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NCF05 Implementing Wikis

The document discusses implementing wikis in corporate settings. It covers why wikis are useful for collaboration, considerations for choosing a wiki platform, and tips for a successful wiki implementation including customizing the interface, managing expectations, and encouraging participation.

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119 views20 pages

NCF05 Implementing Wikis

The document discusses implementing wikis in corporate settings. It covers why wikis are useful for collaboration, considerations for choosing a wiki platform, and tips for a successful wiki implementation including customizing the interface, managing expectations, and encouraging participation.

Uploaded by

api-3702864
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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There’s something about

wikis
Implementing wikis in a corporate setting

Constantin Basturea
www.thenewpr.com
Wiki buzz
• Business Week: They're Web sites
anyone can edit - and they could
transform Corporate America
• Wall Street Journal: Wiki May Alter
How Employees Work Together
• PR Week: PR firms adopting wikis to
buoy internal, external comms
• Forbes: Extreme Blogging - Best of the
Web 2004
• Infoworld: 2004 - The Year of the
Enterprise Wiki
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Your wiki is not Wikipedia

No problems with:

• Public access
• Anonymity
• vandals, spammers, monitoring
pages integrity
• NPOV = Neutral Point of View
• Copyright (in Wikipedia all content must
be in the public domain)
A wiki should be beautiful
• Wikis: minimalism & simplicity, so “look doesn’t
matter” (that was back in ‘95)
• 2005: It’s not for geeks only anymore
• Interface design can impact positively the adoption
of a new technology
• User-friendly interface design, like any other
professional software – brings trust
• Recommended: customize the skin of your wiki
Common complaints about wikis
• They're ugly (design)
• Vandals will destroy my work (content integrity)
• There's no accountability (responsibility)
• There's no structure (organization)
Wanted: wiki gardeners

• They “get” wikis


• Enthusiastic about creating a community
• Willing to help others
• Essential in creating momentum
• Needed for keeping wikis run smoothly
• They have to be discovered, encouraged,
supported
Implementing a wiki:
Manage expectations
Wiki as a room*:
• It doesn’t set social rules
• It doesn’t force people to do something one
way or another
• The rules are established and negotiated by
people

(* Meatball Wiki)
Implementing a wiki:
Have realistic expectations
• A wiki will not force people to collaborate
• People should take responsibility for
collaboration
• The wiki offer: very simple, intuitive, flexible,
non-technical, easy way of facilitating
collaboration and sharing
What a wiki brings:
old vs. new
Passive reader Active writer
Dependence on webmaster’s Update pages on the fly
updates
Information consumption Information creation & sharing
No ownership Stakeholders
Formal Informal, human voice
E-mail as information graveyard Information in context + flow
Fixed navigation, changing Flexibility in organizing
content is difficult navigation and refactoring
content
What a wiki brings: extra

• URLs based on natural language


(CamelCase)
• Author and version tracking
• Change notifications
• RSS: recent changes, page changes
• e-mail
How to implement a wiki

• Is it a good fit for your


organizational culture?

• Best way to implement a wiki:


Bottom-up, grassroots-type effort,
with support from management
How to implement a wiki (2)
• Test a couple of wiki engines and choose one
• Customize and prepare the wiki (design, features,
personal pages)
• Prepare documentation (help, how it works)
• Discover, encourage, and support wiki gardeners
• Show people how their activities will be improved by
the use of a wiki
• Encourage participation and show management
support
How to implement a wiki (3)

• Train users
• Respond to users' concerns
• Build momentum
• Allow organic growth of the community
• Leverage existing habits
• e.g.: integrate RSS in Outlook with Newsgator
• Promote the wiki
Technical factors to consider when
picking a wiki solution
• Hosting: external vs. internal
• Security and access control
• Data portability; wiki markup 'translators'
• Ease and breadth of customization
• Features set
• Ready-to-use applications
• RSS notifications
• Setup, support and training services
Wiki software producers

• Atlassian: Confluence - www.atlassian.com


• Jot: JotSpot (beta) - www.jotspot.com
• Socialtext - www.socialtext.com
• Socialtext Workspace, Appliance,
Eventspace
• TWiki - www.twiki.org
Final thoughts

• Wiki: a very simple, intuitive, flexible, easy way of


facilitating collaboration and sharing
• People collaborate; wikis support collaboration
• Fits best with a certain type of organizational culture
• You need to plan the implementation process
References
• Dr. Espen Andersen, Using Wikis in a Corporate Context (PDF), 2004
• Michael Angeles,
Using a Wiki for Documentation and Collaborative Authoring, LLRX.com,
November 2004
• Brian Lamb, Wide Open Spaces: Wikis, Ready or Not, EDUCAUSE Review,
vol. 39, no. 5 (September/October 2004)
• Bo Leuf, Ward Cunningham,
The Wiki Way: Collaboration and Sharing on the Internet, Addison-Wesley
Professional, 2001
• David Mattison,
Quickiwiki, Swiki, Twiki, Zwiki and the Plone Wars: Wiki as a PIM and Collaborative
, Searcher, Vol. 11, No. 4, April 2003
• The Social Software Weblog
• Wiki as a Room, Meatball Wiki
• Wiki Social Norms, Portland Pattern Repository's Wiki
Resources
• Michael Angeles: urlgreyhot
• Mike Cannon-Brookes: Wikizen (CEO & Founder, Atlassian)
• JotSpot Blog (Jot)
• Ross Mayfield's Weblog (CEO & Founder, Socialtext)
• Social Software Weblog (Socialtext)

• Resources.WikiWays, The NewPR Wiki


• WikiBibliography, Gerry McKiernan, Iowa State University
Library

• Del.icio.us tags: wiki, wikis


• Technorati tags: wiki, wikis
Questions? Comments?
Constantin Basturea
http://weblog.basturea.com
http://www.thenewpr.com
[email protected]

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