Ward Cunningham and wikis

Ward Cunningham (1949 - now) is an American computer programmer best known for creating the first wiki, WikiWikiWeb in 1994. Wikipedia says,

"Cunningham is well known for a few widely disseminated ideas which he originated and developed. The most famous among these are the wiki and many ideas in the field of software design patterns." (Wikipedia: Ward Cunningham, 4.15.22 UTC 06:19)

The rest of this post is some quotes from Cunningham.

Wiki

"Wiki pages are very much free form. Across the whole wiki there is a hypertext structure, but on a given page, within the versatility of your command of your natural language, you can say whatever needs to be said." (A Conversation with Ward Cunningham, JAOO Conference 2003)

"A wiki is always in the process of being organized. But for every hour spent organizing, two more hours are spent adding new material. So the status quo for a wiki is always partially organized." (A Conversation with Ward Cunningham, JAOO Conference 2003)

"Wiki helped define the category of social software." (Podcast Interview with Ward Cunningham, EclipseCon, 2006)

Text

"I love photography. A photograph will tell a story. But words are more versatile. You can paint a verbal picture that's much richer than you can photograph." (To Plan or Not To Plan, Conversation with Ward Cunningham, 2004)