Myth and reality of Wiki

Source: Internet
Author: User
Document directory
  • Three myths about Wiki
  • Myth #1: Wiki will promote employees' contributions to information
  • Myth #2: employees know how to use Wiki
  • Myth #3: Wiki allows you to find the information you need at any time
  • Wiki reality

The Wiki technology, which was born before 10, is becoming increasingly popular, and many companies are starting their wiki projects with an unrealistic expectation. However, some recent reports, such,CMS watchThe enterprise social software reports and the Wiki in the enterprise all show the pain points of the wiki project. For wiki, project directors who talk about it have a variety of mythical attitudes, but the reality is another. This article is famousCMSResearch InstitutionsCMS watchAn article about enterprise wiki.

Three myths about Wiki
  1. Wiki promotes employees to consciously contribute information.
  2. Employees can use wiki tools intuitively.
  3. Wiki makes information management simple and clear.

However, in reality, although wiki does have a lot of value, like all information technologies, you need to look at this technology from a critical perspective.

Myth #1: Wiki will promote employees' contributions to information

An old myth about wiki is That Wiki technology will promote employees' contributions to information. Many companies believe that wiki will promote employees' enthusiasm for contributing content and opinions. LookWikipediaThose volunteers wrote 7 million articles. When content providers can decide what to write and what to write, they will be motivated.

However, wiki projects in many companies are always transient and only empty pages are left. This often comes from wiki projects with no clear targets. These projects do not know the objects and causes of their services, or become empty because you want to do everything.

Another typical obstacle is culture. The free release of information is not very popular for some organizational management cultures. It also raises concerns about the quality of content, that is, wiki.
Some information may be incorrect. Organized management believes that all published information should be authoritative, complete, and well-documented. While Wiki
However, if the manager is unwilling to engage in such cultural conversations and the employee is especially happy to submit unfinished content, the chances of Wiki success will be very small.

Like all information systems, wiki must help employees in their daily work, rather than locating an information file system without errors. Most successful wiki projects have clear goals, rather than wiki projects. They work collaboratively around information.

On this basic premise, you must encourage the contribution of content in various ways. First, do not launch an empty
Wiki, where you need to first put some basic content, such as the sample content or basic information structure. To integrate wiki with other enterprise tools, for example, on the company's Intranet
Provide links to your Wiki to let more people know about its existence. Remember, without corresponding promotion, wiki will not grow on its own.

In addition, highly successful wiki projects are often promoted by those who are familiar with it. They have some understanding and experience with this technology, or they have worked in Wikipedia.
I have written an article. When introducing a wiki to non-technical personnel, the Wiki may face challenges.
A new and unfamiliar way of working is required, and the ease of use of these systems is often a big problem.

Myth #2: employees know how to use Wiki

Many companies expect their employees to immediately invest in wiki technology. Does the concept of Wiki mean it is also easy to use?

However, in fact, wiki requires a new approach to content and structure. Those who are familiar with wiki often do not know what common people are puzzled about wiki. For example
Wiki
Before creating a new page, you must first consider which pages can be linked. This looks like a small detail, however, this is a new perspective for editors and requires practice. Wiki
Its strength lies in its bottom-up and link-based nature. However, to realize its full value, we must stick to this idea from the very beginning. You need to provide guidance for users to make full use of links to eliminate content redundancy.

In addition, the interfaces of most wiki systems are not that user-friendly. Many wikis use specialized slogans (for example, * text * Indicates a bold text, and _ text _ indicates italic text) instead of other online publishing systems (suchCMS website content management system. At the same time, different wiki systems may use different slogans, which are more suitable for small technical groups than enterprise users. Therefore, technical training is necessary.

However, even skilled wiki authors need to be trained in your enterprise environment. They may know basic concepts but little about some useful functions, for example, the email reminder function of the new content, the version backtracking function, and the offline working mode. (CMS watchReaders of enterprise social software reports know that not all wiki systems support these features)

Myth #3: Wiki allows you to find the information you need at any time

Many wiki promoters believe that the flexibility of Wiki can ensure that the latest and most needed information can be easily discovered, because the employees are updating the content at any time.

In fact, these enterprises will soon find that
Will lead to the loss of control over content growth. When the entire structure is in disorder, finding information in a pile of contents is like a haystack. If every new page requires a different name, how do you
Find meaningful names. How do you avoid information explosion when releasing a new page is easier than searching for an old page.

In most wiki systems, the search function is weak. Search results often show the latest modified content first. If you want to find new things, this may be useful, but it is of little use in thousands of search results.

If you do not plan and develop guidelines in advance, wiki will be overwhelmed. The gap between information overload and limited capacity will bring risks to enterprises, which means that it is increasingly difficult for people to find information, or the information is growing.

To implement a practical wiki, you need dedicated efforts. You need to specify several wikis
Managers or administrators regularly check the quality of the content. In addition, you need to provide users with help and best practices, such as how to create and maintain structures and how to use links in large quantities. In addition, some simple
To help users maintain content, links, and structures. Although wiki does not forcibly Use templates to maintain flexibility, it is useful to develop some template guidance, such as placing a TOC at the top of each page.
Directory to let users know the main content and structure of this page.

Wiki reality

Wiki is a flexible method for creating and sharing information. However, flexibility and simplicity do not prove the success of Wiki. Simplicity may also pose greater challenges to you. Although the results can be achieved in the short term, in the long term, it may lead to excessive expansion and loss of control.

Therefore, although wiki is a non-traditional tool, the traditional technical myth will still bring bad luck to wiki.
You need to make careful planning to ensure that managers know how many resources you have, especially human resources. In the end, your corporate culture may be the key to success. A leader who encourages open communication and focuses on practice will become
The cornerstone of a successful wiki project.

Http://www.cmswatch.com/Feature/190-Wiki-Myths? Source = RSS
Source: comsharp CMS official website (translated by 35 km)

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