Wikis Basics, Tools and Strategies

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WikisBasics, Tools and Strategies

• Meredith Farkas
• October 22, 2006
• Internet Librarian

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What you will learn

• What a wiki is
• What wikis are good for, what theyre not so good
  for
• How libraries and other groups are successfully
  using wikis
• How to get started with wikis
• Tips on developing a successful wiki

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What is a wiki?

• Content management system
• Allows people to collaboratively develop a Web
  site without any tech-savvy
• Wiki quick (in Hawaiian)
• All community members can add to or edit the work
  of others

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Wiki background

• Ward Cunningham and the Portland Pattern
  Repository
• Wikipedia
• Conference wikis, fan wikis, wiki knowledgebases
• Wikis in the library! Still often controlled
  access.
• Organizations jump on the wiki bandwagon

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Wiki Structure

• All wikis start off as a single blank page
• Pages are created and connected by hyperlinks
• No ownership of pages anyone can change the work
  of others

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Wiki Components

• Pages community members can add to or edit
  (example)
• Discussion area for each page
• List of all of the changes made to a particular
  page (version control)
• List of all changes made to all pages.

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Wiki Syntax

• Ways to format text, change color, create links,
  create tables, etc.
• Wikipedia editors guide
• Not difficult to learn, but different
• Differences for each wiki
• WYSIWYG is the future

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Wikis vs. Blogs

• No one owns content
• No specific organization (hyperlinks)
• Anyone can edit other peoples work

• A person owns their post
• Organized in reverse chron. order
• Only author can edit their own work (others can
  comment)

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Wikis vs. Blogs

• Posts are permanent
• Good for disseminating info/starting a dialogue

• Perpetual work in progress
• Good for collaborative group work

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Why wiki?

• Easy to use
• Web-based
• Anyone can make changes
• Findability (with database wikis)
• Many free and open-source wikis
• Flexible and extensible

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Knowledge management (KM)

• All organizations want to make the best use of
  organizational knowledge
• Most are really bad at it
• Wiki is a great KM tool

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Wiki quick

• No editing in Dreamweaver, no FTP-ing into the
  server.
• No waiting for the Webmaster to update your page.
• Different people can be responsible for different
  content areas

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Collaboration

• Wikis are a great way to get patrons/colleagues
  to participate in building a Web space
• Resource guides
• Conference
• Book reviews
• Area guides
• You can learn a lot from your patrons and
  colleagues!

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Why not wiki?

• Too open (trust issues)
• Concerns about ownership of content
• Disorganized
• Vandalism and spam
• Wikis aren't for everyone. If control is a major
  issue with the site you're developing, then a
  wiki may not be right for your project.

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Wikis in Practice
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How libraries can use wikis with their patrons

• Community wiki
• Subject guide wiki
• Wiki as courseware
• Wiki as Web site
• Wiki for capitalizing on the collective
  intelligence

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Community wikis

• RocWiki (Rochester, NY)
• Davis Wiki (Davis, CA)
• Arbor Wiki (Ann Arbor, MI)
• PGHWiki (Pittsburgh, PA)

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Wikis that build community

• ICANN Wiki
• Tax Almanac
• Mandriva Club

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Subject guides

• Ohio University Librarys Biz Wiki
• St. Joseph County Public Library Subject Guides

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Wiki as Website and courseware

• University of South Carolina Aiken Library Web
  site
• Bull Run Library
• Bemidji State University eRhetoric course wiki

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Capitalizing on the collective intelligence

• Resource guides and book reviews
• ProductWiki
• wikiXbox360
• Princeton Public Librarys Book Lovers Wiki
• Wyoming Authors Wiki

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How librarians can use wikis

• Staff Intranet
• Collaborative document editing
• Collaboratively-developed manual
• Conference wikis
• Knowledgebase
• Planning space for conferences

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Wiki as Intranet for info sharing

• Most are behind the firewall or are password
  protected
• SUNY Stonybrook Health Science Library Wiki
• University of Connecticut Library
• Norwich University Library Public Services Wiki

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Collaborative document editing

• ZohoWriter
• Writely
• You could even just use something like PBWiki!

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Collaboratively-developed manual

• Print manuals are really hard to update!
• Antioch University New England Library Staff
  Training and Support Wiki

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Conference wikis

• ALA 2005 Chicago Wiki
• ALA 2006 New Orleans Wiki
• CIL 2006 Wiki
• IL 2006 Wiki
• Wikimania 2006

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Wiki as professional knowledgebase

• Library Success A Best Practices Wiki
• Library Instruction Wiki
• Qwiki Quantum Physics Wiki
• The New PR Wiki

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Planning space for conferences

• Hard to plan a conference with people from all
  over the place.
• HigherEd BlogCon
• BarCamp
• PodCon

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Wiki Tips

• How to develop and maintain a successful wiki

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Wiki Tips Software

• Popular options for wiki hosted on your server
• MediaWiki
• PmWiki
• Twiki
• SocialText ()
• XWiki
• Confluence ()

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Wiki Tips Software (contd)

• Popular Options for wikis hosted by the software
  company
• PBWiki
• WetPaint
• SeedWiki
• If you want control, no ads, etc., host the wiki
  on your server.
• If you dont have server space, need the wiki for
  a small time-limited project, or are scared of
  maintaining a new tech, go with a hosted wiki.
• Check out the WikiMatrix when thinking about
  which software to use

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Choosing software What to consider

• Programming language
• Ease of installation
• Security
• Permissioning
• Spam prevention
• Ease of use
• Cost  
• Version control

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What to consider (contd)

• Syntax
• Ability to hold discussions
• RSS
• Ability to change look
• Extensions
• Trajectory of development/support of development

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Wiki Tips Seeding the wiki

• No one wants to add to an empty wiki
• Also, people often dont know what to add
• Add some content to the major categories before
  going live
• Creating an organizational scheme will prevent
  orphan links and chaos

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Wiki Tips Documentation

• Wikis need lots of info for novice users
• What is a wiki
• What can you do with this wiki
• How to edit the wiki
• FAQ
• Whom to contact for more help
• Prepare for lots of questions!
• Wikipedia has lots of good documentation for
  MediaWiki users

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Wiki Tips Content development

• Do lots of marketing
• Blogs
• E-mail lists and forums
• Publications (write an article on wikis!)
• Partner with groups/people related to your
  mission
• Give the wiki a grassroots feel, make it
  welcoming.

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Wiki Tips Management

• Security
• Should you require registration?
• Dealing with spam
• Install spam-killing plugins or blacklists
• Bad Behavior plugin rocks!
• Monitor the wiki several times a day
• Get to know and love RSS
• Find lots of dedicated helpers!!!

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How to deal with posts you dont like

• Guidelines
• Limit to on-topic posts
• Take a note from the Wikipedias policies and
  guidelines
• Get a committed group of volunteers to patrol a
  public wiki
• If you need to delete something - use discussion
  area to explain why things were deleted.

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Questions? Comments?

• Meredith Farkas
• mgfarkas at gmail dot com
• http//meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/
• AIM librarianmer