Mobilizing Youth

Wiki Facilitation

http://distributedresearch.net/wiki/index.php/Wiki_facilitation

Reading notes:
* dont create empty pages - creating an empty structure is presumptuous
* don't over organize
* dont do it all yourself
* ask frequently for participation on associated forum

thoughts:
rather slim wiki on wiki facilitation.

Beth's Wiki Roundup

http://bethkanter.wikispaces.com/wiki
beth kanter has a good roundup of wikis in practice.

Uses:
* resource collection
* directory
* collaborative writing
* conference notes
* organizing a conference
* knowledge sharing
* education: http://westwood.wikispaces.com/ - this looks like a dynamic wiki at first glance

Adoption:
* Links to adoption issues.
* on moving from powerpoint to wiki

lots more links here. will do reading notes on some of the more interesting in a bit.

Wiki Spam

http://www.shlomifish.org/philosophy/computers/web/which-wiki/update-2006-07/

has some good info on fighting wiki spam:
* monitor rss feeds
* install various available spam catchers
* require user logins
* use captchas
* require email confirmations for new accounts

Muppet Wiki

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Muppet_Wiki

wiki about muppets. i keep coming across this one in my wiki research. seems to be one of the most popular and successful examples of a wiki that's not wikipedia. 15000 articles/~50 contributors. lots of recent changes. you can tell at first glance that it's a dynamic place and that there is some active management going on. funny that this, of all topics, would become such a vibrant place. must be some passionate muppet lovers out there...

Diabetes Wiki

http://diabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Diabetes_Wiki

wiki for people to gather around diabetes. like the autism wiki, it's got an area for stories, but only has 4 right now. there seem to be new edits every day or so and it looks like the wiki is several months old, but has a fairly lonely feeling. this may be a problem inherent to wikis - they don't give you a good sense of the community. could benefit from a feature that shows recent contributors photos or somehow visually shows participation.

Autism Wiki

http://autism.wikia.com/wiki/Autism_Wiki

Wiki for people with autism. Seems like a great idea, but usage is so sparse. Space for users to contribute their stories about discovering and dealing with their autism, but are only 6 stories right now. So a good start, but wonder if it will go anywhere.

Building a successful community wiki

http://www.wikia.com/wiki/User:Toughpigs

Reading notes:
by founder of muppet wiki.

* small wikis are qualitatively different than huge ones like wikipedia
* individual contributers are more important
* individuals are the "institutional memory" of a small wiki - they understand its structure
* if one goes, they're hard to replace
* one person can do a lot of damage on a small wiki
* need to set boundaries and set up a good incentive system
* people don't like to be anonymous - this is a social experience
* can tell if a wiki is in trouble if noone is discussing its pages or there are no recent changes
* volunteers should act as greeters
* you need to welcome new people to make it vibrant and to deliver incentive to participate
* people come to a wiki to work together on a common goal. will use their blogs to work alone
* admin has 3 tasks: welcome new people, mentor, encourage communication on talk pages
* everybody needs a user name
* anon contributers get a trial period of 5 edits. then are asked to sign in. or are blocked
**this is way to avoid vandals
**cant afford to have unlimited edits - will spend too much time cleaning up
* user names build trust

thoughts:
this is a great article based on practical experience. makes the following points very clear:
* wikis need a lot of handholding
* wikis can't have a freeforall editorial policy

The World According to Wiki

http://www.learningcircuits.org/2007/0607laff.htm

reading notes:
* makes info more easily retrievable than email
* knowledge repository
* many people skeptical about value of wiki - esp. older people
* design doesn't matter at first [i think that's absolutely wrong]
* adoption hasn't been great
* concern about it not looking professional [speaks to point above]
* fear of putting out proprietary info

thoughts:
hm - it seems to me that design is the #1 problem with wikis. they look all over the place and intimidating. if they could be more like blogger, i bet that'd adoption would increase. can't wait to see what google does with jotspot.

5 Uses for a Wiki at Work

http://michelemartin.typepad.com/thebambooprojectblog/2007/06/5_uses_for_a_wi.html

reading notes:
* operations gudie/ policy and procedure manual
* project dashboard
* water cooler
* fact sheets
* brainstorm tool

Wikis as personal space

http://michelemartin.typepad.com/thebambooprojectblog/2007/06/wikis_as_person.html

Reading notes:
wiki problems:
* management resistance
* new tech fears
* dont want to add to what's there
* benefiting the team isn't enough of an incentive

author is not using wiki as a social collab tool, but as a personal tool to share with others when makes sense. using as:
* personal brainstorming tool: place to gather info before a blog post
* personal project management tool
* as a portfolio
* as followup to training sessions

Thoughts:
Seems that basecamp does all of the above in a more structured way. But doesn't have the option to share with others (or to serve as a portfolio).