Using Wikis for Collaborative Documentation Projects

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Using Wikis for Collaborative Documentation
Projects

• Scott Cooley
• Administrative Information Services
• cooleys2_at_ais.msu.edu

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Session Agenda

• Wiki basics
• Documentation Development basics
• Applying commonly-accepted principles of
  documentation development to wiki organization
• Taking advantage of wiki features to enhance the
  documentation development process

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What is a Wiki? Fast Facts

• A wiki is a community-based collaborative website
  which can be directly edited by anyone with
  access to it
• A guy named Ward Cunningham developed the first
  one, called WikiWikiWeb, in the early 90s
• Its a Hawaiian name that means fast
• Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia, is
  probably the most popular example

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Wikis are for you if you want

• A place to centrally store your project resources
• A place for your community to share information
• Ability to collaborate
• A net-based system (either intranet or internet)
• Track page revision history
• Simplified authoring

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Wikis are not for everyone

• You might not want a wiki if you need
• One-way communication
• Automated indexing capabilities
• Ability to dynamically merge into another app
• More control over layout than content

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Similar Systems

• Documentation Repositories, Document Management
  Systems
• Knowledge Management Systems, Business
  Intelligence Systems
• Concurrent Versioning Systems, Content Management
  Systems
• Blogs, Forums, Social Networking Sites
• Enterprise Collaborative Management Systems

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Expanding on the Conference Mission-why were here

• Come together as a cohesive group and learn from
  each other
• Recognize and share your collective contributions
  to the University
• Meet with your broader community of university
  colleagues
• How wikis facilitate the same

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Todays Virtual Teams
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Geographically-Dispersed Team Organization

• Process Documentation
• Communication
• Virtual Headquarters
• Centralized, Shared Storage and Access
• Contact Information
• Schedule, Milestones, Metrics
• Roles Responsibilities

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Documentation Project Organization

• Stages of documentation development
• New meaning of getting everyone on the same
  page
• Wiki Voyeurism page watching
• Recently-updated junkies
• Automatic notifications of page updates
• Attachments
• Review approval

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Stages of Documentation Development Workflow

• Requirements and Strategy
• Standards and Procedures
• Draft
• Editing
• Review
• Approval
• Publishing

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Demo Lessons Learned The Kauli Foundation
Wiki

• Common complaints
• Too hard to find things
• Outdated, irrelevant, unnecessary material
• Great for technical documentation, not
  production, print-friendly documentation
• Creeping featurism and the need for standards
• The need for wiki gardening, reduction of number
  of cooks in the kitchen

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For More Information

• Angel - http//training.angel.msu.edu/create_wiki/
  
• Great Lakes Wiki http//www.greatlakeswiki.org/i
  ndex.php/Main_Page
• Comparison of Wiki Software en.wikipedia.org/wik
  i/Comparison of wiki software
• Wiki Patterns www.wikipatterns.com

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Session Summary

• Wiki basics
• Taking advantage of wiki features to enhance the
  organization of the documentation development
  team
• Taking advantage of wiki features to enhance the
  documentation development process
• Proof of concept The Kuali User Documentation
  Project
• This presenters opinion on the future of wikis

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Mahalo!