Monday, September 04, 2006

The First Bonaire Wiki is Announced

Combining Google Earth maps of Bonaire with the Internet collaborative medium known as a “Wiki”, Blennylips Bonaire has unveiled the BonWiki web site at www.bonwiki.com.

For the uninitiated, a “wiki” is a type of web site that allows visitors to easily add, remove, or otherwise edit and change its content. A wiki differs from a discussion group in that all content can be edited and the wiki community works to ensure that the content remains true and factual. Abusive wiki users who try to despoil a wiki can be easily banned from future editing, and any changes they make to the wiki knowledgebase can be easily reversed as well. Another important aspect of a wiki is that terms defined within a wiki are cross linked between pages, making it easier to both explore and understand new topics and information.

Roger Burnham, owner of Blennylips Bonaire and a Bonaire resident, developed the BonWiki wiki as a place on the Internet where people who know and love Bonaire can help generate a permanent on-line encyclopedia of facts about Bonaire.

BonWiki is modeled after the increasingly famous and popular Wikipedia collaboration tool, and is designed so that anybody can contribute information about the island of Bonaire, covering points of interest like the location of Captain Don’s foot and various events, to popular dive sites around the island. BonWiki can be used to learn about - or help others learn about - Bonaire. All that is required for someone to be able to add or edit the BonWiki site is registering (for free) at www.bonwiki.com with a valid e-mail address.

One novel twist of BonWiki is that it incorporates Google Maps of Bonaire, allowing points of interest to be marked on the satellite photos. This also allows BonWiki articles to be browsed by geographical location using markers on the map found on the main page of the BonWiki site.

BonWiki is a purely volunteer effort, with hosting contributed by Blennylips Bonaire. And, in support of this effort, NetTech N.V. has contributed the use of the BonWiki.com domain name to the project.

At present, the BonWiki site is still a bit sparsely populated, but the hope is that as people learn about the site, they will help contribute to the knowledge base for all to benefit from. (Source: Roger Burnham, Blennylips Bonaire, and NetTech N.V. correspondence and research)