By: Jeff Meade

We launched irishphiladelphia.com with the idea of sharing news about the Irish and Irish American residents of the Delaware Valley.

Of course, news is the stuff that's happening now, or maybe in the near future. So irishphiladelphia.com (and let's not forget our pals over at the Irish Edition) is the place to go to find out who's coming to play at the Coatesville Traditional Irish Music Series, who beat the stuffing out of whom in Irish football, or how the region's Irish conducted themselves at the Wildwood Irish Festival. (With honor and decorum, as usual, of course.)

But what if you wanted to know more about the history of an Irish neighborhood or an historical Irish parish? What if you read a story on irishphiladelphia.com about the Ancient Order of Hibernians—but you didn't know anything about the Hibernians and their long and distinguished leadership within the Irish community of the Delaware Valley? What if you wanted to know about the Philadelphia church and the Molly Maquires, or the role of Irish railroad workers, bricklayers, authors, politicians, cops and actresses on the local scene?

That's why we created Irish Philadelphia MickWiki. We wanted to build a kind of online encyclopedia of Delaware Valley Irish history and culture—a living, Web-based monument to the Irish experience in the region. We've only just started MickWiki. We need your help to really get it off the ground and keep it going.

But before we go on, let us answer the one question that might be boring a hole in your brain:

What the heck is a wiki?

The short definition is that it's a collaborative Web site. Indeed, Wikipedia, the wiki-est wiki of them all, defines it thusly:

A wiki is a collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content.

We're not completely sure who came up with the term "wiki," but it comes from the Hawaiian "wiki wiki," which means "fast." (Although we think it would be cooler if it meant: "Book 'em, Dan-o!")

Anyway, Irish Philadelphia MickWiki is a Web site that anyone can join. Ah, but there's a catch. If you join MickWiki, you're welcome to just hang around and skulk about in the shadows, sure. But what we really want you to do is become an author or editor.

And, yes, we know how scary that might seem, particularly if you got consistent C's and D's in English at Archbishop Wood. (Me, for example. Thank you, Mr. Mullen, for your patience. And it wasn't me who powdered your seat with chalk dust that day in my freshman year when you wore your new blue suit.) Perhaps the thought of writing anything other than a shopping list makes you break out in a cold sweat.

So once again let us remind you: a wiki is a collaborative effort. Some of you might tell a great story about, let's say, the history of the Irish in the Philadelphia fire department or the burning of an Irish Catholic church during the Know-Nothing riots. Maybe you're a pretty great writer; maybe you isn't. No matter. The rest of us will step in to smooth over the rough edges of your prose. What matters most is that you share what you know.

You can do as little or as much as you like. You can, for example, do something as simple as add names to our lists of Who's Who in Irish Philadelphia, both the living and the dead. Add a parish to our (so far, empty) list of historically Irish parishes. Or you can write a whole darn chapter on the Gaelic Athletic Association in the Philly area.

So, take a look at Irish Philadelphia MickWiki. We're just starting out, so a lot needs to be done. (To see all of what needs doing, check out the to-do list.) Jump in with your little word hammers, nails, drywall, insulation, electrical wiring (how far can we carry this ridiculous metaphor?) and help us build Irish Philadelphia MickWiki.