Mobilizing Youth

Collaborative Translation

I've been wanting something like this for a while - a collaborative translation tool. If it could be integrated into an easy to use CMS, it could radically expand the reach of nonprofits - across language barriers - with very little expenditure. Very cool.

Wiki Age Demographics

Was just wondering about the age ranges of people who contribute to wikis.

Brief discussion here:
http://nonbovine-ruminations.blogspot.com/2007/03/demographics-of-wikipedia.html
which says that there's no way to find out.

Poll done by wikipedia here:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wikimedians_by_age which shows most of contributors born in the 70s-80s. Post from above says that this poll is unreliable b/c it's self selected.

Will keep looking....

Most Popular Wikis

Not having a whole lot of luck digging up wikis in use for politics and civic life, I'm wondering what the most popular wikis are overall - Wikipedia being the elephant in the room, of course.

The Second Life wiki looks very well maintained and organized:
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Main_Page. Looks like Linden gardens it.

Here's the most active list from Wikia:
http://www.wikia.com/wiki/Most_active_communities
* unclcylopedia: 697 users
* wookiepedia: 295 users
* halopedia: 148 users
* runescape wiki: 113 users
* eWrestling: 113 users
* star wars fanon: 113 users
* cybernations: 112 users
* memory alpha: startrek: 106 users
* wikifur: the "furry" community: 102 users
* transformers: 77 users

so we've got star wars, star trek, wrestling, and video games. i skimmed the furry wiki, but still not sure exactly what this is. this userbase looks like it trends old. cant find any demographics, but starwars + startrek + FPSes must be driven by 30+yr olds...

Wikis for Civic Purposes & Youth

I'm looking for instances of wikis in use by young people for civic purposes. Sparse findings. Most seem to be intended for young people or about issues related to young people, but not by young people. Will add to this list as i find more:

* young people for development: http://www.ypdnews.info/
* about youth rights. may not actually be created by youth: http://www.youthrights.net/

non-youth civic wikis from wikia. these all look relatively well maintained:
* campaigns wiki: http://campaigns.wikia.com/wiki/Campaigns_Wikia. It's time for politics to become more intelligent, and for democracy to really involve the people. Broadcast media tells you what to think and doesn't let you get involved. It's time to focus on what you need, what you care about, and the messages you want to get out.
* left wing wiki: http://left.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page. What does the Left have to compete with the Right Wing? Let's explore that. This is going to be a slow build overall, but it's a great resource for groups all around the country.
* sustainable community wiki: http://sca21.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page. is a wiki for everyone interested in sustainability, but especially ordinary people and community groups.
* right wing wiki: http://rightwing.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page. The aim of this Wiki is to find and document the links between Right Wing people, lobbying organizations, think tanks, religions and denominations, businesses and foundations.
* grass roots wiki: http://grassroots.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page. GrassRoots is a Wikia where political entities can interconnect on the issues, actions, projects, and events that occur throughout the range of geopolitical levels that people are a part of and make.

Wikis for Nonprofits

http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/webbuilding/page5511.cfm

great review of wikis for nonprofits.
reading notes:

* good for coordinating disparate teams
* knowledge sharing resource / low tech

questions for will a wiki work for your org:
* do you need a collaborative resource
* will nontech users be able to handle it?
* do you have enough initial content
* do you have time / resources to maintain?

different types of wiki:
* public
* protected
* private

Setting up: 2 options
* hosted wiki
* self install

Good review of wiki software.

Wiki Patterns

http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/Wikipatterns

wow, this wiki rocks. tons of information on setting up a wiki and developing patterns that encourage successful use and growth. also features articles on patterns that can kill a wiki. great place to start for researching setting up a successful wiki.

Wiki Research Review & Success Factors

http://www.newcommreview.com/?p=408

reading notes:
field of wiki is multidisciplinary, crosses fields of: particip communication tools, design, group practices, indiv psychology, management skills, tech design.

In lit of collaboration, there are a few salient issues:
* how encourage people to contribute knowledge when it is central to their workplace evaluation. how disincentivize knowledge hoarding
* how deal with group dynamics
* how make central to work flow vs. add on.
* how support learning curve

Tips:
* must create reward systems that focus on sharing knowledge.
* wikis won't work for top-down orgs
* may be better for creative vs. structured work
* understanding structure of wiki can be an initial challenge

Success Factors [this section is great]
* support reputation development
* pay attention to design
* make clear procedures and discipline
* define user responsibilities
* decide on content strategy
* train and create buy in

Techsoup Wiki offering

for reference:
http://www.techsoup.org/stock/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=TechSoupMain&keyword=wikispaces&product%5Fid=G-40611&cg&visit=1&visit=1

techsoup as a $10/mo wiki offering for wikispaces.

Review Hosted Wikis

just posting for reference.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_wiki_farms
has pretty good review of hosted wikis.

Also good review here:
http://mashable.com/2007/07/16/wiki-toolbox/

Nonprofits & Wikis

http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/webbuilding/page6031.cfm

Reading notes:
Techsoup looks at 2 orgs using wikis successfully.
Example from planning a conference.
* speakers list
* decisions list
* to do task list
* discussion board atta.
* only open to staff members
* share meeting notes
* mini reference library
* avoided adoption issues by making it sole source of information
* appointed a wiki master

Replacing intranet with wiki.
* used projectforum.com
* has become primary comm tool for 39 chapters
* got stakeholders excited at get go
* gave a lot of early support
* hands on training
* rss integration
* features flickr stream
* video wall from blinkx.com