Wiki - over hyped, but still useful

There is a lot of hype around Wikis (and Blogs as I've said before), but Jon Udell writing in Computerworld ("Togetherness with another name", 27 Jan 2005, p.21 - there is a version of the article here) I think presents the most balanced commentary I've seen for a while. He pin points two useful attributes of a Wiki:

1. It reduces Web publishing to the bare essentials so that anyone can contribute (like a Blog); and
2. The Wiki encourages consensus above individual authorship.

Point 1 provides a lot of value in it's own right, for example the NSW KM Forum (I'm part of the forum's coordinating committee) is using a Wiki system to provide a quick and easy Web content management system (CMS). Unfortunately we had to password protect the site because of Wiki-spam (sad, but true), but that aside it works really well.