[Mediawiki-l] [OT] Terminology: Wikis vs. WikiWikiWebs

[Frederik Dohr]

Hey everyone,

When talking to other people about wikis, it is often necessary to point
out that Wikipedia is only one implementation, and not THE wiki.
In that context, I've noticed that the terminology in terms of naming
the basic concept seems to be confusing or inconsistent:

In my understanding, the term "wiki" is just a shortening of (and thus a
synonym for) "WikiWikiWebs" - meaning that, strictly speaking,
"WikiWikiWeb" would be the generic term (or hypernym) for the whole slew
of wikis and wiki projects/communities out there.
However, many resources (including Wikipedia) seem to limit the term
"WikiWikiWeb" to Ward Cunningham's original implementation (WardsWiki or
the Portland Pattern Repository) - whereas I'd see that as one of many
WikiWikiWebs (or wikis), even if it was the orginal one.

Am I wrong in my understanding of this - or is there simply no clear
consensus on that yet?


Thanks,

Frederik