Title Details

Foreword xxv

Acknowledgments xxix

Introduction xxxiii

Chapter 1 Grassroots is Best 1

Wiki? 3

TheWikipedia Factor 5

You Can Do It! 6

Unleash the Early Adopters 6

Move Swiftly and with Purpose, but Don’t Rush It 7

It Doesn’t Matter Where You Are 7

Listen 8

Be Open Minded 8

Become Better at What You Do 9

Wiki Patterns and Wikipatterns.com 9

References 15

Case Study: LeapFrog 17

1. Why did you choose a wiki? 17

2. What type of wiki are you using? 19

3. How are you using the wiki? 19

4. Looking atWikipatterns.com, what patterns are in use on your wiki? 22

5. What changes have you seen as a result of using a wiki? 22

Chapter 2 Your Wiki Isn’t (Necessarily) Wikipedia 25

Brief History of Wikipedia 26

Nature Compares Accuracy of Wikipedia and Britannica 27

The All-Virtual Wiki Community versus Wiki that Mirrors Physical Community 28

Why Mischief Doesn’t Happen in an Organization’s Wiki 29

Open versus Secure 29

Quality, Accuracy, and Moderators 30

HowWill Your Wiki Be Used? 30

Build a Peer Directory 30

Agendas>Meetings>Projects 31

Manage Projects 31

Product Development 32

Knowledge Base or Support Site 32

Event Planning 33

Intranet or Extranet 33

Blogging 34

External Communication 34

Public Website 35

And Many More! 35

References 35

Case Study: Johns Hopkins University 37

1. Why did you choose a wiki? 37

2. What type of wiki are you using? 38

3. How are you using the wiki? 38

4. Looking atWikipatterns.com, what patterns are in use on your wiki? 38

5. What changes have you seen as a result of using a wiki? 39

Chapter 3 What’s Five Minutes Really Worth? 41

What Happened to Knowledge Management? 42

SomethingWiki This Way Comes 43

What Makes a Wiki aWiki? 44

Basic Structure 44

The Enterprise Wiki: Spaces and Pages 44

Editing Pages and Creating Content 45

Folksonomy 48

Recent Changes 48

Balancing Trust and Control: Why Wikis Have Succeeded

Where Others Have Failed 49

How Atlassian Uses a Wiki to Increase Transparency and

Decrease Distance 51

User-generated Templates 52

Extending Wikis 54

Back-office to Front-office 54

Wiki versus Email 55

What’s Five Minutes Really Worth Anyway? 57

Wiki versus Intranet Powered by Content Management

System 57

Wiki versus Shared Drive 58

References 60

Case Study: Sun Microsystems 61

1. Why did you choose a wiki? 61

2. What type of wiki are you using? 61

3. How are you using the wiki? 62

4. Looking atWikipatterns.com, what patterns are in use on your wiki? 62

5. What changes have you seen as a result of using a wiki? 62

Chapter 4 11 Steps to a Successful Wiki Pilot 63

11 Steps to a Successful Pilot 64

1. Establish a Time Frame 64

2. Make It Representative 65

3. Keep It Compact 65

4. Choose Participants Carefully 65

5. Seek or Be Sought? 66

6. Wiki with a Purpose 66

7. Define House Rules 66

8. Personal Spaces 67

9. Never an Empty Page 68

10. Make It a Magnet 69

11. Be Firm and Think Long Term 70

What’s My Role in Wikipatterns.com? 72

References 73

Case Study: Red Ant 75

1. Why did you choose a wiki? 75

2. What type of wiki are you using? 76

3. How are you using the wiki? 76

4. Looking atWikipatterns.com, what patterns are in use on your wiki? 77

5. What changes have you seen as a result of using a wiki? 78

Case Study: A Conversation with a WikiChampion: Jude Higdon 81

1. Why did you choose a wiki? 81

2. What type of wiki are you using? 82

3. How are you using the wiki? 82

4. Looking atWikipatterns.com, what patterns are in use on your wiki? 83

General Usage Patterns 83

Specific Usage Patterns 83

Individual Patterns of Use 84

5. What changes have you seen as a result of using a wiki? 85

Chapter 5 Drive Large-Scale Adoption 87

Develop a Wiki Use Policy 87

Work in Phases 90

Explain Why People Should Use the Wiki 90

Use Pilot Cases as Examples 91

Offer Training and Support 93

Apply Patterns 93

The Importance of WikiChampions 94

Invitation 94

StartingPoint 95

Personal Spaces 95

Welcoming 95

BarnRaising 96

SingleProblem 96

Seed It with Content 97

Intentional Error 98

ContentAlert 98

New EmployeeWiki 98

Document Business Processes 99

‘‘It’s on the wiki’’ 100

Case Study: JavaPolis 101

1. Why did you choose a wiki? 101

2. What type of wiki are you using? 101

3. How are you using the wiki? 102

4. Looking at Wikipatterns.com, what patterns are in use on your wiki? 102

5. What changes have you seen as a result of using a wiki? 102

Case Study: A Conversation with a WikiChampion: Jeff Calado 103

1. Why did you choose a wiki? 103

2. What type of wiki are you using? 103

3. How are you using the wiki? 104

4. Looking atWikipatterns.com, what patterns are in use on your wiki? 104

5. What changes have you seen as a result of using a wiki? 105

Chapter 6 Prevent (or Minimize) Obstacles 107

What Can HinderWiki Adoption? 107

Do-it-all 107

OverOrganizer 108

WikiTroll 109

Wikiphobia 110

Sandbox 111

BeanCounter 111

Empty Pages 112

All-wiki-all-the-time 112

Manager Lockdown 113

Too Much Structure 114

wikiPaintBrush 115

The Common Theme. . . 116

Case Study: Kerrydale Street 117

1. Why did the site creator choose a wiki? 117

2. What type of wiki is Kerrydale Street using? 118

3. How is Kerrydale Street using the wiki? 118

4. Looking atWikipatterns.com, what patterns are in use on the wiki? 118

5. What changes have you seen as a result of using a wiki? 118

Chapter 7 Inspirational Bull∗∗∗∗ 121

Renegades Rule 121

Technology Is Simply a Tool 122

People Are Incredible Self-Organizers 122

‘‘Find Your Place in the Community’’ 123

Think Process, Not Features 123

Make Change the Only Constant 124

Flatten Your Organization. . .in a Good Way! 125

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. 125

References 126

Case Study: Constitution Day 127

1. Why did you choose a wiki? 127

2. What type of wiki are you using? 128

3. How are you using the wiki? 128

4. Looking atWikipatterns.com, what patterns are in use on your wiki? 128

5. What changes have you seen as a result of using a wiki? 128

Case Study: Peter Higgs: Using a Wiki in Research 129

Objectives of the National Mapping Research ProjectWiki 130

Sophisticated handling of Users, Groups and Access Permissions 131

Collaboration 133

Ease of Use: The Thin End of theWedge 133

Addressing the ‘‘Why Nots?’’ 134

‘‘Why Not Use Our Existing Content Management System?’’ 134

Getting It Accepted into a Corporate Environment 134

How Are We Using the Wiki? 134

TheWiki as eResearch Infrastructure 135

Research Publications, Reference, and Citation Management 135

Project and Team Management 136

Network Enhancers: People, Organizations, and Projects 137

Handling, Presenting, and Commenting on Structured Data 138

Classification Registries/Commentaries 138

Conclusions 139

Appendix Questions & Answers 141

Someone else can change what I wrote? 141

When someone else edits a page, how do I see what changes they made? 142

Can the wiki notify me when a page is changed? 142

What if I don’t like what someone else wrote? Can I just delete it? 142

What if someone puts a contribution into a wiki page, and then somebody else just deletes it, puts something completely different in, another person just deletes that, and puts yet another different contribution in. Doesn’t there still have to be some moderator? 143

If the debate on a wiki page does get ‘‘hot,’’ can you somehow shut off editing? 144

Can everyone see what I put on the wiki? What if some material is sensitive or confidential? 144

How do I give people access to it/restrict access? 144

How can I control the wiki and approve edits? 145

How do I know the content on the wiki is correct? 145

Is there a grammarian or controller? 145

So what should I do first? 146

What would I put on the wiki? 146

Can it handle images and other file types? 147

Can I get content out of the wiki, say, when I’m done drafting a document? 147

How do I get people to switch from email to use the wiki? 147

Is it ok to work locally, (i.e. offline on my own computer) on content that will go in the wiki? 148

What if you read what someone wrote on a wiki page and find a grammatical error or can’t tell what the person wants to say? 148

What would motivate someone to contribute to a wiki? Seems like they get less credit than they’d get for sending an email, where everyone sees they sent it? 149

What would you say is the biggest difference between the wiki and content management systems when used for project management? 149

Isn’t this just another enterprise IT project with a lot of promise but little chance of success? 149

What about IT? Won’t they say ‘‘No’’ to adding yet another tool they have to support? 150

How do I convince others to use the wiki? 151

What’s the advantage of constructing knowledge on a wiki? 151

How do you encourage context-building and conversation about the changes that occur on the wiki? 152
Can using a wiki help make conversations and collaboration more inclusive, especially of those who are more reluctant to speak up in a face-to-face meeting? 152

Index 155