Photo - Microsoft Research
Book cover - Wikipedia
Bus - Answers.com

Reference:
Ward's wiki
Wild About Wikis