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Emerging Technologies
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Find out about the latest technology developments and discuss social networking tools and other Web 2.0 applications and how they can help your organization.
Hosted by: Matthew Saunders, Elliot Harmon of TechSoup and TS Moderator.
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stefan klocek
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 why wiki
Posted: October 24 2005 11:02 AM
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why wiki?
When I first discovered wikis I was turned off by the seemingly code-heavy, limited interface, that was so decentralized that ANYONE could edit it. Hadn't we been trying to develop content management systems that allowed us to control who posted and maintained a site? Hadn't we been trying to streamline posting systems that meant I wounld have to mark-up what I was writing by hand? What were the benfits of using a wiki, when there are more powerful, better controlled and secure systems out there?
I ignored the wiki universe for a few generations and then, returned to it accidentally when looking for a way to colloborate, share, and quickly develop idea trees. And I fell in love with the wiki. Most wiki systems are not a panacea for every posting problem but they do have their place. In my experience they have solved the problem of posting being a hard, complicated process. It's easy to share my ideas, and to edit them as they evolve. Instead of logging into a system and navigating to where I want to add an entry, it's as easy as editing the copy that I'm reading, in place, as I read. Think of it like correcting a document in microsoft word, but instead of it residing on your machine, it's live, and on the web. this means your colluges can read it immediately, and add to it, or edit it too. Wikis wok well in trusted collaboration environments, where all participants have a vested interest in the outcome of the content. Working with them is much more organic and natural becuase you can work with it as you read it. Adding things like links is easy, and in many wiki systems it makes it easy to develop new content.
I've found that wiki's don't easily facilitate the date-based organization of blogs, but many are beginning to integrate both systems in what is being called "blikis".
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gcardazone
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RE: why wiki
Posted: October 24 2005 11:43 AM
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i feel you there. the first wiki i ever saw was a home grown guide to berkeley, and though i was impressed by the fact that anyone could edit anything, i didn't really think it would catch on because it wasn't very sexy in terms of design. then, way later, i realized how wrong i was when i saw wikipedia, the encyclopedia of everything and saw what's possible when you arm the world with very simple tools and give them a forum to share what they make.
the "word document you share with the world" metaphor is pretty apt, but there's something more exciting about the way wiki's link information. what really impressed me about wikipedia when i first saw it was the easy of creating contextual links. this made reading a single article an experience of virtually unlimited richness.
reading today's featured wikipedia article on schizophrenia for instance, i'm not only able to read an extensive, collaboratively created explanation of a complex topic (and some intense discussions on the talk page), but can jump off to pages on formal thought disorder, manic depression, T.S. Elliot, or the DMS IV. And if I think something is missing, I can add information to the page or another topic.
It's been quite a while since I was introduced to wikipedia, and even longer since I was introduced to wikis in general, and I'm still so impressed at how deep you can explore and how easy it is to create and share information. It just expands in a way that wouldn't be possible in a more controlled environment.
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philklein
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RE: why wiki
Posted: October 24 2005 11:58 AM
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My answer to why wiki is: because i need to get things done in a shared, collaborative environment where i don't get swamped or become a bottleneck. For the last month I've been extremely dependent on a wiki, as I've had incredibly wild new limitations and needs. I was diagnosed with cancer and had to make a ton of decisions, plan for an unknowable amount of support, manage the support network of friends and family who want to help, but who I've had very limited time to be with. Today I'm 40% through chemotherapy and radiation (whoohooo!). I post updates on my progress (in a blog that's on the socialtext wiki I use), people sign up to deliver meals to me, and offer many suggestions and support, and I can manage when I look at what and don't get overloaded. Instead of my wife being completely burnt out by the unexpected workload, that's distributed across 40 friends who each do a manageable task that makes my life better, and gives me more time to focus on healing. I'm sure I'd be having a much harder time if I didn't have this wiki. Even if friends did a phone tree, they'd be spending a lot more time shepherding help my way than with the wiki, where all my support community can go, sign up for small tasks that suit them at their convenience.
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philklein
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RE: why wiki
Posted: October 24 2005 12:01 PM
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Nonprofits benefit from wikis as: flexible organizational and staff knowledgebases, ways to share common knowledge and policies, a place to help manage volunteers or members.
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philklein
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RE: why wiki
Posted: October 24 2005 12:04 PM
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regarding managing date based communications, there are workarounds that involve creating time-based pages, like one for each week or month for example. Also, some wikis like JotSpot have shared calendar applications available that can maybe help address this need. I'm curious how others have been able to manage time-sensitive tasks and confirmation of tasks within wikis.
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stefan klocek
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RE: why wiki
Posted: October 24 2005 1:28 PM
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I've found that some wikis have a built-in date stamping (and a list that allows users to browse what was most recently updated) these kinds of features have alleviated much of the frustration with finding out what was updated when - tiddlywiki (http://tiddlywiki.com/) is a great off-line version of wiki that I've used to colloborate that has this feature, and DocuWiki (http://wiki.splitbrain.org/), has a nice compare/history to track specific changes in pages.
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Peter Karnig
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 RE: why wiki
Posted: October 24 2005 2:12 PM
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I agree that wikis work well in a trusted collaboration environment. I am biased, but do check out the Five Across Web Platform running at www.bubbler.com.
There one can set up collaboration groups and both share files and edit posts much like a Wiki. The bubbler service allows for blogs, wiki like features, messaging and a lot more.
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Robin Greaves
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RE: why wiki
Posted: October 24 2005 9:25 PM
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Hi All, I'm dancing on the outside of all this newness, wanting to understand it and learn its use: so what is the difference between a wiki and a dynamic web site? Peter's link to Bubbler (thanks) didn't seem to mention wikis, only dynamic web sites. My second query is how does wikipedia (or others) ensure accuracy/legitimacy?? I like it, but feel that I am being drawn by my own laziness (in avoiding finding "genuine" reference books) in to the "believed" rather than the "true". It feels like a potentially rather dangerous thing, the tyranny of the majority, the power of rumour etc.
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ekai
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RE: why wiki
Posted: October 24 2005 11:23 PM
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Hi Robin. A wiki is actually a form of a dynamic website. Everything you see in a wiki comes from a database on the back end. As for the accuracy/legitimacy of Wikipedia, this is reflected by the level of passion of those who groom it. As it turns out, there is quite an active community of 'wiki gardners', people who watch when changes are made and validate them. If someone comes along and vandalizes a page, it is easily rolled back by someone who has interest in seeing that topic represented accurately. Wikipedia has an extensive set of guidelines and bylaws that active Wikipedians use to ensure that content is factual, neutral and relevant. It works amazingly well considering its anarchist nature.
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stefan klocek
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RE: why wiki
Posted: October 25 2005 9:24 AM
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Robin, I agree that in theory it seems like a wiki knowledgebase like Wikipedia would be a dangerous rule of tyranny of the majority, but there are a few mechanisms that allow for dissenting opinions to live alongside their more accepted sisters. I've included a link to a hotly debated topic (purported cults) what is amazing to me is the way the list goes from widest consensus, to narrowist application, giving the reader the power to agree or disagree, based not on an either or decision by a few editors, but on a wide collection of data that has been more or less agreed upon by the majority of editors, and even then we can see that it wasn't consensus, but that all points of view have been included. There is a facinating book on the topic of crowds and their decisions (The Widsom of Crowds, by James Surowiecki).It's an excellent read, and in it he addresses many of the reasons why something like Wikipedia is actually more likely to be fair, accurate, and more up-to-date, than something like Britannica. I highly recommend it as reading to help contextualize what is going on on the internet, it's helped me a great deal in understanding how and why things like wiki work.
Not from a technical perspective, but from a philosophical, logical perspective.
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mirrorshades
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RE: why wiki
Posted: October 25 2005 10:01 AM
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why wiki?
I agree -- in much the same way, I was originally put off by the idea of a huge website that anyone in the world can edit (even without "registering" or setting up an "account"!). In my immediate haste to condemn my fellow man, assuming that anything I would spend any time doing would be eradicated by someone who had nothing better to do than to tear down all my hard work.
I eventualy ran across Wikipedia (which has been mentioned). I found it to be a very good source of information "at a glance", instead of just trying to piece together bits and pieces of info from web searches. I found myself turning to Wikipedia more and more as a good starting point for research, and began to be impressed by the quality of most of the content.
Then one day, it happened.
I was reading a Wikipedia article with a few grammatical and punctuation errors. Not a lot, but enough to make my English degree sit up and turn red. I had to figure out how to correct it -- and I didn't feel bad, since I knew that was the whole idea.
It was then that I saw the light.
I have only recently begun working on a couple wikis, but I see them in an entirely new light. They are an outstanding tool for collaboration on a topic that one person or one group may not have a lot of knowledge of individually, but combining all the pieces can produce quality content. And while some care is needed to maintain the style and voice of an article, it can be done successfully if the group of contributors take it seriously.
Vandalism (spam, page deletion, malicious edits, etc...) can be a problem, particularly if the people doing it are tenacious and there aren't enough contributors monitoring a given wiki to correct it right away. However, I have found that the people who are serious about providing quality content are usually more than willing to keep an eye on pages; and since every single version of a page is stored, it is a simple matter to revert a page back to its un-vandalized state.
Overall, I am seeing wikis in a new light, and am excited to be able to share about them for this event.
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Chris_Maddocks
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 RE: why wiki
Posted: April 13 2006 8:50 AM
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As Richard Florida points out in "The Rise of the Creative Class" the most powerful opportunity in the creative economy is the reduction of boundaries, hierarcy and the increase of diversity in the work place.
As such, the Wiki paradigm (outside of its technical implementations and extensions) is a prime example of broadening and diversifying the creative voice and stake of employees in the nonprofit workplace. This perhaps could carry over to Wiki external relations (a la Walker Art Institute in Minneapolis). But the Wiki paradigm also might realize itself as an intranet with a staff blog of comments and suggestions, a collaborative customer service knowledgebase for front-line service employees or even an executive Wiki to discuss the strategic direction.
My point is that the genesis of the Wiki was a technical implementation for sharing code and best practices amongst computer programmers. Yet, Wiki's impact and ultimate import will be defined by how the ethos of the Wiki is applied broadly and creatively in a variety of contexts. In the end, Wiki is more than a coding and collaboration platform and must be understood as a transformative perspective, one that can improve management, productivity and ultimately service.
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Elysse
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 how wiki?
Posted: April 14 2006 8:05 AM
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Is there a home page for wiki? How do I get one? How much do they cost? Thanks!
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scott.r
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RE: how wiki?
Posted: April 14 2006 12:21 PM
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quote:
MediaWiki is a free software package originally written for Wikipedia but is now run on other projects of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation and many other wikis.
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Scott Richardson
southern Maine
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korczowski
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RE: why wiki
Posted: April 18 2006 1:44 PM
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Anyone using JotSpot? I'm using it for a fairly ambitious project and would like to hear about your experience and/or alternative software.
Envisioning moving to a more robust (and internationalized) CMS when we have the support.
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korczowski
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RE: how wiki?
Posted: April 18 2006 1:49 PM
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fyi
http://www.wikimatrix.org/
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