Wikipatterns

Book description

  • This book provides practical, proven advice for encouraging adoption of your wiki project and growing it into a useful collaboration tool or vibrant online community

  • Gives wiki users a toolbox of thriving wiki patterns, which enable newcomers to avoid making common mistakes or fumbling around for the solutions to the same problems as their predecessors

  • Explains the major stages of wiki adoption and explores patterns that apply to each stage

  • Presents concrete, proven examples of techniques that have helped people grow vibrant collaborative communities and change the way they work for the better

  • Reviews the overall process, including setting up initial content, encouraging people to contribute, dealing with disruptive elements, fixing typos and broken links, making sure pages are in their correct categories, and more

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
  2. About the Author
  3. Credits
  4. Foreword
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Introduction
  7. 1. Grassroots is Best
    1. 1.1. Wiki?
    2. 1.2. The Wikipedia Factor
    3. 1.3. You Can Do It!
      1. 1.3.1. Unleash the Early Adopters
      2. 1.3.2. Move Swiftly and with Purpose, but Don't Rush It
      3. 1.3.3. It Doesn't Matter Where You Are
      4. 1.3.4. Listen
      5. 1.3.5. Be Open Minded
      6. 1.3.6. Become Better at What You Do
    4. 1.4. Wiki Patterns and Wikipatterns.com
    5. 1.5. References
  8. 1a. Case Study: LeapFrog
    1. 1a.1. 1. Why Did You Choose a Wiki?
    2. 1a.2. 2. What Type of wiki are You Using?
    3. 1a.3. 3. How Are You Using the wiki?
    4. 1a.4. 4. Looking at Wikipatterns.com, What Patterns are in Use on Your wiki?
    5. 1a.5. 5. What Changes Have You Seen As a Result of Using a wiki?
  9. 2. Your Wiki Isn't (Necessarily) Wikipedia
    1. 2.1. Brief History of Wikipedia
    2. 2.2. Nature Compares Accuracy of Wikipedia and Britannica
    3. 2.3. The All-Virtual Wiki Community versus Wiki that Mirrors Physical Community
    4. 2.4. Why Mischief Doesn't Happen in an Organization's Wiki
      1. 2.4.1. Open versus Secure
      2. 2.4.2. Quality, Accuracy, and Moderators
    5. 2.5. How Will Your Wiki Be Used?
      1. 2.5.1. Build a Peer Directory
      2. 2.5.2. Agendas → Meetings → Projects
      3. 2.5.3. Manage Projects
      4. 2.5.4. Product Development
      5. 2.5.5. Knowledge Base or Support Site
      6. 2.5.6. Event Planning
      7. 2.5.7. Intranet or Extranet
      8. 2.5.8. Blogging
      9. 2.5.9. External Communication
      10. 2.5.10. Public Website
      11. 2.5.11. And Many More!
    6. 2.6. References
  10. 2a. Case Study: Johns Hopkins University
    1. 2a.1. 1. Why did you choose a wiki?
    2. 2a.2. 2. What type of wiki are you using?
    3. 2a.3. 3. How are you using the wiki?
    4. 2a.4. 4. Looking at Wikipatterns.com, what patterns are in use on your wiki?
    5. 2a.5. 5. What changes have you seen as a result of using a wiki?
  11. 3. What's Five Minutes Really Worth?
    1. 3.1. What Happened to Knowledge Management?
    2. 3.2. Something Wiki This Way Comes
    3. 3.3. What Makes a Wiki a Wiki?
      1. 3.3.1. Basic Structure
      2. 3.3.2. The Enterprise Wiki: Spaces and Pages
      3. 3.3.3. Editing Pages and Creating Content
      4. 3.3.4. Folksonomy
      5. 3.3.5. Recent Changes
      6. 3.3.6. Balancing Trust and Control: Why Wikis Have Succeeded Where Others Have Failed
      7. 3.3.7. How Atlassian Uses a Wiki to Increase Transparency and Decrease Distance
      8. 3.3.8. User-generated Templates
      9. 3.3.9. Extending Wikis
    4. 3.4. Back-office to Front-office
      1. 3.4.1. Wiki versus Email
        1. 3.4.1.1. What's Five Minutes Really Worth Anyway?
      2. 3.4.2. Wiki versus Intranet Powered by Content Management System
      3. 3.4.3. Wiki versus Shared Drive
    5. 3.5. References
  12. 3a. Case Study: Sun Microsystems
    1. 3a.1. 1. Why did you choose a wiki?
    2. 3a.2. 2. What type of wiki are you using?
    3. 3a.3. 3. How are you using the wiki?
    4. 3a.4. 4. Looking at Wikipatterns.com, what patterns are in use on your wiki?
    5. 3a.5. 5. What changes have you seen as a result of using a wiki?
  13. 4. 11 Steps to a Successful Wiki Pilot
    1. 4.1. 11 Steps to a Successful Pilot
      1. 4.1.1. 1. Establish a Time Frame
      2. 4.1.2. 2. Make It Representative
      3. 4.1.3. 3. Keep It Compact
      4. 4.1.4. 4. Choose Participants Carefully
      5. 4.1.5. 5. Seek or Be Sought?
      6. 4.1.6. 6. Wiki with a Purpose
      7. 4.1.7. 7. Define House Rules
      8. 4.1.8. 8. Personal Spaces
      9. 4.1.9. 9. Never an Empty Page
      10. 4.1.10. 10. Make It a Magnet
      11. 4.1.11. 11. Be Firm and Think Long Term
    2. 4.2. What's My Role in Wikipatterns.com?
    3. 4.3. References
  14. 4a. Case Study: Red Ant
    1. 4a.1. 1. Why did you choose a wiki?
    2. 4a.2. 2. What type of wiki are you using?
    3. 4a.3. 3. How are you using the wiki?
    4. 4a.4. 4. Looking at Wikipatterns.com, what patterns are in use on your wiki?
    5. 4a.5. 5. What changes have you seen as a result of using a wiki?
  15. 4b. Case Study: A Conversation with a WikiChampion: Jude Higdon
    1. 4b.1. 1. Why did you choose a wiki?
    2. 4b.2. 2. What type of wiki are you using?
    3. 4b.3. 3. How are you using the wiki?
    4. 4b.4. 4. Looking at Wikipatterns.com, what patterns are in use on your wiki?
      1. 4b.4.1. General Usage Patterns
      2. 4b.4.2. Specific Usage Patterns
      3. 4b.4.3. Individual Patterns of Use
    5. 4b.5. 5. What changes have you seen as a result of using a wiki?
  16. 5. Drive Large-Scale Adoption
    1. 5.1. Develop a Wiki Use Policy
    2. 5.2. Work in Phases
    3. 5.3. Explain Why People Should Use the Wiki
    4. 5.4. Use Pilot Cases as Examples
    5. 5.5. Offer Training and Support
    6. 5.6. Apply Patterns
      1. 5.6.1. The Importance of WikiChampions
      2. 5.6.2. Invitation
      3. 5.6.3. StartingPoint
      4. 5.6.4. Personal Spaces
      5. 5.6.5. Welcoming
      6. 5.6.6. BarnRaising
      7. 5.6.7. SingleProblem
      8. 5.6.8. Seed It with Content
      9. 5.6.9. Intentional Error
      10. 5.6.10. ContentAlert
      11. 5.6.11. New Employee Wiki
      12. 5.6.12. Document Business Processes
    7. 5.7. "It's on the wiki"
  17. 5a. Case Study: JavaPolis
    1. 5a.1. 1. Why did you choose a wiki?
    2. 5a.2. 2. What type of wiki are you using?
    3. 5a.3. 3. How are you using the wiki?
    4. 5a.4. 4. Looking at Wikipatterns.com, what patterns are in use on your wiki?
    5. 5a.5. 5. What changes have you seen as a result of using a wiki?
  18. 5b. Case Study: A Conversation with a WikiChampion: Jeff Calado
    1. 5b.1. 1. Why did you choose a wiki?
    2. 5b.2. 2. What type of wiki are you using?
    3. 5b.3. 3. How are you using the wiki?
    4. 5b.4. 4. Looking at Wikipatterns.com, what patterns are in use on your wiki?
    5. 5b.5. 5. What changes have you seen as a result of using a wiki?
  19. 6. Prevent (or Minimize) Obstacles
    1. 6.1. What Can Hinder Wiki Adoption?
      1. 6.1.1. Do-it-all
      2. 6.1.2. OverOrganizer
      3. 6.1.3. WikiTroll
      4. 6.1.4. Wikiphobia
      5. 6.1.5. Sandbox
      6. 6.1.6. BeanCounter
      7. 6.1.7. Empty Pages
      8. 6.1.8. All-wiki-all-the-time
      9. 6.1.9. Manager Lockdown
      10. 6.1.10. Too Much Structure
      11. 6.1.11. WikiPaintBrush
    2. 6.2. The Common Theme...
  20. 6a. Case Study: Kerrydale Street
    1. 6a.1. 1. Why did the site creator choose a wiki?
    2. 6a.2. 2. What type of wiki is Kerrydale Street using?
    3. 6a.3. 3. How is Kerrydale Street using the wiki?
    4. 6a.4. 4. Looking at Wikipatterns.com, what patterns are in use on the wiki?
    5. 6a.5. 5. What changes have you seen as a result of using a wiki?
  21. 7. Inspirational Bull****
    1. 7.1. Renegades Rule
    2. 7.2. Technology Is Simply a Tool
    3. 7.3. People Are Incredible Self-Organizers
    4. 7.4. "Find Your Place in the Community"
    5. 7.5. Think Process, Not Features
    6. 7.6. Make Change the Only Constant
    7. 7.7. Flatten Your Organization...in a Good Way!
    8. 7.8. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
    9. 7.9. References
  22. 7a. Case Study: Constitution Day
    1. 7a.1. 1. Why did you choose a wiki?
    2. 7a.2. 2. What type of wiki are you using?
    3. 7a.3. 3. How are you using the wiki?
    4. 7a.4. 4. Looking at Wikipatterns.com, what patterns are in use on your wiki?
    5. 7a.5. 5. What changes have you seen as a result of using a wiki?
  23. 7b. Case Study: Peter Higgs: Using a Wiki in Research
    1. 7b.1. Objectives of the National Mapping Research Project Wiki
    2. 7b.2. Sophisticated handling of Users, Groups and Access Permissions
    3. 7b.3. Collaboration
    4. 7b.4. Ease of Use: The Thin End of the Wedge
    5. 7b.5. Addressing the "Why Nots?"
      1. 7b.5.1. "Why Not Use Our Existing Content Management System?"
    6. 7b.6. Getting It Accepted into a Corporate Environment
    7. 7b.7. How Are We Using the Wiki?
    8. 7b.8. The Wiki as eResearch Infrastructure
      1. 7b.8.1. Research Publications, Reference, and Citation Management
      2. 7b.8.2. Project and Team Management
      3. 7b.8.3. Network Enhancers: People, Organizations, and Projects
      4. 7b.8.4. Handling, Presenting, and Commenting on Structured Data
      5. 7b.8.5. Classification Registries/Commentaries
    9. 7b.9. Conclusions
  24. A. Questions & Answers
    1. A.1. Someone else can change what I wrote?
    2. A.2. When someone else edits a page, how do I see what changes they made?
    3. A.3. Can the wiki notify me when a page is changed?
    4. A.4. What if I don't like what someone else wrote? Can I just delete it?
    5. A.5. 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?
    6. A.6. If the debate on a wiki page does get "hot," can you somehow shut off editing?
    7. A.7. Can everyone see what I put on the wiki? What if some material is sensitive or confidential?
    8. A.8. How do I give people access to it/restrict access?
    9. A.9. How can I control the wiki and approve edits?
    10. A.10. How do I know the content on the wiki is correct?
    11. A.11. Is there a grammarian or controller?
    12. A.12. So what should I do first?
    13. A.13. What would I put on the wiki?
    14. A.14. Can it handle images and other file types?
    15. A.15. Can I get content out of the wiki, say, when I'm done drafting a document?
    16. A.16. How do I get people to switch from email to use the wiki?
    17. A.17. Is it ok to work locally, (i.e. offline on my own computer) on content that will go in the wiki?
    18. A.18. 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?
    19. A.19. 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?
    20. A.20. What would you say is the biggest difference between the wiki and content management systems when used for project management?
    21. A.21. Isn't this just another enterprise IT project with a lot of promise but little chance of success?
    22. A.22. What about IT? Won't they say "No" to adding yet another tool they have to support?
    23. A.23. How do I convince others to use the wiki?
    24. A.24. What's the advantage of constructing knowledge on a wiki?
    25. A.25. How do you encourage context-building and conversation about the changes that occur on the wiki?
    26. A.26. 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?

Product information

  • Title: Wikipatterns
  • Author(s): Stewart Mader
  • Release date: December 2007
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9780470223628