Semantic wiki - collaboration, semantics & semi-structured knowledge

Wikis are collaboration tools and characteristic examples of Web 2.0 utilisation of technology. Users participate to generate content and maintain the quality of information within the wiki. Information is contained in interlinked pages and organised and structured in categories. Semantic wikis add more structure by the use of typed links, typed pages and annotations. Semantic technologies are utilized in order to achieve machinereadability, automatic reasoning, knowledge representation, and information integration. Semantic wikis contain semi-structured knowledge by combining user generated hypertext with the formal world of semantics. User stories from the Zoran Sea Scenario illustrate military applications of semantic wikis. These include ontology making in Communities of Interests, wikis used in distributed planning and information integration and reuse. Some organizational challenges related to planning and user participation, as well as usability and quality aspects, are discussed. The evolutionary and user centric nature of wikis necessitate a new paradigm in information management and control.