“You know you should really do that using a wiki,” seems to becoming a regular part of my daily conversations. In recent weeks I know I’ve used it at:

– a social event related to my wife’s work when someone was describing a public outreach program they had recently put on;
– a friend’s book-signing where I fell into conversation about the usefulness of social networks and community collaboration;
– a science fiction convention during a conversation with a fellow writer about a research project he is part way through.
– a conversation with the CEO of a niche publishing company about using a wiki to connect his existing community of loyal readers.

It’s perhaps only natural  with the new Confluence Wiki output functionality in ePublisher 2009.2, and WebWorks focus on wikis, plus as I start to write the first few chapters of my upcoming book on the subject, “WIKI: Grow Your Own For Fun and Profit, that the concepts, technology, and practical application of wikis should be fresh in my mind; but what I am starting to notice is just how far reaching the application of wikis could, and should, be.

Wikis are far more than online encyclopedias, or a new way to deliver documentation.
Wikis can also be:
– Project management tools,
– Forums for community conversation,
– Knowledge capture tools,
and much, much more.

In fact every time I talk to a WebWorks customer or partner I hear more and more imaginative uses and applications for wikis.

In fact when you think about the ways a wiki can be used they can even replace the two most used corporate software applications – email and word-processors.

It could be argued that wikis are the future of corporate communications and customer interaction.

In October I’ll be taking some of this wiki conversation and discussion on the road when I present a session at the WikiFest portion of WikiSym, the 5th International Symposium on Wikis.

I also have a panel on Wikis up for possible inclusion in next year’s SXSW Interactive festival. If you would like to be part of that discussion, please head over to the SXSWi “Panel Picker” and give the proposal a “thumbs up” vote.

{NOTE: this blog post is based on a entry originally posted on my personal blog “The Content Pool.”}