In praise of Wiki New Zealand

Hats off to the team behind Wiki New Zealand (now called Figure NZ). It's an exciting not for profit project to make data about our country accessible and understandable. The site is packed with graphs, charts and maps. They are all clean and clear. The design is outstanding.

It’s already a fabulous resource. No doubt schools can make great use of it. And as a journalist I’ll be checking facts there. The information is valuable.

Wiki’s were a big deal five or six years ago. They are a way of organising data on a web page using hyperlinks to jump between items.

Wikis are great for sharing data

They are a great way to share data, particularly when people collaborate. Since their peak, wikis have fallen out of favour, mainly because many people find them difficult to use. Although the biggest wiki of them all, Wikipedia, goes from strength to strength.

The Wiki New Zealand team seem ready to do all the hard work, so if you want to contribute, it’s a matter of handing over raw information and letting the experts knock it into shape.