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wikiHow

URL	http://www.wikihow.com
Commercial?	Yes ("hybrid organization")
Type of site	Wiki format How-to Manual
Registration	Optional
Available language(s)	English , Spanish , Arabic, Dutch, Portugese, French, German
Owner	wikiHow
Created by	Jack Herrick and Josh Hannah

wikiHow is a wiki-based community with an extensive database of how-to guides. All of the site's content is licensed under Creative Commons (by-nc-sa); and the site uses a modified version of MediaWiki 1.12.^[1] The site started as an extension of the already existing eHow website, and has evolved to host over 45,000 how-to articles. wikiHow's mission is to build the world's largest how-to manual and help it grow. In June 2008, wikiHow had 11.4 million unique readers. ^[2]

History

In January 2005, the two owners of eHow, Jack Herrick and Josh Hannah, started wikiHow—a collaborative writing project striving to build the world's largest how-to manual. While eHow already contained instructions on how to do thousands of things, wikiHow allowed a community of volunteer contributors to build something even bigger and better. On April 28, 2006, eHow was sold and wikiHow was launched as an independent site on its own www.wikihow.com domain.^[3]

As of January 2008, the number of registered wikiHow users stood at 125,239 and there were 49,231 articles. ^[4]. 61 users are administrators, and two are bureaucrats. ^[5]

Content and article format

wikiHow is a wiki, which is a website that anyone can edit. wikiHow operates on open source software and an open content licensing model allowing free use and community ownership of the content.

Any visitor to wikiHow can create a new page and write about how to do something. Articles posted to wikiHow follow a standard format consisting of a summary, followed by ingredients (if any), steps to complete the activity, along with tips, warnings, required items, links to related how-to articles, and a section for sources & citations. Pictures may be added to the articles to illustrate important points or concepts. Once the page is submitted, other visitors can edit, improve, or change the page. Anonymous contributors and the wikiHow user community work together to improve the quality of information provided on the site, fix or remove incorrect instructions, and revert vandalism.

Business model

The site's initial start-up costs were to some extent financed from Herrick's sale of eHow. It is now funded from advertising on its pages, on the grounds that "...tasteful advertising is the most unobtrusive way to fund our operations."^[6] It does not seek contributions, asserting that solicitations are annoying, and is run as a "hybrid organization" — a "for-profit company focused on creating a global public good in accordance with our mission".^[7] It offers the community a "right to fork" and uses a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license.

Criticisms

Prior to adopting the Creative Commons license, wikiHow was criticized for initial content policies that sought to make a profit from volunteer contributors^[8]. The site has also been criticized about the reliability of facts provided by non experts, such as "How to stop cutting yourself"^[9], or the relevance of articles written about such obscure subjects as "How to taste dark chocolate".^[9]

Footnotes

References

• Glasner, Joanna (8 June 2005). "Wiki Targets How-To Buffs", Wired News, Condé Nast Publications. Retrieved on 20 May 2008. 

• Levine, Robert (September 4, 2006). "New Web Sites Seeking Profit in Wiki Model", The New York Times. Retrieved on 20 May 2008. 

• "wikiHow：集體版生活智慧王(上)" (in Chinese), ZDNet (22 August 2007). Retrieved on 20 May 2008. 

External links

• wikiHow.com
  • wikiHow on MySpace
• wikiHow to Open Content

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