Wikis began as simple applications that allowed users to collaboratively develop and edit documents. The applications available online now allow a much broader opportunity for communication and collaboration. In addition to providing a place to create, edit, and view the history of all who have edited a document, wiki applications may now support real-time chats, whiteboard, discussion threads, shared calendars, and other features. In addition, available themes and other options allow the wiki organizer to create a really attractive playground. Wiki applications also usually allow the wiki organizer to control access to the wiki and to pages within the wiki, allowing anything from viewing to full editorial access. The best part is that the cost to host a wiki (without ads!) is very affordable – the Wikispaces application costs $50 a year for great documentation and support with a broad selection of themes and site organization. We will be providing some tips for setting up and managing a wiki in this blog. We strongly encourage you to take a stab at creating your own wiki for practice. Why not go to Wikispaces (http://www.wikispaces.com/space/create) and try it out? You can create and launch a free wiki just for fun, or to used for personal or professional purposes. And check back here over the next few weeks while we blog about wikis.