Wikis Basics, Tools and Strategies

1. WikisBasics, Tools and Strategies Meredith Farkas October 22, 2006 Internet Librarian

2. What you will learn • What a wiki is • What wikis are good for, what they’re 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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.

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

8. Wikis vs. Blogs • No one owns content • No specific organization (hyperlinks) • Anyone can edit other people’s work • A person owns their post • Organized in reverse chron. order • Only author can edit their own work (others can comment)

9. Wikis vs. Blogs • Perpetual work in progress • Good for collaborative group work • Posts are permanent • Good for disseminating info/starting a dialogue

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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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!

14. 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.

15. Wikis in Practice

16. 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

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

18. Wikis that build community • ICANN Wiki • Tax Almanac • Mandriva Club

19. Subject guides • Ohio University Library’s Biz Wiki • St. Joseph County Public Library Subject Guides

20. Wiki as Website and courseware • University of South Carolina Aiken Library Web site • Bull Run Library • Bemidji State University eRhetoric course wiki

21. Capitalizing on the collective intelligence • Resource guides and book reviews • ProductWiki • wikiXbox360 • Princeton Public Library’s Book Lovers Wiki • Wyoming Authors Wiki

22. How librarians can use wikis • Staff Intranet • Collaborative document editing • Collaboratively-developed manual • Conference wikis • Knowledgebase • Planning space for conferences

23. 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

24. Collaborative document editing • ZohoWriter • Writely • You could even just use something like PBWiki!

25. Collaboratively-developed manual • Print manuals are really hard to update! • Antioch University New England Library Staff Training and Support Wiki

26. Conference wikis • ALA 2005 Chicago Wiki • ALA 2006 New Orleans Wiki • CIL 2006 Wiki • IL 2006 Wiki • Wikimania 2006

27. Wiki as professional knowledgebase • Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki • Library Instruction Wiki • Qwiki: Quantum Physics Wiki • The New PR Wiki

28. Planning space for conferences • Hard to plan a conference with people from all over the place. • HigherEd BlogCon • BarCamp • PodCon

29. Wiki Tips How to develop and maintain a successful wiki

30. Wiki Tips: Software • Popular options for wiki hosted on your server • MediaWiki • PmWiki • Twiki • SocialText ($$$) • XWiki • Confluence ($$$)

31. Wiki Tips: Software (cont’d) • 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 don’t 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

32. Choosing software: What to consider • Programming language • Ease of installation • Security • Permissioning • Spam prevention • Ease of use • Cost   • Version control

33. What to consider (cont’d) • Syntax • Ability to hold discussions • RSS • Ability to change look • Extensions • Trajectory of development/support of development

34. Wiki Tips: Seeding the wiki • No one wants to add to an empty wiki • Also, people often don’t know what to add • Add some content to the major categories before going live • Creating an organizational scheme will prevent orphan links and chaos

35. 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

36. 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.

37. 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!!!

38. How to deal with posts you don’t like • Guidelines • Limit to on-topic posts • Take a note from the Wikipedia’s 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.

39. Questions? Comments? Meredith Farkas mgfarkas at gmail dot com http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/ AIM: librarianmer