What is ProductWiki? ProductWiki is a web-based product information resource, written by real people from all around the world. We’re a wiki, which is a kind of website where every user can also be a contributor to the site. Our goal is to create a comprehensive information resource that covers all products in depth. We strongly believe that there needs to exist an unbiased, accurate and community-based resource for product information. Currently we’re focusing on english content and products released in North America, however the reach of ProductWiki will be global as the project grows.
ProductWiki is open content, which means we don’t own the content and anybody can use the information on the site in any way they want to, commercial or otherwise, as long as they give credit to us as the source.
There are a few things to keep in mind when using ProductWiki. Right now, we’re very early in the project, so this means that there’s not a lot of product information on the site. However, don’t look at this as a negative, instead think of the early stage of ProductWiki as a blank slate. There are so many problems with product information on the Internet and out in the world. The blank slate of ProductWiki is an opportunity to let us build something from scratch that will be logical, useful and reliable. It’s going to be tough at the beginning, but as we grow standards and policies and best practices will emerge that will make the whole process easier and more streamlined.
Product information and categorization is a difficult problem, and is one of the reasons why doing product research can be such a difficult thing to do. Through concentrated focus and efforts, both from a social angle working with the community, and a technical approach through advanced software development we’ll be able to solve these problems and make researching products a far less painful ordeal.
The community is here to help. So if you have any problems doing research, or making a purchasing decision, just ask (start a discussion or comment on someone’s page) and there’s a good chance you’ll get your answer. If you want to help out with the project the community will also be more than happy to help you ease into the process. Again, be bold and just start contributing and collaborating. If you have questions on how to contribute, the founders will always be available for help.
What you can do on ProductWiki Don’t be afraid of making changes to ProductWiki and don’t be intimidated by contributing. Be bold! There are many different ways to make your mark on the project with very simple actions that just take a click of the mouse, to more advanced edits that alter the entire structure of the site. Here’s a short list:
- Review products using our Collaborative Reviews
- Comment on products
- Create lists of products as: love
, want or have , or any other tag you choose (for example – 25th birthday, cd collection, top 5 movies)
Publish your list of products on your blog with images
- Search for products using different criteria to narrow your search – if you’re looking for a dress, you can further narrow down the field by selecting a “strapless dress, that is also knee-length”.
- Write reviews, buying guides or rants and raves
- Ask questions, answer questions, have discussions
- Add products – any product can be added to ProductWiki, if the category doesn’t exist you can create it! We also encourage self-promotion, so if you make a product that you want to sell, add it to ProductWiki. We have some guidelines to follow first so read here [link]
- Add links to ProductWiki that might be useful – product reviews, manufacturer’s homepage, or blog posts
