I'm involved with the development of an alternative to Wikipedia:
Infoshop OpenWiki http://www.infoshop.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Wikipedia is valuable in some ways, but it is marred by many problems. The volunteer core at Wikipedia has made lots of progress in the last six months in establishing better policies.
> Or are these mostly toys that will not serve any productive need?
>
> Is it a steep learning curve or lack of time?
>
> To the tech-savvy folks on the list (Dwayne, Jordan, others), what is
> your take on such services? Do you think they may be useful?
Installing wiki software takes 15 minutes if you know what you are doing. I run four public wikis and two for internal projects (internal collective intranet and working notes for a joint book project).
Like all of these projects, the challenge involves people, not the technology. Getting a successful wiki off the ground is just like establishing a successful volunteer-run organization. With wikis it's a matter of finding a few dedicated contributors, which is something we've been fortunate to have happen with our wikis.
There was an article published several months ago that revealed the obvious secret to Wikipedia's success: only a few hardcore volunteers do most of the work. Wikipedia is an "open" project, but most of the content is created, edited and changed by a small group of people. Most people are spectators and only a few become dedicated volunteers.
Chuck