Tomorrow I?m taking part in a short course about wikis that, as far as I know, is the first one held in Spain. It has been organised by Josu Aramberri, the Basque Vinton Cerf (it?s quite a shame not to have Google?s budget to hire him), and it is part of the programme Enpresa Digitala (Digital Company) promoted by the Basque Government. Among the professors, we’ll also find the omnipresent Mentxu Ramilo, who is so in love with wikis that he is nicknamed wiki-mentxu.But lets get to the point: this course hasn?t only been worth it to meet old friends, also to retrieve everything that’s going on around the wiki phenomenon. This tool stands out in the Web 2.0.Of course I?m going to talk about Writely, the web word processor that has just fallen into Google’s clutches, and its clones (of which there are already a few). They are what I call ?the other wikis?, i.e., tools that use wiki?s engine (mainly infinite changes and control over versions) but are decorated to look like something else. By the way, one of my favourites is ThumbStacks, that allows us to make online presentations with a powerful and simple Ajax interface.I think that wikis beat blogs, even though the last ones are much more extended. Many people who don?t feel comfortable with blogs open their eyes to this reality after discovering how simple wikis are. What?s more, wikis facilitate two aspects that not long ago were only available for very fortunate people:- Mass communication (yes, I know that Emails do also permit it)- Sharing, which isn’t a synonym of communication.Sharing means that one takes for granted that the receiver is capable of changing the message. When we communicate, however, we don?t go so far. It is this extra point in collaboration that I like about wikis, because I believe it is the key to expand the management of knowledge and, above all, innovation in all organizations. Wiki?s simplicity and horizontality (in principle, we all are equal in front of the blanc page of a new wiki) are its main tools to help all users share and collaborate. At the end of the day, technology hasn?t been an obstacle for a long time now. What really matters is that people use these tools in the best possible way.I?ve prepared a document about all this thoughts and I’ve done it in Writely:http://www.writely.com/View.aspx?docid=bcd76dzdmwtdk