At the NSW KM Forum this evening, James Matheson from Saikore gave a presentation on wikis. James gave two case studies. The first looked at how wikis were introduced and accepted at Motorola via a grassroots, viral approach. The second approach was a structured, top down strategy at an Australian publishing company. He made some useful comments about the use and implementation of wikis inside organisations and what the barriers were to adoption.
James showed us the website for wikipatterns, itself a wiki, that provides information on different patterns of wiki adoption and use, as well as “anti-patterns” that focus on barriers. The wikipatterns site is connected with the wiki vendor, Altassian Confluence, although anyone can register and then input into the wikipatterns site. Wikipatterns favours the grassroots approach.
Whether grassroots or top down, the success of a wiki still depends on the people. People still need to decide whether to contribute and what to contribute. People also need to know why they should contribute. A wiki can be a useful collaborative tool but only when people choose to collaborate. An empty wiki is of no use at all.
Filed under: Collaboration, Knowledge Management, Social computing, Technology
[...] 28th, 2007 NSW KM Forum Committee member, Brad Hinton, has provided a write up on last nights popular forum meeting about wikis. Brad provides a summary of a few key [...]
Hi Brad,
Thanks for mentioning Wikipatterns! I appreciate that you’re helping spread the word! You’re right that a wiki is only useful when people choose to collaborate, and so I invite you to join in and be part of wikipatterns. If you have ideas for new patterns, edits to existing patterns, etc. I’d love for you to contribute them.
Stewart Mader
Wiki Evangelist, Atlassian
Stewart,
Good idea. Thanks for the invitation. I’ll take that up!
Regards,
Brad