Wiki's are an incredibly useful tool for a variety of reasons. Both publicly editable wikis and wikis that are have a limited user base have an important function for spreading information to the masses. Wikis are not subject to massive amounts of review prior to being published, so the information on wikis is often very cutting edge and updated quickly. Simultaneously, it is more likely for wikis to contain inaccuracies because of that lack of review...or so one would think. It turns out that, when one is looking at scientific material, Wikipedia is actually pretty reliable. A study done in Nature, a journal, found that Wikipedia was just as accurate in scientific information as the Encyclopedia Britannica. Because of the massive user base, inaccuracies on Wikipedia are caught and repaired quickly. Closed wiki pages that can only be edited by those that are registered are also useful because organizations can quickly and easily introduce new material, such as those linked in the 23 things article.
Overall, wikis are a great way to both transmit and receive information to and from the new web-based knowledge pool.
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