Wikipatterns.com is a website that contains common usage do's and don'ts for Wikis that are in a kind of programmer's jargon called Wiki Patterns. There are patterns for roles that people can take and how you can spur or hurt wiki adoption. (via Stewart Mader)

Posted at 12:43PM Feb 15, 2007 (Permalink) by Lars Trieloff with tags tips wiki  |  Comments[1] Share This Link

Henry Story writes about the problems large organizations have with knowledge management (this applies to much smaller structures as well, especially when they partner with other teams), explains that PageRank-like algorithms do not work well in these environments and proposes a combination of Wiki and Tagging as a solution.

 Wikis that allow a higher granularity of semantics than simply formatted texts are the ideal tool for collaborative knowledge management because some of the daunting wiki-gardening tasks can be outsourced to the Wiki software which allows ranking of important content, collecting links for a certain topic and suggests connections to other team members.
 

Posted at 11:08AM Feb 08, 2007 (Permalink) by Lars Trieloff with tags semanticweb tags wiki  |  Share This Link

In my personal weblog I wrote a piece about My Methodolgy of writing Documentation with Wikis. Needless to say that this is the methodology we are using internally at Mindquarry for documenting the Mindquarry Collaboration Server.

• I plan and organize the documentation project using an issue tracking system and create tasks for every step in the documentation process
• I 'harvest' product development Wikis for information about the software I am documenting. This is the first use of Wikis - a source of information
• I create a content outline of the planned document in the Wiki and invite other team members to comment and correct the content outline. The Wiki here is a space for distributed brain-storming.
• I write the document using DocBook-XML, WYSIWYG-XML-editors and share the in-progress document and illustrations using a version control system. As I am using DocBook and Mindquarry's file sharing, concurrent editing of modular documents is easy.
• Reviewers and copy-editor use the issue tracking system to create comments and remarks to the documentation.
• After releasing the document, the issue tracking system is used to track comments and suggestions for improvements. As the Wiki keeps evolving I have a good starting point for a second revison of the document.
  

Also needless to say that the Wiki, issue tracking system for task management and file sharing server are all integrated in the Mindquarry Collaboration Server.

Posted at 11:53AM Feb 07, 2007 (Permalink) by Lars Trieloff with tags filesharing mindquarry tasks techdoc tips wiki  |  Share This Link

What is the distinctive feature about Wikis? Is it Wiki an online encyclopedia, a site that uses Wiki markup, or a website that is editable by everyone?

 I think the main distinctive trait of Wikis is easy editing. Wikis are webpages that are easily editable. This poses a number of results:

 

• Wikis are web-pages so they should be be accessed and edited via the Web. In Mindquarry is is possible using the Web-based Wiki editor, but you can as well update and create Wiki pages using standard HTTP methods like (PUT, GET, DELETE)
• Wikis are easy to edit. This is a question of usability. When Wikis were first introduced, easy editing meant using Wiki markup instead of HTML, but with todays availability of web-based WYSIWYG-HTML-editors  I agree with Adrian Sutton who says: "Need a Standard Wiki Syntax? Try HTML"

Consequently the Mindquarry Wiki offers easy HTML editing using a visual editor and cuts down the interface to the most important formatting options, as Wiki users want to communicate a message, collaborate and share ideas and do not want to spend much time thinking about fine-tuning the look of their pages.

 

Posted at 04:01PM Feb 06, 2007 (Permalink) by Lars Trieloff with tags html markup wiki  |  Share This Link

In her blog"Web Worker Daily" Anne Zelenka claims "Why Instant Messaging is Better for Collaboration than Email". I agree in most points since email is just suffering from the point that it has some serious time delays between answers and that may result in some overlapping as well. But I would like to add some remarks:[Read More]

Posted at 10:32AM Jan 08, 2007 (Permalink) by Stephan Voigt with tags collaboration email im tips wiki  |  Share This Link

Paul Hammant describes a setup consisting of a WebDAV-enabled web server (essentially a web server that allows publishing of files) and a WebDAV-capable editor (essentially a web browser that allows publishing of files) and calls it An alternative to wikis.

This approach is very interesting, because it allows you to use powerful editing tools for publishing content on the web and uses technologies and standards that are widely distributed and proven. All you need is a server and a browser capable of publishing content.

The Mindquarry Wiki embraces the idea of being able to publish content via this technique. There is a user-friendly rich-text editor available as well, but using HTTP allows you to publish content via more powerful tools and it allows you to easily create own applications that publish to the Mindquarry Wiki. One example of these tools is the Mindquarry Client which allows easy one-click publishing from your desktop, e.g. for taking notes and sharing with your team members.

Posted at 06:45PM Dec 08, 2006 (Permalink) by Lars Trieloff with tags collaboration tips webdav wiki  |  Comments[1] Share This Link

Recently the Knowledge Engineering & Management working group of the Bitkom published a report over the position of knowledge management in undertakes up to the year 2010. The report shows that today and in future the knowledge of the co-workers (personal knowledge) and also in the cross-linking of persons(organisational knowledge) is the basis for innovations, costing and quality leadership. It also illustrates how communication structure will change and which challenges enterprises are facing in the future in order to be competitive. Further on the report mentions the relevance of social networks for mastering knowledge management and the importance of software support for handling knowledge. One of the most interesting outcomes from the report is the relevance of purposeful handling of knowledge. This issue ranks under the top 3 in the list of important competitive advantages.

Posted at 06:59PM Nov 10, 2006 (Permalink) by Alexander Saar with tags bitkom knowledge management study wiki  |  Share This Link