What is Wiki

The wiki is a tool for thought with a long history. To understand its potential, we can first go back to Ancient Greece, where Commonplace Books were first used to help the creative process. Books for collecting ideas that helps us see connections that might inspire our imagination.

The inspiration for the modern wiki can be traced back to an article published in by the Atlantic magazine in 1945, As We May Think. An article that inspired Doug Engelbart to invent modern computing, who, in turn, inspired Alan Kay to invent what we now know as the personal computer to amplify our creative potential.

That article imagined a 'memex' what might be thought of as a machine for extending our memory. What might happen, Vannevar Bush wondered, if technology could be used to help us not only remember but to think better.

The originally wiki was invented by Ward Cunningham to help software developers collectively learn how to better build complex software solutions, laying a foundation for what later become known as Agile. It went on to become the enabling technology for the largest collection of knowledge over achieved, Wikipedia.

But Ward realized that to truly allow computers to help us think better, he had to reinvent the wiki, now called the Federated Wiki, or simply the fedwiki. Since 2018, Ward has partnered with Thompson to explore new creative potential for the software that leverages recent scientific theories of the fundamental nature of the learning mind.

This new machine not only helps us remember, but to share our learning with others in a way that honors each person's voice and curiosities. Today, empowered by this fedwiki, we are now experimenting with the potential of Cybersocial Metathinking using the wiki to amplify our creative potential by connecting our thinking together with others in magical new ways.