Content Management Systems and Wikis

As the Web evolved from the playground of hobbyists to the domain commercial users, the difficulty of maintaining sites capable of displaying massive amounts of information escalated rapidly. Content management systems (CMSs) such as Vignette leaped into the gap to help companies manage their sites. While CMSs remain a common component of websites today, the model they use is often one of outward publication: a specific author or organization creates content, and that content is then published to readers (who may be able comment on it). Wikis take a different approach, using the same system to both create and publish information and thereby allowing readers to become writers and editors.

Applicable Web 2.0 Patterns

The patterns illustrated in this discussion focus on collaboration:

  • Participation-Collaboration

  • Collaborative Tagging

You can find more information on these patterns in Chapter 7.

Participation and Relevance

Publishing is often a unilateral action whereby content is made available and further modifications to the content are minimal. Those who consume the content participate only as readers.

Wikis may look like ordinary websites presenting content, but the presence of an edit button indicates a fundamental change. Users can modify the content by providing comments (much like blog comments), use the content to create new works based on the content (mashups), and, in some cases, create specialized versions of the original content. Their participation ...

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