Week 3 - Wikis

Apparently, I forgot to blog about week 3.

So, wikis . . . I find some wikis extremely helpful and others nearly pointless (even if they shouldn't be). The key to it all is organization and standardization. Otherwise things end up being a hodgepodge of links and articles that no one can find. There are some library wikis out there like that, but I'm not naming names. The other issue is ease of access.

For the past year I was responsible for migrating information from an independent PBWiki to our state wiki. Before that I had created a wiki for the children's services of our large system using Google Sites. (There's an example of a Google site here.)

The idea for the system wiki was to share information, cut down on those pesky emails asking if anyone had a frog puppet to lend. However, the site is rarely used with the exception of a couple of people. I have a couple of theories as to why. One, it required a Google Account to access. (Even when we provided a general account for everyone to use the matter of remembering the login proved a roadblock.) Additional roadblocks including little to no training for staff and the fact that it was not part of our intranet. I have to admit I've quit using the system wiki for very much, because there's not information there I didn't add.

The use of the children's wiki picked up a bit when we posted our summer sample crafts and program ideas to it. What would you do to promote use of an internal wiki?

Training for wikis is pretty straight forward, after all, if you can write up an email or type a word document you can contribute to a wiki. I find the most difficult step is insuring there's a core architecture to the wiki to facilitate navigation.