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Wiki is one of the most well-known, and some would say most useful, tools in Web 2.0, the next generation of Internet interactivity that?s here today. Some risk-minded professionals have caught on and launched their own wikis to communicate with peers.

One is WikiHealthCare, hosted by the Joint Commission, the not-for-profit accrediting organization for the healthcare industry.

Some topics of discussion currently on the wiki include the transfer of health information between hospital or doctor and patient, the standardization of data within an organization and the establishment of a smoke-free workplace. Topics are also specialized for different branches of healthcare, including long-term, ambulatory and critical access.

As of a Sept. 12 news article announcing the pilot Web tool, as many as 1,500 users had already signed on. The Joint Commission on its site predicts that number could reach the tens of thousands, or even millions.

WikiHealthCare, like all wikis, allows its readers to also become content contributors and editors, at will. The site also features discussion pages for every topic, where users can duke out a disagreement instead of resorting to an ?editing war.?

Another new wiki for risk professionals is Riskipedia. Launched by Risk & Insurance® columnist Beaumont Vance, the site shoots to be the ?largest body of risk-related information in the world.?

Instead of brokers, risk managers, insurers and others toiling away in isolation to solve risk problems, the solution-sharing fostered at Riskipedia could minimize duplicative effort.

The most famous wiki manifestation is Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that allows anyone, anywhere, to create or edit an entry on virtually anything.

Some contend that wikis are not the tool they are promoted to be. As early as 2005, bloggers on the topic, such as Hacknot, coined a new disease ?wikiphilia?--an irrational belief that wikis can solve any problem. Wikipedia has also been rocked by charges of lack of accountability and scandals, such as the case when defamatory content was posted about long-time journalist John Seigenthaler Sr.

November 1, 2007

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