SpreadsheetsAndWiki

ThoughtStorms Wiki

This quote about DanBricklin (inventor of the SpreadSheet) reminds me of Wiki. (OnWiki)

Bricklin and the other panelists agreed that VisiCalc succeeded because it was different from the kind of financial forecasting software that already existed – it was a free-form, general purpose tool, an electronic "back of the envelope." It allowed non-programmers to do things at a level of complexity that, previously, you had to learn programming to accomplish.

Well, yes and no. Amateur users of spreadsheets use them in a very literal-minded way. They don't get the full benefit from, say, the look-up functions because they can't work with levels of indirection. I once taught an MSc student who himself taught IT (including spreadsheets) in an FE college - he was totally baffled by even the simplest formula involving choice or conditions.

Now that I know that Wiki was inspired by HyperCard, I see more spread-sheet connections. I once tried to implement a kind of HyperCard-like freeform HyperText in Lotus 123. Needless to say it wasn't very practical.

I think the connection you see is interactivity. When you can immediately see the results of your action you can enter a feedback loop that will adjust your actions to the optimal result. I have a page on it at: [InterActivity. http://zby.aster.net.pl/kwiki/?InterActivity InterActivity].] – ZbigniewLukasiak

JotSpot producing online tracking software that works like a MashUp of wiki and spreadsheets : http://blogs.zdnet.com/web2explorer/?p=140

Download a website as a spreadsheet : http://www.snee.com/bobdc.blog/2006/05/downloadasspreadsheet.html

CategorySoftware

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