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Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools

Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools. Valentin Todorov UNIDO v.todorov@unido.org (in collaboration with Diman Todorov, Cardiff University, UK). MSIS 2009 (Oslo, 18-20 May 2009). Outline . Introduction: what is Wiki; Web 2.0; technical aspects

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Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools

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  1. Virtual teams: Wikis and othercollaboration tools Valentin Todorov UNIDO v.todorov@unido.org (in collaboration with Diman Todorov, Cardiff University, UK) MSIS 2009 (Oslo, 18-20 May 2009) MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  2. Outline • Introduction: what is Wiki; Web 2.0; technical aspects • Comparison with similar technologies • Purpose, strengths and limits of wikis • Example scenarios • Wiki engines • Information retrieval in wikis • Summary and conclusions MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  3. What is a Wiki • “The simplest online database that could possibly work.” --Ward Cunningham • “A wiki is a collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone with access to contribute or modify content, using a simplified mark-up language.” --Wikipedia MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  4. What is a Wiki • A piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content • Any Web browser can be used. • Wiki supports hyperlinks • Has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and cross-links between internal pages on the fly. • Wiki is considered a Web 2.0 technology MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  5. What is Web 2.0 • Web 2.0 is a term often applied to a perceived ongoing transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of websites to a full-fledged computing platform serving web applications to end users. Ultimately Web 2.0 services are expected to replace desktop computing applications for many purposes. --Wikipedia • Web 1.0 was all about connecting people. It was an interactive space, and I think Web 2.0 is of course a piece of jargon, nobody even knows what it means. If Web 2.0 for you is blogs and wikis, then that is people to people. But that was what the Web was supposed to be all along. -- Tim Berners-Lee MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  6. What is Web 2.0 • Prominent examples for Web 2.0 applications: • flickr • facebook • del.ico.us. • A commonly accepted set of characteristics of Web 2.0: • participatory • decentralized • linked • emergent MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  7. Are you Web 2.0 compliant? MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  8. Are you Web 2.0 compliant? http://web2.0validator.com/ MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  9. Technically speaking … • Special mark-up language • Simple, but poses a significant entry barrier • WYSIWYG content entry – wiki toolbar MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  10. Technically speaking…(2) • Highly dynamic content: how to ensure quality of this content? • A complete revision history • Subscribe for notifications • Major and minor changes • Subscribe to an RSS feed MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  11. Technically speaking…(3) • Revision history example MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  12. Technically speaking…(4) • There are the following two categories of Wikis: • Wiki services or Wiki farms • Free or fee based • Self-hosted Wiki + A variety of OS software + Maximum control over the access and security + Fulfilment of specific requirements - Necessity of own server - Necessity of technical and network experience - Longer start up time MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  13. Technically speaking…(5) • How to choose a Wiki? • How many users • Are separate groups necessary • Is interaction between groups necessary • How secure should be the pages • Public or private pages • How skilled are the participants • How important is the layout MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  14. Other technologies: mailing lists • Emails are sent to a designated email address • Mailing list refers to four things: • A list of email addresses, • Subscribers: the people receiving mail at those addresses, • Publications (e-mail messages) sent to those addresses • Reflector, which is a single e-mail address • The receiver is a software which broadcasts received mails to all subscribers • Two types of lists: announcement list (or newsletter)anddiscussion list • Mailing lists are private (unlike Wikis) • Archived mailing lists provide functionality (like searching, indexing) to achieve tasks similar to the ones accomplished with Wikis MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  15. Other technologies: web forums • Modern form of newsgroups • Users can change their own content after it has been posted • Archival of communication threads is intrinsic • Forums are more communication centric (unlike Wikis which are document centric) • Wikis provide better support for authoring, retrieval and interrelation of documents From www.selfhtml.org MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  16. Other technologies: blogs • The content is organised in reverse chronological order • One or few authors • Specific subject, personal information or combination of both • An interactive comments section right below the article • The comments can be written anonymously • A good tradeoff between the strict access control in traditional content management systems and the liberal approach in wikis MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  17. Other technologies: blogs - Example • Blog About Stats http://blogstats.wordpress.com/ MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  18. Other technologies: blogs - Example RSS Searching Today Recent posts Tag cloud Recent comments MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  19. Other technologies: CMS • CMS and Wiki have same features and functionalities, but different emphasis • Wiki is more open to authorship • In Wiki the support for authorisation and authentication is less sophisticated • Wikis implement elaborate interpersonal conflict resolution mechanisms • Free open source vs. expensive proprietary solution (exceptions like Joomla) • http://www.cmsmatrix.com MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  20. Other technologies: MS SharePoint • Used to build Intranet and Extranet portals and team sites • Maturity in terms of user interface, database design, workflow and communication features • Two platforms: • Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) - free with Windows 2003 Server • Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) • Strong when type specific documents are conserned (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) • SharePoint 2007 includes a wiki (low profile) • Not necessary to compare SharePoint to Wiki but rather to other CMS MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  21. Other technologies: MS Lotus Notes • Two products • Louts Domino Server • Lotus Notes • Good interoperability with DB2, JSP and XML but poor third party support • Some integration possible between Notes and wikis • Preferred for hosting large reference documents or more formal documents within Intranet MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  22. Wiki best practices • A large user base is needed • Work best when the organization structure is flat • Willingness to share information – worry for not receiving credit • Conduct guidelines – the five pillars of Wikipedia • When introducing wikis often expectations are too high • Although simple wikis need introduction – tutorial or workshop • Wikis are never finished – this needs to be made clear from the beginning • Some content should be present at the time of introduction MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  23. Example scenarios: Overview • Building collaboratively a knowledge base (METIS wiki, R wiki, Ubuntu wiki) • Collaborative software development • Education, teaching, training • Collaborative authoring (MSIS task force on software sharing, UNIDO INDSTAT 2 documentation) • Intranet (UNIDO Intranet) MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  24. Example scenarios: METIS Wiki • To help experts in statistical agencies develop metadata management systems and processes. • Enterprise wiki Confluence hosted by UNECE • Content is structured around Case study entries • The case studies follow a predefined template with six topics • Only authorised users can enter and edit content • Easy upload from an Word document • The complete case study document in PDF format is provided too MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  25. Example scenarios: METIS Wiki (2) MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  26. Example scenarios: R Wiki • R is “a system for statistical computation and graphics. It provides, among other things, a programming language, high-level graphics, interfaces to other languages and debugging facilities.” -- R-core development team • An (unfriendly) R-Help mailing list • R Wiki launched in 2006 • Uses DokuWiki engine (targeted to software documentation); R-specific extensions • Distinguish between • large guides and books and • short tips MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  27. Example scenarios: R Wiki (2) • Statistics: • 2800 pages • 460 pages with probably legitimate content (h2 titles) • 650 registered users MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  28. Example scenarios: Ubuntu Wiki • Ubuntuusers: http://www.ubuntuusers.de • A portal (in German) – provides everything necessary about Ubuntu and its derivatives • Single entry point to: • Web forum – ask questions • Wiki – read (and/or write) guides and explanations • Blog – publishes news from Ubuntuusers • Clean structure build on a small number of top level categories: download, installation, drivers, security, programming and so on. • This structure can be further extended MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  29. Example scenarios: Collaborative software development • A small team of software developers working on a midrange project • A Wiki is included in the development process • The Wiki is not a part of the developed project • Wiki is used to • Share know-how about third party products • Collect information about competing products • Store meeting minutes • To-do lists • Wiki is inappropriate for technical documentation of the source code (too informal) MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  30. Example scenarios: UNIDO SDMX pilot project MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  31. Example scenarios: Collaborative authoring • A small team of up to 10 members (possibly distributed geographically and organizationally) with the task of creating one or more documents • Real time or asynchronously • Software tools and technologies: • Supported file formats • Text chat or conferencing • Tracking changes and revisions • RSS feeds and email updates • Private and public sessions • Real time co editing • Possibility for adding comments • Spell checker MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  32. Example: MSIS Task force on software sharing • Cross-organizational workgroup with 10 members • No face-to-face meeting was envisaged • Evolution • a) conventional mail exchange • b) web forum • c) wiki hosted by ISTAT • Some initial structure was offered, which turned out to be sufficient • Real time (teleconferences) and asynchronous editing • Advantages • free • simple • no problems with the organizational “borders” MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  33. Example scenarios: Intranet • Quick and uncomplicated collecting of information • Google, Nokia, Motorola • Why (top ten reasons - from TWiki blog)? • Slowing of the e-mail flood • Up-to-date • Open structure • Powerful tools • Flexibility • Operability • Transparency • Security • Low resource demand • Cost savings MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  34. Example scenarios: UNIDO Intranet • Launched in 2006 as a successor of the previous conventional HTML site • Mediawiki with many optional modules • Statistics: • 20000 pages • 8000 pages with probably legitimate content • 650 registered users • 200 users actively contribute content • Semantic MediaWiki (SMW) – experimental installation MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  35. Example scenarios: UNIDO Intranet MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  36. Wiki engines • Wiki engine is the software enabling the wiki services • An overwhelming list (by programming language and by name) is provided at http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiEngines • A TopTen list (what criteria?) can be found at : http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?TopTenWikiEngines • MediaWiki, MoinWiki, TikiWiki, DokuWiki • Help for choosing and comparing: http://www.wikimatrix.org/ MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  37. Information retrieval and structure in Wiki • Common critique: hard to find information if unfamiliar with a specific wiki • Structuring the wiki • Useful structures are created by the user • A particular structure can be created, suggested or enforced • Structuring elements such as • Namespaces • Subpages • Categories • Different types of links • Keywords search • Templates • Skins MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  38. Semantic Wikis • Follow the idea of semantic web as envisioned by Tim Berners Lee • Enrich the WWW with machine processable information • A Semantic Wiki extends a Wiki by adding Metadata in the form of semantic annotations to the Wiki-pages • Semantic technologies: RDF, OWL,Topic Maps, or Conceptual Graphs • Semantic navigation: • in traditional Wiki - follow a link, • in semantic Wiki - additional information on the relation the link describes. • Semantic search: e.g. SPARQL queries MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  39. Semantic Wikis :Example • From http://semanticweb.org/wiki/Upcoming_events • Query: • List all upcoming events (title, city, country, start and end date), sorted by end date <ask format="table" sort="end date" > [[end date:=>{{CURRENTYEAR}}-{CURRENTMONTH}}- {{CURRENTDAY}}]] [[title:=*|Name]] [[has location city::*|City]] [[has location country::*|Country]] [[Start date:=*]] [[End date:=*]] </ask> MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  40. Semantic Wikis :Example MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  41. Summary • Simple and inexpensive (if not completely free) • Ideal scenario: a small group of people working intensively on related material • Intranet for a moderately sized company or organization • How well does it scale? • How does it mach the organization culture? • Although Wikis hold much potential, the norms for their use are still emergent • Design guidelines needed MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

  42. References • B. Leuf and W. Cunningham. The Wiki Way: Collaboration and Sharing on the Internet, Addison-Wesley Professional, 2001 • B. Huettner, M. K. Brown, and C. James-Tanny. Managing Virtual Teams: Getting the Most from Wikis, Blogs, and Other Collaborative Tools. Wordware Publishing, 2007. • M. Krötzsch, D. Vrandecic, and M. Völkel. Wikipedia and the semantic web - the missing links. In: Proceedings of Wikimania 2005 - The First International Wikimedia Conference. Wikimedia Foundation, 2005. • D. Frongia and C. Vaccari. Introduzione al Web 2.0 per la Statistica, Contributi ISTAT, 4, 2008. • J. A. West and M. L. West. Using Wikis for Online Collaboration. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., San Francisco, 2009 MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov

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