Overview (Wikis and Bookstacks)

To understand what this thing even is, and why it's different than something like a folder full of microsoft word files, we have to clarify the term "wiki." The term wiki is most commonly associated with Wikipedia, one of the largest wikis out there, but not the only wiki. Wikis have shifted around in definition, but the basic one is this:

A "Wiki" is a website which serves as a large shared repository of information, which is curated, expanded, and refined by the users of the wiki. Traditionally, wikis have extremely low technical overhead for editing their content, letting users edit pages with the same browser they use to read those same pages. Wikis are also networked, with multiple users and contributors, clear revision history, low barrier to editing, and a general emphasis on collective information sharing through written formats.

 Fun fact: the term "wiki" is a Hawaiian word for "quick." It's been used for this style of software because the first wiki software, WikiWikiWeb, would have been called QuickWeb otherwise, which was seen as too general of a term. The reason for choosing Wiki as the term specifically over any other term is because the creator of WikiWikiWeb liked the Wiki Wiki Shuttle Busses at the Honolulu air port.

There are now several pieces of software, and kinds of websites, which operated based on the wiki concept. MediaWiki, Fandom, Wiki.GG, TiddlyWiki, and Bookstack, to name a few. That last one, Bookstack, is our wiki software of choice. Bookstack is the software used by Glorbumbo's Wiki, and the software used by Tailor (the Bearware worker wiki). Bookstack falls under all the definitions used by websites like Wikipedia, but with a layout which makes the information easier to sort and categorize.

Bookstack, unlike most other wikis, is meant to be a very structured repository of information. Wikipedia (running MediaWiki), for example, has the ability for individual pages to link to individual pages to create a massive web of pages. While the massive web of pages is a good approach to a hyper-generalized information repository like Wikipedia, our information is much more focused, interwoven, and structured. This is where Bookstack shines, letting pages be organized into chapters and books, which are then placed on shelves, with the ability to be reorganized and altered whenever someone wants to.

We tend to find the interweaving of the ability to show a presentable reference-able document, with the ability to make swift changes, and the ability to make that information trivially accessible in a larger structured context, to be very compelling.