Wiki publishing

Wiki publishing means publishing in wiki format. Wiki publishing is a form of online publishing (electronic publishing) that makes use of a wiki user interface. The key feature of the wiki interface is that by default everyone can edit the world wide web pages of a wiki.

Purpose, mission, objective
The "everyone can edit" concept is a powerful basis upon which online communities can be built. One approach towards forming specific wiki communities is to define the mission or purpose of each wiki. People who are interested in a particular mission will be attracted to the wiki that has adopted that mission. The community members will then shape the wiki so that it can achieve its mission.

There are many different types of possible wiki publishing missions or objectives. In the case of academic publishing, quality control is a central concern. Academicians engage in intellectual explorations and attempt to build coherent understanding of the world. This social process involves publication of formal textual presentations of new ideas that are intended to contribute to incrementally to the growth of knowledge. Specialization is a key aspect of the knowledge economy. There needs to be a social system by which groups of specialists with common interests can come together to perform Peer Review of publications for quality control.

Wiki academic publishing
Wiki academic publishing must confront
 * 1) the problem of adapting wiki technology to the goals of efficient publication of peer-reviewed articles and 
 * 2) the problem of adapting academicians to the wiki way of doing things.

Traditional academic publishing has a large cultural momentum that tends to lock acadmicians into existing publishing systems. Wiki academic publishing must create ways of stabilizing communities of scholars within the wiki environment.