City wiki
Encyclopedia
A city wiki is a wiki
used as a knowledge base
and social network
for a specific geographical
locale. The term 'city wiki' or its foreign language equivalent (e.g. German 'Stadtwiki') is sometimes also used for wikis that cover not just a city
, but a small town
or an entire region
. A city wiki contains information about specific instances of things, ideas, people and places. Much of this information might not be appropriate for Wikipedia (e.g., articles on every retail outlet in a town), but might be appropriate for a wiki with more localized content and viewers. A city wiki could also contain information about the following subjects, that may or may not be appropriate for a general knowledge wiki, such as:
The Open Guide to London is probably the oldest of the city wikis. It is part of a sub group of city wikis that use the OpenGuides software, and most have the openguides.org domain in their URL. Most of them are for cities in England
. Although Cityultima, formerly Cityunlimited was founded in February 2007.
The Stadtwiki Karlsruhe
is the largest city wiki.
]
The table below, adapted from a more detailed table on the Omaha Wiki, provides information on the 30 largest city wikis worldwide, ranked by the number of articles as of August 31, 2010. Twenty-six of the city wikis use the Mediawiki
software, three use the Sycamore software (Davis, Rochester, Santa Cruz), and one uses the OpenGuides software (London). Some of the methods for reporting metrics vary between the different types of wikis and thus care should be used when comparing across them. For example, the Sycamore stats do not break out counts for pages outside the main article namespace (e.g. user, project, image, template, help, category namespaces in Mediawiki) so the article counts between the Mediawiki and Sycamore wikis cannot be directly compared. For the Mediawiki sites, over half of the pages are in these supporting namespaces and are not included in the counts below. The user counts for most Sycamore wikis show only users with at least one edit while the user counts for the Mediawiki sites include users who have not made any edits. Given these differences, the numbers below tend to overstate article counts for Sycamore wikis and understate the number of users.
The columns below can be sorted by clicking on the symbol below the column heading. The "Total" columns show all activity since the wiki was founded. These metrics will be updated at the end of each month.
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
used as a knowledge base
Knowledge management
Knowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...
and social network
Social network
A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
for a specific geographical
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
locale. The term 'city wiki' or its foreign language equivalent (e.g. German 'Stadtwiki') is sometimes also used for wikis that cover not just a city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
, but a small town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
or an entire region
Region
Region is most commonly found as a term used in terrestrial and astrophysics sciences also an area, notably among the different sub-disciplines of geography, studied by regional geographers. Regions consist of subregions that contain clusters of like areas that are distinctive by their uniformity...
. A city wiki contains information about specific instances of things, ideas, people and places. Much of this information might not be appropriate for Wikipedia (e.g., articles on every retail outlet in a town), but might be appropriate for a wiki with more localized content and viewers. A city wiki could also contain information about the following subjects, that may or may not be appropriate for a general knowledge wiki, such as:
- Details of public establishments such as public houses, bars, accommodation or social centers.
- Owner name, opening hours and statistics for a specific shop.
- Statistical information about a specific road in a city.
- Flavors of ice cream served at a local ice cream parlor.
- A biography of a local mayor and other persons
The Open Guide to London is probably the oldest of the city wikis. It is part of a sub group of city wikis that use the OpenGuides software, and most have the openguides.org domain in their URL. Most of them are for cities in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Although Cityultima, formerly Cityunlimited was founded in February 2007.
The Stadtwiki Karlsruhe
Stadtwiki Karlsruhe
The Stadtwiki Karlsruhe is a City wiki of the German town Karlsruhe and its surroundings, which is the largest in the world.- History :It was founded by the former pupil Hauke Löffler on the 22nd of Juli 2004...
is the largest city wiki.
Largest city wikis
The table below, adapted from a more detailed table on the Omaha Wiki, provides information on the 30 largest city wikis worldwide, ranked by the number of articles as of August 31, 2010. Twenty-six of the city wikis use the Mediawiki
MediaWiki
MediaWiki is a popular free web-based wiki software application. Developed by the Wikimedia Foundation, it is used to run all of its projects, including Wikipedia, Wiktionary and Wikinews. Numerous other wikis around the world also use it to power their websites...
software, three use the Sycamore software (Davis, Rochester, Santa Cruz), and one uses the OpenGuides software (London). Some of the methods for reporting metrics vary between the different types of wikis and thus care should be used when comparing across them. For example, the Sycamore stats do not break out counts for pages outside the main article namespace (e.g. user, project, image, template, help, category namespaces in Mediawiki) so the article counts between the Mediawiki and Sycamore wikis cannot be directly compared. For the Mediawiki sites, over half of the pages are in these supporting namespaces and are not included in the counts below. The user counts for most Sycamore wikis show only users with at least one edit while the user counts for the Mediawiki sites include users who have not made any edits. Given these differences, the numbers below tend to overstate article counts for Sycamore wikis and understate the number of users.
The columns below can be sorted by clicking on the symbol below the column heading. The "Total" columns show all activity since the wiki was founded. These metrics will be updated at the end of each month.
| Founded |
City Wiki |
Total Articles |
Total Images |
Total Edits |
Total Users |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004-07-22 | Stadtwiki Karlsruhe Stadtwiki Karlsruhe The Stadtwiki Karlsruhe is a City wiki of the German town Karlsruhe and its surroundings, which is the largest in the world.- History :It was founded by the former pupil Hauke Löffler on the 22nd of Juli 2004... , Germany |
21,298 | 16,331 | 363,222 | 4,030 |
| 2004-06-24 | Davis, California DavisWiki Started in June of 2004, daviswiki.org is a wiki based in Davis, California about the people, events, universities, bands, places and other things of the city... |
14,813 | 20,957 | 300,448 | 13,354 |
| 2006-03-22 | Córdoba, Spain | 14,054 | 11,226 | 125,200 | 4,555 |
| 2005-04-18 | Hamburg, Germany | 12,594 | 446 | 82,056 | 3,357 |
| 2007-02-27 | Salzburg, Austria | 13,393 | 12,336 | 193,636 | 1,729 |
| 2006-08-28 | Kassel, Germany | 11,409 | 7,464 | 165,359 | 948 |
| 2006-03-15 | Birmingham, USA | 8,344 | 3,351 | 78,678 | 334 |
| 2007-02-06 | Omaha, USA | 7,086 | 1,408 | 39,767 | 622 |
| 2005-12-15 | Rhine-Neckar, Germany | 6,631 | 1,607 | 53,102 | 439 |
| 2005-09-09 | Ann Arbor, USA | 6,132 | 780 | 40,409 | 934 |
| 2005-01-18 | Rochester, USA | 6,040 | 3,003 | 75,019 | 3,101 |
| 2006-04-03 | Hamm, Germany | 4,816 | 3,740 | ||
| 2007-09-01 | Ahrweiler, Germany | 4,439 | 1,364 | 22,471 | 163 |
| 2006-12-05 | Mankato, USA | 3,984 | 572 | 15,254 | 99 |
| 2006-04-29 | Pforzheim-Enz, Germany | 3,959 | 2,042 | 48,898 | 296 |
| 2005-07-15 | Kyiv, Ukraine | 3,742 | 1,892 | 18,990 | 398 |
| 2008-02-20 | Niederbayern, Germany | 3,663 | 4,962 | 41,615 | 540 |
| 2005-03-23 | Munich, Germany | 3,412 | 1,027 | 41,342 | 589 |
| 2007-03-30 | Göttingen, Germany | 3,371 | 2,146 | 21,312 | 596 |
| 2006-10-02 | Bielefeld, Germany | 3,357 | 126 | 10,347 | 109 |
| 2006-02-27 | Santa Cruz, USA | 3,135 | 1,603 | 16,497 | 98 |
| 2007-10-02 | Nuremberg, Germany | 2,965 | 702 | 42,064 | 344 |
| 2006-12-09 | London, UK | 2,920 | 21,903 | 2,649 | 159 |
| 2005-07-18 | Bloomington, USA | 2,717 | 1,159 | 22,762 | 2,480 |
| 2006-07-19 | Chico, California | 2,495 | 2,071 | 18,245 | 90 |
| 2008-06-22 | London, England | 2,459 | 15,411 | 108,973 | 371 |
| 2006-06-12 | Warsaw, Poland | 2,321 | 2,899 | 36,113 | |
| 2009-09-28 | Portland, Oregon | 1,001 | 1,032 | 14,157 | 149 |
External links
- Ranking and statistics on the largest city wikis
- WiredWired (magazine)Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
: Hey, Kid: Support Your Local Wiki