12th Thing - Wikis

What is a wiki?

Wiki is taken from the Hawaiian word wiki wiki meaning quick or swift. In Web 2.0 terms a wiki is a website in which content can be added, edited and changed by a group of members which means a wiki is great way of people working together and collaborating online.

(The Wiki Wiki bus, by Kables)

Some of the benefits that make wikis so attractive are:

• anyone (registered or unregistered, if unrestricted) can add, edit or delete content
• tracking tools within wikis allow you to easily keep up on what been changed and by whom
• earlier versions of a page can be viewed and reinstated when needed

And users do not need to know HTML in order to apply styles to text or add and edit content. In most cases simple syntax structure is used.

Are all wikis open to everyone?

No, the ethos of sites like Wikipedia is to be open and allow anyone to contribute – a wonderful idea, but this can cause problems. However, in most cases you will only want certain people to be able to contribute or even to see your wiki, especially if you’re using it in a work context.

Watch this short film to see just how useful wikis can be...

13th Thing - Wikipedia

Some of you will have seen and most likely used Wikipedia to find information.

Step 1: Choose the random article link and write about it in your blog. Click on the discussion tab to see what people are saying.

Step 2: Click on current events link and see what’s in the news – put this in your blog too.

14th Thing - Wetpaint

In the very first week of 25 Things, you should have received an email invite to join the 25 Things Wiki on the Wetpaint web site.

If you haven't done so already, find the email and accept the invitation to join.

The objective of Thing 14 is to add some content to the wiki and to create a "Guide to Huddersfield". In true "Blue Peter" style, we've already added some content to the wiki and you can see some information about the village of Netherton.

Introduction to Wetpaint

Wetpaint is one of dozens of different websites that you can use to create a new wiki...

Let's Get Wiki'd!

Step 1: Go to the wiki and click on the Guide to Huddersfield link

Step 2: Browse through the page and select one of the pages that you would like to add some new content to -- it might be the area where you live or perhaps one of the places in the town centre. If the page doesn't already exist, then select the "Would you like to create the ... page now?" link.

Step 3: Once you are looking at the relevant page in the wiki (which might be blank if no-one has added any content yet), click on the "EasyEdit" button. You should now be able to edit the text of the page. You can use the "EasyEdit Toolbar" to format the text and, if you are feeling adventurous, you can add links to other pages. Don't forget to click on the "Save" button!

If you enjoyed added content to the wiki, then explore some of the other links and either add new content or update some of the existing pages.

Optional tasks

Optional task 1: Explore some of the wikis hosted on the Wikia web site. There's plenty to choose from, including Wookieepedia (Star Wars), Muppet Wiki, Psychology Wiki, and the Recipes Wiki.

Optional task 2: Write a new blog post about your experiences with wikis. Do you think they are useful tools?

Quick Stats
Website: http://www.wetpaint.com/
Cost: None

~o~o~o~

There once live four princesses, all of them fair
With grace and such elegance, innocence rare
With beauty which housed their charitable souls
And hearts with a warmth which burned warmer than coals.

The first, named Gracia, was a leader dear,
To her people, whom she led without any fear,
And if there was fear, still aloft she had stood
To sacrifice self for the country's own good.

Then there was Margarita, who with her quick mind,
Was the person to need, and the person to find,
If you wanted some answers to questions you fought
Without ever finding the answer you sought.

Then there was Victoria, who did love one and all,
Whose love stood unmoving and never did fall
Prey to the hate and the scorn of men
(Which cannot be described through the ink and the pen)

And the there was Sara, not least of the four,
Who was innocence itself from ceiling to floor*
She was elegance walking, and heart-beating too
She was Grecian Arete*, or Virtue so true.

The princesses mentioned, whose names are here writ:
Gracia, Victoria, Margarita of wit,
And virtuous Sara, Arete so true,
Doth dwell within people, within me and you.
There is goodness in mankind, that we must believe
Not all is a villain with tricks up his sleeve.

Note on "Arete"- Arete is the Greek personification of virtue.

In personal exeperience I think that PBWiki provides a bit more quality, especially for the slightly more advanced user.  PBWiki is where I first encountered using a wiki (well besides looking stuff up on Wikipedia, but I've never contributed to the open encyclopedia).  Senior year in college we used PBWiki in my Advanced Technical  Communications class as a place to generate ideas but also to manage a lot of the work that we were doing.  It was great!

I like wikis and I really wish that I could find more practical uses for them on a regular basis.  I have my own personal PBWiki that I occasionally use as a kind of brainstorming site.  I've also got the Wetpaint wiki that I used for today's presentation.  It was encouraging to here our director voice serious interest in the use of a wiki after the presentation and say that she would really like to possibly see them used by staff in the future.  I think that would be awesome.

Anyway, it was fun getting to show some folks some cool Web 2.0 stuff that they had never tried before.  I hope some of them consider experimenting more.

A wiki is a collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language.[1][2] Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites. The collaborative encyclopedia, Wikipedia, is one of the best-known wikis.[2] Wikis are used in business to provide intranets and Knowledge Management systems. Ward Cunningham, developer of the first wiki software, WikiWikiWeb, originally described it as "the simplest online database that could possibly work".[3]

"Wiki" (/wiːkiː/) is originally a Hawaiian word for "fast". It has been suggested that "wiki" means "What I Know Is".[citation needed] However, this is a backronym. "Wiki Wiki" is a reduplication of the same word.

Seem simple enough? If not, here is one more great visual explanation:

It's part of the Plain English Series:

Wikis in Plain English

If they are not already, wikis are the wave of the future in many settings because of their collaborative ability. While most organiziations (i.e. businesses, churches, etc.) are still only using email, many others have embraced the power of the wiki and are really harnessing it's power in creative ways.

As I'm still fairly new to wikis (I have 2 that I have created, 1 that I'm a part of, and I joined Wikipedia as a user--though still too nervous to create content yet, or correct).

But let me give you just one example of where I didn't use it, and how I wish I did and why.

On Sunday June 8, my former church Bel Air Presbyterian Church, had its annual Student Sunday service which I coordinated between Student Ministry staff, Middle School, High School and College students. Between all of us there were approximately 20-25 people involved in the service from worship music, speaking, sound, lighting, skits and more.

And I did what I always did to coordinate an event.....I used email. Big mistake. Email is terrible at coordinating stuff. By the time June 8 rolled around my inbox was filled with emails that I could hardly keep track of..."Who was doing what?" "Why?" If I had used a wiki and given every person access to that wiki, or at least specific supervisors in each department, the coordination would have been smooth, and there wouldln't have been the need for me to continually follow up on tasks and micromanage at some degree.

I think it will take a long time before many people stop using emails for these things and use a wiki. Certainly I'm not saying to never use email, but when it comes to coordinating activities, ministries, tasks, etc. there is not better tool than a wiki.

I wish that when I was the college director of The Quest I had known more about wikis, and I would have gotten rid of those mass email lists that hardly anyone reads or responds to.

Some Reasons for Using Wikis:

Some of these have crossover value and are repetitive, but here is what I came up with.

1. Promotes, encourages team work/participation.
2. Decentralizes the hierarchy..now everyone is participating.
3. Harnesses more creativity.
4. Eliminates/reduces micromanaging by supervisors on tasks.
5. Allows everyone to see what is happening/being accomplished.
6. Levels the playing field (everyone's work is valued).
7. Eliminates/reduces the need for email.
8. Encourages a team as everyone can view the achieving of a goal/job being done.
9. Allows for multiple voices, therefore the best ideas rise to the top.
10. Is a speedier tool than email chains going back and forth. Quick correction, agreement, completion, etc.

This is what I could come up with. How about you? What can you add to the list?

I've been playing around with Wet Paint, Wikispaces, and I'm also registered with Wikipedia to edit, etc., but I don't have a handle on that site yet.

Do you use a wiki? Which one? Do you like it?

How have you used a wiki in your ministry, or line of work, and was it effective? How?

A must read book on this topic is Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams. Awesome, awesome book.
Formulating an Online Strategy for College Ministry

• Part 1--Simplicity, Flexibility, Cost and Speed.
• Part 2--The Purpose of Your Website
• Part 3--Why You Should Be Blogging
• Part 4--Using Facebook Effectively
• Part 5--How Twitter Can Catalyze Your Ministry
• Part 6--Using Social Network Platforms as Your Central Hub
• Part 7--Flickr, YouTube and Other Forms of Sharing and Streaming
• Part 8--Ministry Collaboration Using Wikis
• Part 9--Opening Up Your Ministry's API

DISCLAIMERS: 1)There are better technical people out there concerning the web. 2) Do as I suggest, not as I do. I'm trying to keep up myself, and our college website reflects almost nothing of what I talk about. That's how fast things change. 3) There are a lot of college ministries out there, and there are a lot of online tools to use, but it doesn't seem like many are thinking through how to best utilize the new media and Web 2.0 (and yikes, Web 3.0) in their groups. 4) Knowing that things change overnight in technology, I hope to somehow impart to you some of the things I have been learning and wrestling with in these areas. You don't need to be an expert in this area, just know enough to think critically about the issue. 5) If you have feedback, suggestions, criticisms, please comment. This is by no means all encompassing.

In light of the praxis (i.e. theory and practical mix) that my new media course has been based on this year, I decided to branch out of theoretical blogging and find out how to create a wiki myself.

I figure that open source ideas are supposed to benefit the average someone and I am a someone.  So how easy/difficult is it to contribute and share my own ideas and not just borrow from generous developers?

The main trickiness of the wiki idea is that you need a host of some kind because otherwise it is very unlikely that anyone will ever see your wiki and then there will be no additions or benefits to the information that is put up there.

I found two fairly solid bases for wiki creations; Wetpaint and Wikipedia.

Wikipedia is obviously the most common one and many organizations use it as a host for wikis.  Wikipedia also hosts one of the web's most extensively contributed-to wikis on the Virginia Tech Massacre.

Wikipedia seems to value contributions by users that have proved themselves to be reliable and valuable which is good if you are looking for reliable information but which makes life a little more difficult if you are trying to break into the wiki creation world. But it is still possible to create your own wiki within the system.

Wetpaint on the other hand makes wiki creation as easy as creating a blog. I went to the main page here.  Then I followed the simple steps to make my very own wiki for the purpose of this blog.

But to be honest, the process seems a little stagnant now.  I could just keep adding to my wiki myself but otherwise I just have to wait until other people stumble upon it and add.

I thought at first that the wiki idea would require the same promotion as a blog.  But have now realised that that isn't true. Blogs are a place that people can come to and browse and leave again.  But unless someone is looking for the information that your specific wiki provides it can have almost zero stickiness.

My other choice was PBwiki - but I have not used that yet, and in the time I had set aside, I decided not to use that either as it was a totally new wiki platform for me. I will be going back to PBwiki too!

MY BIG MISTAKE

I started a new wiki with both those good wiki companies approved my request for ad-free spaces within 36 hours at the outside, one of them even quicker than that!

What's my problem? Well as I have said in my tweets - Wetpaint support sucks!

Wetpaint as a wiki tool is quite nice, particularly in the hands of students. Lets face it. If the kids want to build a wiki, then Wetpaint has some template choices that make them feel as if their work is 'cool'! In other words, it's more like the kind of choices you get with various blogging platforms.

Nice :-)

Until you as a teacher decide to jump in there and take advantace of the Ad-Free Education Wikis. 48 hours to have the request processed? Try more than a week and a half and still counting!!! Expect automated replies. Even worse, when you have sent in the requested information in the 'How To Apply section', expect to get an email requesting the age of the students! Yes, it's mentioned in the promotion but not in the information that is needed to apply.

Righto I think..we're getting close when the email comes asking for the age of the students. Next? another automated reply.

Still no ads removed. We have started teaching with our wiki, which is against my policy entirely.

We even held off for the first lesson waiting for the magic to happen.

I am sure that Jeff Utecht, Wetpaint's Education Ambassador, (and pro-blogger at The Thinking Stick) is as embarrassed as I am about this whole debacle. Talking to Wetpaint education services is like dealing with call centres - you never know who you are talking to, and when you call back they don't know you rang before). I'm also wondering - is the company based exclusively in the States? Do they not factor in the fact that we go to school at different times in the Southern Hemisphere?

I had to laugh because my husband's take on the mess was to ask - Does Jeff get paid to promote Wetpaint? This is a question derived from a business response. He assumes that Jeff would believe in the services he is promoting and would expect it to be efficient - unless of course he is being paid to promote which makes it all a bit more rubbery. I explained that Jeff wouldn't promote something he didn't believe in. Must be a business management issue at the moment.

So - Wetpaint take note - if you want to build your business, it would be fabulous if you could be responsive to educators. If we love your platform we will buy into it.

Congratulations to PBWiki and Wikispaces for their extremely prompt response to.

Wetpaint, I very much hope to hear from you soon. As an education consultant I used to promote your product too. I'm embarrased to think that I might have been giving teachers poor advice. I would much prefer to dig into the product and push it to the limits for good use than have to give it up.

Come on Wetpaint - on behalf of all educators let me ask you to speed up your response times.

UPDATE: Less than an hour after this post, Michael Bolognino from Wetpaint has been in touch. See his comment to this post. Thanks Michael. If this problem can be resolved, and if my experience can help streamline things for other educators then it's a win all around! Perhaps we educators could also help Michael and his team continue to develop a great wiki product for our students to use.

UPDATE TWO: Congratulations and thanks for Michael's support of educators by resolving this problem less than half a day after I posted this story. The wiki looks fabulous now! I know that things can go wrong But the fact that a blog post reached you Michael and you were kind enough to jump right in and resolve the problem is fabulous. Michael also said that he saw my forlorn tweets of frustration, replied (which I missed being in a different timezone) and assumed the problem had been resolved. A message there too for ed companies. Watch the tweeters :-) and don't forget to send a Direct Message if you need to make contact. I purposefully tweeted the issue early, then vigorously in the last 24 hours before writing this post of frustration. To blog IS to communicate.

UPDATE THREE: Michael remains in contact and is going to do a thorough review of the scripts that they currently use to make sure that they are as accurate and friendly as possible in supporting educators requests. He may also try work with his developers to try to come up with a way to make the ad removal process automated.

A happy and successful solution.

Photo: Elaine's photostream

Let's face it, it's not a very "Green" thing to do. Plus, if you're not distributing copies of your notes, others are missing out on what are probably some really good tips and tricks, which is also a very bad thing. Think of the time spent writing things down, making copies, etc.

A great, easy way to both share information and "Go Green" is to create a wiki for your office. A wiki is basically a Web site that can be edited by everyone who accesses it. You can quickly create pages, make corrections, and add information to pages already in the wiki. Actually, "wiki" is a Hawaiian word for "fast." Yes, you can do it quickly and easily—and for free. Check out pbwiki.com, wetpaint.com, wikispaces.com, or Google™ "create wiki." When your wiki is created, just sign into it when you get to work each day. Use the Search feature when you're looking for something specific, and if you're tempted to write something down or e-mail a tip to your friend, add it to the wiki instead. Now, that's a smart on-the-job tool.

Go ahead, throw those notes away—in the recycle bin, of course.

Already created a wiki? Feel free to share your tips and ideas here.

You see far too many of us just dream, or Pray, or "think about it." We seem to forget...

Thought = Word = Deed = ACTION!

I don't know about you, but as the Site Designer and Founder had to make a creative change as well as a practical sane change. I wish to thank everyone at our Business Site at Wetpaint

( http://prayerpartnersunite.wetpaint.com/ )

and at The Library ( http://prayerpartnersunite.ning.com/ )

For your support and Prayers, it's not easy to Ban any Member, but when the Ethics of a Site is in question, it has to be done and done fairly. When a Site is compromised in any way, shape, or form, ACTION needs to be taken immediately. Unfortunately, in some cases, a minority abuse the privileges and responsibilities that they have been given. This was such a case. A specific person chose to alter the profile questions set by myself and when this happens all previous questions and your answers are deleted. The Administration Team deeply regrets, that your hard work and excellent profiles were disrupted, and have instigated interventions so this never happens again. These things happen to the best of Sites, with the most dear intentions. And we move forward.

You need to know, that I am in contact with Ning, where the incident took place. And I will let you know if they agree with me that no Banned person should have the right to engage either Administration or the Members once they are Banned. Truly I am against "Internet Misery" however, if I felt a threat then action was the only recourse to protect not only myself, but you. However, I no longer feel the intense sadness or threat, that simply means Prayer works and God is in charge end of discussion.

In speaking with a Friend of mine, it seems to be the daunting task that each of us must take a deeper look within, and quit relying on "someone" out there to be the guide. You have within you, the power to both learn and teach. You have the power "within" to adapt and shift. YOU, my Dears, are the host of God. No~thing or no one can intercede in the drama but a simple choice. Choose to change and shift. I just thank God I can work under duress. LOL! Well that's the deal guys and gals, we keep doing what we love and all things will come into place.

I will continue to make beautiful things, cause that's what makes me happy. I'm not here to be a Guru, or Guide, or God. I'm just here being me. Nothing more, nothing less. The Internet can be fun when we don't take it personally. So WELCOME! Isn't this the most professional thing you ever saw? Cool, I like it here, hope you do too. Please remember that if you get any odd emails, please don't hang on to it forward it to Cheryll right away.

By the by, the hits just keep coming! Google Analytics is just counting away. And now with the addition of Wordpress I think we will do well with getting our messages out. So enjoy out NEW Newsletter Look and Home!

God Bless

Shade Law RScP Founder / Sites Administrator

please visit your Main Site we are in this together

http://prayerpartnersunite.wetpaint.com/page/MUSIC+WITH+CARE+AND+MEANING

once your here look at sidebar to the left and click on any Musician you would like to hear

]]> http://aplink.wordpress.com/?p=876 Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:40:18 +0000 aplink http://aplink.ru.wordpress.com/2008/06/25/review-idc-web-20-digital-marketplace-conference-singapore/ I was running late but not as late as usual and I arrived at IDC's Web 2.0 Digital Marketplace Conference about 10 minutes late. I walked thru the doors of the meeting room and was taken aback as the room was totally packed and only standing room was available at the back - we are talking 3 persons deep. I estimate more than 250 people were jammed into the small room. Efficient staff quietly moved in more chairs and i was able to sneak into one and start to concentrate on the first speaker.

Mr Patrick Chan, Chief Technology Advisor, Emerging Technologies, IDC Asia/Pacifc (wow fancy telling someone your job title.) Patrick did an excellent presentation on the future of web 2.0 and I was very pleased to see that he included "Virtual Worlds" in his predictions, somehow people don't align vitrual worlds with web 2.0 yet however it appears IDC is taking a stab at bringing virtual worlds into more minds, and noted that virtual worlds are COMING UP and that people like to have a separate online personality - this is good as long as the online personality is real too. The billions of dollars as is always fore told by IDC in these emerging markets were presented to the audience - no cheers hip hip hoorays - except maybe the silent ones in my head as i sit in the back of the room. CHINA & INDIA were singled out as the leading forces in web 2.0 is Asia, the take away message from IDC is web 2.0 is here to stay and will only get massively bigger for consumers and enterprises alike.

Regarding the Audience, when i walked in I was truly in awe at how IDC had filled the room to overflow but even though i could only see the backs of heads I could tell this was a web 2.0 event like no other that I regularly attend. The event attendees were mature, i don't think i saw a spiky hairstyle anyway, no fashion victims, these were regular everyday mature technologies managers from enterprises - more later.

Next up was Brad Garlinghouse SVP Communications & Community, Yahoo - Yahoo were the diamond sponsor for the event and Brad discussed the over whelming noise that social media presents (don't i know it) Of course the solution is YAHOO and how Yahoo is redefining email and services to allow for trusted communications - yes it was a BIG pitch for Yahoo - but they were the diamond sponsors :-)

Coffee break - food ran out - coffee ran out

Part Two - Along comes a slice of fresh air and i think was the winner of the most popular presenter of the day. Justin Lee Executive Director of E27 Singapore appeared on stage which to my knowledge must be his first major public speaking appointment. After declaring to this very mature audience how young he was (in comparison to those listening to him) he ummmed and arrghed into his entertaining and information packed presentation of how he got to be on stage talking about what he DOES know best Web 2.0. His journeys in Silicon Valley, bringing facebook to Singapore (he did introduce me to facebook and yes i am addicted now) thru to a video on web 2.0 where he bopped his head to the music as the video played and enjoyed the humour the video presented. Many a time the audience giggled as Justin relayed a funny situation. The presentation slides even were fun - but they held immense understanding and value of the web 2.0 scene in Asia - well done Justin except you neglected the Virtual World scene - maybe next time when social media members start moving over to virtual worlds like Twinity it will be in your next speaking engagement :-) Local web 2.0 companies like ZOPIM, Ping.sg, SGentreprenuers, yebber, NuffNang and others were presented as was the Hong Kong's web 2.0 scene which highlighted www.recruit.net Malaysia's web 2.0 vibrant scene heralded, advertlets which is the most well known blogging advertising network in Malaysia as well as Singapore.

The final presenter is one of Singapore's Legends Michael Neztley, Practice assistant Professor of Corporate communication, Singapore Management University - Topic Digital Natives, I have previously posted about Digital Natives here and I agree whole heartedly with Micheal on how the world of web 2.0 has changed the youth of today. In a decade or two we will be asking "what are textbooks?" Whilst i listened intently my mind kept interrupting me because I am a marketing person at heart and could not stop thinking how Yahoo the diamond sponsor must be fretting at how many times Micheal said GOOGLE. The other intersting think i noticed is that Michael is getting his students to use the Wetpaint wiki platform - good choice Michael.

Q&A followed and again I give marks to IDC for introducing a concept of the audience being able to write their questions instead of having to get up and ask (which we know is hard) BTW at TDM events we most often provide wireless internet so questions can be sent via notebooks to the event team, its a bit more modern than paper :-) Also to be applauded is the man from IE Singapore who is trying to implement blogging and web 2.0 within IE Singapore and asked for an ON THE SPOT solution of how to get it done :-) Mr Popular (Justin) seemed to get most of the questions.

Back to the audience, during lunch I spoke with two guests on my table and as i suspected one was an IT Manager from a major print company the other was an IT Consultant. They were both at the event to LEARN more about this WEB 2.0 world. BUT also as expected they weren't there to find ways of getting millions of people connected (as social media allows) they were there finding out how THEIR circle of influences could collaborate better with web 2.0. I think in this regard the event did not deliver this information. The focus as to be expected was more on the massive communication opportunities that web 2.0 has created. Enterprises on the other hand need to first connect their employees and then their customers and then maybe more.

My overall view of the IDC Web 2.0 Digital Marketplace event is WELL DONE IDC. Enterprise adoption of web 2.0 is critical and this event i am sure sent attendees away with fresh ideas and a percentage of the audience will be searching for solutions and opportunities to embrace the technology.

- Rating 4/5

Andrew Peters a.k.a. APLINK

(Part 7 of 7) For several weeks I have explored and shared both the Enjoyable and Disappointing of free, online wikis from the most popular to a couple of up-and-comers.

These highlights have consisted of the positives as well as negatives, the latter of which will hopefully be addressed by each respective wiki. Before I announce the best wiki, I want to first touch on those areas, the “to do” items, that represent some of the most important and helpful changes for current and potential users of these wikis.

A few of the points below were previously mentioned when discussing a particular wiki's Disappointing elements. I only mention them again, to emphasize the significance of these items, as more than things that should be seen as To Do, but are more accurately represented as Must Do's.

Wikia's To Do

• Reducing the sense of information overload and page clutter, will go a long way toward improving the overall Wikia User eXperience (UX). With so many choices, so much content, numerous ads, and an incoherent visual flow, one is forced to spend an inordinate amount of time scanning pages to find desired actions and navigation choices.
• Expand the type of authority and control a user can have over their created wiki. If someone can be a wiki administrator, then, as administrator, they should be able to decide which edits are allowed to remain, and by whom those edits can be made. Furthermore, authority should allow for a variety of access permissions for its members, as well as the ability for the wiki owner to CHOOSE whether or not to have it be part of the larger wiki community or exist as a private, secure wiki.
• WYSIWYG. I know that a user interface that allows for WYSIWYG editing of pages is in the works and becoming partially available on Wikia, but its full implementation is an absolute requirement in today's wiki landscape.

Wetpaint's To Do

• Wetpaint presents a very well refined and enjoyable User eXperience (UX) with the need to smooth out some rough edges...
  • Any good wiki eventually develops a high level of traffic and, more notably, content changes. The 'What's New' dashboard provides for a high level of access to everything going on within the wiki over the last 30 days. Wiki users should be able to both (a) receive wiki change information by email, with full change details (what was added, what was removed), and (b) subscribe to site-wide changes or to specific sub-sections of the wiki hierarchy.
  • The entire wiki can be easily exported for local editing and storage. Wetpaint should also allow for the re-importing of all, or part, of the previously exported content, thereby allowing offline editing of the wiki.
  • Wetpaint has a social-consumer orientation. With the inclusion of productivity widgets (e.g. table of contents), Wetpaint can easily expand its attractiveness to a broader market.

PBwiki's To Do

• PBwiki provides robust functionality for both editing wiki pages as well viewing those changes. However, it still maintains parts that can be identified as needing improvement...
  • Improve the visual representation of content changes. For example, when showing changes that have occurred within a table, provide cues as to which rows and columns were altered.
  • PBwiki comes with a variety of useful wiki page templates; displayed in list form, the templates are useless to anyone who does not already know the appearance and function of each. Allowing for inline previewing of these templates when creating new pages would enhance the User eXperience (UX)
  • When renaming a page, a user should not be penalized if that page is linked to by many other wiki pages. Renaming of a page should automatically result in the seamless updating of all relevant links.
  • Beyond the occasional formatting problems encountered within the WYSIWYG editor, there are further issues surrounding the area of usability that warrant attention, most notably with respect to the editing of tables. When selecting multiple cells of a table and then proceeding to change the text color, highlighting, or other formatting is applied, all of the selected cells should be affected, not just the first of the selected cells.
• Wiki comments, just as occurs with created and modified pages, should generate, and be included in, email alerts to users. Furthermore, the users should be able to receive the comments independent of content changes and be able to submit replies that will appear within the appropriate wiki page comment thread. (update: as of today, comments can now be received via email)

Google Sites' To Do

• Google Sites allow for viewing the change history of most content pages, except their special, and very useful, List Pages. List Pages should be treated like all other pages of content and have a browsable change history of adds, deletes, and other modifications.
• Creating and using tables is a way to implement a historically trackable version of List Pages. However, various table options, such as 'clear format' can result in broken formatting throughout the wiki page. Also, the table form factor should be compatible with the page layouts (i.e. not break) that it is permitted to be used within, e.g., multi-column layouts.
• While allowing for the changing of a Title of a page, but not the URL/filename can have its benefits, these benefits do not outweigh the ability to rename the page. There are many strong exemplary cases, such as where the content of the page no longer fits with its name or where there exists a typo within the page name.
• TOS! Terms of Service (TOS), previously mentioned as an Undesirable, must change before people can believe a Google Site private wiki is actually private. This is a top To Do item and an absolute requirement before anyone can create a private Google Site and have the requisite trust and confidence in this product.

Versionate's To Do

• Having a more customizable homepage, allowing for a standard editable wiki page, file-folder interface, or some combination of the two, would go a long way in reducing the learning curve associated with their unique experience.
• Versionate should go beyond their basic RSS feed for change notifications. Allow for email updates, showing the before and after differences, of all wiki changes.
• Accessibility, Redundancy, and Interoperability are critical in the wiki world. Along all these lines, Versionate will have to take large strides; from the allowing of a site backup (that can actually occur in less than 2 weeks time!) to allowing for 3rd-party interaction with its components.
• Credibility. For any online company, credibility is key to success. In the past year, the only updates that have occurred are within comments posted to 3rd-party sites (for example, The Product Guy and Digg) in response to articles. There have been zero formal posts to the Versionate blog, nor notifications that (a) the founders have moved on to another company, (b) they plan to continue support of the Versionate product, and (c) they may give it new features. Before focusing on the concrete challenges of new or improved features, the solution to the softer challenge of restoring trust and credibility in this promising product must be nurtured and reestablished over a long period of time.

Of course

Of course, those that use a wiki certainly will have a preference of one over another. Everyone has different needs, and those needs align with different features and strengths of each wiki discussed, and possibly even among others not discussed within this series.

This adventure into the world of wikis has been a broad based attempt at teasing out the basic and general features and functionality that the average wiki user finds most appealing and beneficial. Some people place extra value in wikis with strong social communities, others, like Dean Collins, want to be able to manage multiple wikis from a centralized dashboard.

There is more to life than Wiki

There are many, many wikis that were not included within this survey of the wiki space. (Confluence, Wikispaces, etc.) To perform this assessment it was critical to adhere to strict rules that would result in a manageable set of wikis. Of course, I could have reviewed the top 5, the top 10, top 100, or more popular wikis -- I could have spent the remainder of my life doing so. The top 3 wikis along with the up-and-comers provide a very comprehensive set of the types of wikis that are free and hosted. If you have experiences with other wikis, please feel free to share with the other readers of this blog ; share the good, as well as the bad experiences you have had with various wikis. Time and resources and the desire to not spend the rest of the year (or lifetime) looking at only wiki products were all factors in determining the scope of this wiki product series.

And, most importantly...

The Best Free Online Wiki Experience is PBwiki for the reasons stated throughout this series, as well as having: (1) a firm grasp on the usability needs of a wiki user, (2) the most comprehensive feature set, and (3) providing outstanding support to its user base, not just in the form of addressing problems, but also in actively communicating status, product updates, and other helpful news via their product blog.

Think & Share...

What other wikis have you enjoyed using? Why?
What features do you feel a wiki must have?

Subscribe now (click here) to make sure you don’t miss other upcoming, insightful posts from The Product Guy.

More Information

• Wonderful Wikis… they are Free and they are Hosted!
• Wikia.  The #1 Free, Hosted Wiki?
• Wetpaint wikis.  Should you dip in?
• PBwikis.  Sticky for almost 500,000.
• Google Sites.  All open.  Now what?
• Versionate is Dead.

Enjoy & Discuss & Share!

Jeremy Horn
The Product Guy

Add to Social Bookmarks:

Wikipedia is the most famous wiki and the one I've used before.  After you choose what language you would like to read in, Wikipedia has a search box and you would type what you want in that box. 

Wikihow is different in that it has categories (such as History, Arts & Crafts) already set up on the Home page where you can click on the link and keep narrowing your subject matter down before you even type anything in.

Wetpaint has alot of help and how to links on the Home Page.

I would use a Wiki for information but maybe only for hobbies or pop culture subjects like favorite TV shows or actors.  I would use it to gain knowledge on my interests on subjects I might bring up at a dinner party.  In my example of looking up a current TV show, the benefit of using a Wiki for gathering info is that it usually contains the latest update on that TV show or actor.  What I find really great is that it appears that whoever is contributing info about that TV show, for example, seems to have an inside track and knows alot more about the behind the scenes goings-on than I ever do. (And I have a brother who works in the movie business in Hollywood!)  The drawback to using a wiki for gathering info is that perhaps the person contributing could sound like they know what they're talking about, but maybe they don't.  They could very easily post false info or a slight truth on a wiki. (Still, anyone can create a website and post incorrect info there, too.)

I changed a wiki in the past during my "Information Literacy" class while pursing my Library Studies certificate.  What I didn't like was that nearly a half an hour later, someone had edited the wiki that we had already created as a class!  We went back and counter-added info to our own wiki subject.  I was AMAZED at all the people with the time to check out brand new wikis and make edits on an hourly basis!

I had a chance to play in the "Sandbox" and noted my edits saved/took on the practice Sandbox wiki page.  I've done this before, so I understand how it works.

Wetpaint

Las características de Wetpaint:

(part 3 of 7) Wikia, Wetpaint, PBwiki, Google Sites, and Versionate. There are literally hundreds of different wikis available, each offering unique online experiences and presenting different interpretations of what it means to be wiki. Within this series we explore and discuss the top 3 most popular, free, online wikis and 2 (of many) notable up-and-comers — and, in the end, announce the winning wiki experience.

Website: Wetpaint

Briefly: Wetpaint launched as recently as June 2006. Since its launch, Wetpaint has undergone numerous upgrades, now resulting in its ranking among the top 3, free, hosted wikis, as determined by Alexa popularity ranking, in April 2007. (read more)

Enjoyable

• Wetpaint allows for the editing of a wiki's pages with their WYSIWYG editor, aptly named, EasyEdit. EasyEdit presents an inline editing experience (including robust table manipulation) that is user friendly while not overloading the user with too many additional choices.

• The 'Add a To-Do' feature comes in very handy for such items where specific questions exist or more content for a wiki page is needed. The To-Do's enable the abandoning of a common wiki habit of inserting “ToDo” flags throughout pages and replacing them with a more structured and integrated To-Do mechanism.

• The Discussion Forum facilitates group conversations and brainstorming. New subjects can be started as stand-alones within the Forum or attached to a specific wiki page, with updates optionally received via email.

Disappointing or Unsatisfying

• Drop-downs and pop-ups are used throughout the interface disrupting the usually positive experience and flow of the page. (read more about drop-downs and other disruptive User eXperiences in 'Reveal More')

• While Wetpaint comes with several widgets for simple inclusion within the wiki pages, the set of options available leaves one wanting. The built-in set includes widgets, with a very focused scope of options, are geared towards both social and fun endeavors(e.g. video, pictures, chatting).

• As wikis grow, keeping tracking of all of the changes and additions made becomes increasingly complicated. In order to be notified of changes the user can either subscribe to an RSS feed with very high-level information, or subscribe ("watch") to every individual page - one at a time, after you find the page that has been created.

In the next post of the series I will be exploring the #3 popularly ranked wiki, PBwiki.

Think & Share…

What features do you think should be in a socially oriented wiki? a business oriented wiki?

Subscribe now (click here) to make sure you don’t miss any part of this series exploring best online wiki User eXperiences as well as other upcoming, insightful posts from The Product Guy.

More Information

• Wonderful Wikis… they are Free and they are Hosted!
• Wikia. The #1 Free, Hosted Wiki?
• PBwikis.  Sticky for almost 500,000.
• Google Sites.  All open.  Now what?
• Versionate is Dead.
• Best Free Online Wiki Announced!

Enjoy!

Jeremy Horn
The Product Guy

Add to Social Bookmarks:

Aber irgendwie muss ich bis hier hin gekommen sein. Bis zur Entscheidung, einen zweiten Blog neben den Streifzügen aufzusetzen musste ich mir schon sicher sein auch etwas zu sagen zu haben. Ich wusste ja nicht, ob ich mit meinen Vorstellungen völlig auf dem Holzweg wäre. Ich war es nicht, aber das zu wissen musste ich auch erst lernen. Diesen Weg bis hier hin möchte ich kurz skizzieren.

Am Anfang stand der Besuch des Blogs www.wandelweb.de - übrigens ein hervorragender Blog zum Thema Prozessoptimierung. Dort sah ich das erste Mal (bewusst), dass jemand einen Blog als Startseite nimmt und über eine feste Seite den Blog mit einem "richtigen" Wiki verknüpft - umgesetzt mit MediaWiki (Wikipedia). Zu dem Zeitpunkt hatte ich schon mit den Streifzügen begonnen, mein kleines PR-Wiki-Experiment gibt es schon ein paar Monate länger.

Das will ich auch, dachte ich mir, vor allem das Wiki. Hauptsächlich da das webbasierte PR-Wiki bei Wetpaint bald an seine Grenzen stoßen wird: Das Unternehmen stellt die Software, den Speicherplatz und verlangt nicht mal Geld dafür. Stattdessen fügen Sie Werbung ein, was sich aber nur bei viel Traffic auf der Seite rechnet. Was hier nicht der Fall ist: Die Attachments nehmen relativ viel Speicher in Anspruch, und umgekehrt kommen nicht viel Leute als Besucher. Wir rechnen uns nicht. Ein Ersatz muss also her.

Eine weitere Motivation war ein Projektvorschlag bei einem früheren Arbeitgeber, dem ich für das interne Wissensmanagement die Verwendung eines Wikis vorgeschlagen hatte. Ist für mich als Privatperson die benötigte Zeit (für die Einrichtung und den Lernprozess) meine Privatsache, handelt es sich betrieblich gesehen klar um einen Kostenfaktor, den man vertreten muss. Bei allem Interesse stellte ich fest, dass ich nicht sagen konnte (aus Erfahrung), wie lange die Suche nach der passenden Software dauern würde. Und noch schwerwiegender: Wie hoch der Aufwand für die Installation der Software sein würde? Vier Stunden? Ein Tag oder auch zwei? Finanziell ein großer Unterschied für ein Experiment. Ich konnte es nicht beantworten, aber die Ideen aus der Zeit entwickelten sich weiter. Ich wollte es wissen.

OK. Aber wie? Welche Wiki-Software? ...

The wikihow website was an interesting one.  You can look up the directions for many things.  

Wetpaint helps people connect with each other. 

I thought the wiki opening You Tube video was interesting about the camping trip.  It almost seems silly for 4 people to have to do this, but if a bigger group of people were trying to get together to plan an event or party, it would be a great idea to share and sort information quickly.  Sometimes emails get long and running, but this would be a good way to communicate quickly and efficiently.

I frequently look up information on wikipedia for patrons or myself.  For kids it seems like it is a quick way to find out information, then they direct you to many websites or links.  I think they even have the MLA way of putting the source on your paper.  (I would have loved this as a kid).  I don't know how often a person does this, but with wikipedia anyone can edit this, so this is what would make me nervous about making sure the information is correct.  I would start at this site, then go to other reputable sites.

In the sandbox I was able to add some information about food allergies, but I did not save it.   It looks a little complicated to be editing a wikipedia website.   I could imagine trying to edit a wiki if the information is seemingly incorrect.

I like the Park Ridge Library entry in the wikipedia.  I had no idea we had an entry.  It was interesting to read all of the history of the library.  Last year's inservice day had much information about it also.

A new wiki was born out of a presentation given at PLA by Rivkah Sass, Deirdre Routt, Brian Auger, Amy de Groff, Stacey Aldrich. What If Libraries... stems from the presentation Dangerous Ideas What If Libraries... and ask some rather thought provoking and (probably for some) scary questions.

My hats off to those 4 that got us thinking and questioning the status quo. I love it when people question the norm, think for themselves and don't just "cut the end of the roast off because Grandmother always did it that way".

Some of my favorite posts have been:

• What if we required library staff to have technology expertise?
• What if we dumped the MLS?
• What if we stopped making excuses and accepted responsibility? (one of my posts)
• What if we accepted open source software...

So What If... you shared some of your what if's with me?