Summary
The wiki is the team’s documentation, arranged as a tree of pages written in Markdown. It holds what fits neither in the code nor in the data: conventions, protocols, variable dictionaries, meeting notes. Templates avoid the blank page, and a page can be marked verified to separate what is authoritative from what is not.
What a wiki is for in Linkr
A data warehouse always comes with knowledge that is not in it. Why a given variable is unusable before 2019. How the unit defines a readmission. Which procedure to follow before publishing.
That knowledge usually travels by word of mouth, by email, or in a document nobody can find again. The wiki gives it a place, next to the data it describes rather than in a separate tool.
The page tree
Pages are organised as a tree: a page can hold sub-pages, which can hold their own. That is what keeps a wiki readable as it grows — one chapter per broad subject, the detail underneath.
Each page gets an icon, which helps recognise the nature of a section at a glance in the tree.
Search rather than navigate
Past a few dozen pages, nobody browses the tree any more: they search. Ctrl + K opens search from anywhere in the wiki.
Templates
Creating a page offers a template, which lays down a structure suited to the kind of document:
- Procedure (SOP) — a set of steps to follow.
- Data dictionary — the description of a source’s variables.
- Onboarding — what a newcomer should read first.
- Meeting notes, FAQ, Study protocol, Article — or a blank page if none fits.
The point is not to save a few minutes of formatting, but to end up with comparable documents: two procedures written six months apart look alike, so they read faster.
Writing a page
Content is written in Markdown, with a few blocks beyond running text: callouts to flag a warning or a point of attention, and collapsible blocks to tuck away a detail without deleting it.
Each page shows the date it was last updated — often the first thing to check before trusting any documentation.
Verified pages
A wiki page ages. Whoever reads it cannot always tell whether it still describes reality.
So a page can be marked verified: someone has re-read it and confirms its content. It is a useful distinction between a note jotted down along the way and a page that carries authority.
A typical use
The warehouse’s variable dictionary is marked verified after each annual review. Meeting notes never are — they date their own content.
Going further
- Overview — what the workspace groups around the wiki.
- Data catalog — for documenting the variables themselves, rather than the procedures.