[Web4lib] Access Control: Wiki vs. CMS

[Chris Gray]

I am repeatedly impressed by how often, when librarians consider wikis, 
their first thought seems to be of access control.  The idea of "just 
anybody being able to edit our Web pages" seems somehow innately 
abhorrent.  It leads me to wonder if they "get" the very idea of a wiki. 
The first wiki (The Portland Pattern Repository Wiki 
<http://c2.com/cgi/wiki>) has always allowed anyone to edit any page and 
is a very successful project.  There are many others, Wikipedia not least 
among them.

Access control is part of the definition of a Content Management System, 
which comes to the Web via the corporate world.  A Wiki is a different 
beast entirely.

Chris Gray
Systems Analyst
University of Waterloo Library