Web Content 2007: Wikis Make Collaboration Easy

By Aaron Bailey Jun 20, 2007

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Wikis are making the Internet a more collaborative source. Today, technology is ubiquitous and knowledge is not created alone, but by groups.

Wiki collaboration allows generation of information that is more up-to-date and more diverse than previous technologies like email, CMS and intranets. While wiki technology is older than blogs, the technology has recently come to mass attention through sites like Wikipedia.org.

According to Stewart Mader, wiki evangelist for Atlassian Software, the biggest obstacle in wiki adoption in the workplace is the perception of Wikipedia. Potential users think that all wikis must behave like Wikipedia.

However, wikis inside the corporation act quite differently. Unlike Wikipedia contributors, co-workers already know and interact with each other outside the wiki. Corporations have common goals, whereas Wikipedia participants have many competing interests.

Mader hates the term, “knowledge management,” because knowledge doesn't want to be managed. It wants to be used. Knowledge management tools direct attention to the content put in the tool, rather than on how humans use that tool/content.

Wikis are simple, archival and social, don't have a typical use or a steep learning curve. Whereas collaboration via email is tedious and does not scale, wikis offer the perfect solution. Mader suggests start a wiki and allowing for organic growth, with the possibility that some content can then be repurposed to your CMS/public website or other specialized tools.

Mader suggests that to get educated on wikis, it helps to know a thing or two about Wikipatterns and Using Wiki in Education.