By Martin Cleaver, Blended Perspectives, Toronto, Canada
The Wiki Symposium has always had a strong research focus, and I think we can all be proud that academic papers such as the WikiSym survey for usage of Wikis was adopted as the standard text used by Gartner research. Now in it’s fourth year, WikiSym is sure to continue promote other such rigorous studies.
My own role in WikiSym 2008 conference is to look after Demos and Posters. My vision is to see this become a destination in its own right, and in particular to add appeal to businesses and communities.
Organizations of all sizes face all sorts of trouble making their wiki the dream of a living intranet. It’s certainly nice to aspire to emulate glorious success stories such as Wikipedia, but the truth is that getting a community to successfully grow their wiki takes time and dedication.
To make meaningful strides for cultural adoption, prospective users have to know what they are being asked to strive for. We are all inspired by Wikipedia because we are clear that it works: the compiled knowledge output is a visible manifestation of that success. But, Wikipedia is not like the wikis firms typically need. It’s certainly atypical of what I put in place for my clients.
I suspect that there are thousands of great examples from across this planet that would make for fascinating micro-studies. I’m calling on you to help me parade such examples at WikiSym 2008.
So to make Demos and Posters awesome, I’m seeking input from leaders and contributors from every city.
Brainstorming, I figure we need to identify the movers and shakers in the world of wikis. Here’s a list of the top off my head:
- Many cities around the world have Wiki Wednesday events, most being held at least quarterly or so. Do you run one? Get in touch. We want to hear from you.
- Vendors typically hold training and consulting events specific to their industry segment or rank in the organizational hierarchy. What are you most proud of?
- Wikis are being deployed for all sorts of purposes. What’s your favorite?
- Existing technologies are being adapted for Wikis. Which promise the most value in your eyes?
- Many companies using consulting partners to scope, install, train and gain adoption. What do you ask for help on? What do you perform in-house?
So, what and who should appear? What would make demos and posters a must-see in its own right?
Contact me, Martin Cleaver:
Martin Cleaver MSc MBA (Head Blender, Blended Perspectives)
skype/twitter: mrjcleaver; email: demosandposters [at] wikisym.com
Note: Comments may be moved to the WikiSym wiki (…once the technology is in place…).
Demos is one venue where industry shines. In industry we frequently don’t have the time to write papers but rather build software. That can very well be research in its own right!
Particular demos I’d like to see are around application wikis. I would like us to explore how we can turn wikis into lightweight application platforms. I think wikis are great for enabling one-off processes and the small tinkered applications that make software more bearable.
I am in the midst of rolling out a wiki to replace our company intranet for a 450 person company. It’s a lot of work and one of the biggest challenges is being prepared for the top questions.
“Can you put this up for me?”
“How do I find *blah*?”
and the most common complaint “too much info, how do I find what I need”.
I’m involved with an organisation that replaced it’s intranet with a wiki over a year ago. The company is governmental organisation with about 1000 people. I think I try to come and share our experience about launching the wiki-intranet. It’s been an interesting project and is of course still ongoing.