A wiki ( ) is an
online hypertext
Hypertext is E-text, text displayed on a computer display or other electronic devices with references (hyperlinks) to other text that the reader can immediately access. Hypertext documents are interconnected by hyperlinks, which are typi ...
publication
collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a
web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the public or limited to use within an organization for maintaining its internal
knowledge base.
Wikis are enabled by
wiki software, otherwise known as wiki engines. A wiki engine, being a form of a
content management system
A content management system (CMS) is computer software used to manage the creation and modification of digital content (content management).''Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy''. Ann Rockley, Pamela Kostur, Steve Manning. New ...
, differs from other
web-based systems such as
blog software, in that the content is created without any defined owner or leader, and wikis have little inherent structure, allowing structure to emerge according to the needs of the users.
Wiki engines usually allow content to be written using a simplified
markup language
Markup language refers to a text-encoding system consisting of a set of symbols inserted in a text document to control its structure, formatting, or the relationship between its parts. Markup is often used to control the display of the document ...
and sometimes edited with the help of a
rich-text editor.
There are dozens of different wiki engines in use, both standalone and part of other software, such as
bug tracking systems. Some wiki engines are
open-source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
, whereas others are