Comments on: To Wiki or not to Wiki http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/2009/05/28/to-wiki-or-not-to-wiki/ musings on technical communications Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:40:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By:   Weekly links roundup by Communications from DMN http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/2009/05/28/to-wiki-or-not-to-wiki/comment-page-1/#comment-12454   Weekly links roundup by Communications from DMN Sat, 20 Jun 2009 10:15:34 +0000 http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/?p=350#comment-12454 [...] To wiki or not to wiki?. That’s the question Gordon McLean asks [...] [...] To wiki or not to wiki?. That’s the question Gordon McLean asks [...]

]]> By: Evelyn http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/2009/05/28/to-wiki-or-not-to-wiki/comment-page-1/#comment-12361 Evelyn Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:47:23 +0000 http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/?p=350#comment-12361 Just because it's a wiki, doesn't mean you don't control the content. We provide our online help via MediaWiki, and it's set up as read-only for everyone, except contributors. It works very well for us. Just because it’s a wiki, doesn’t mean you don’t control the content. We provide our online help via MediaWiki, and it’s set up as read-only for everyone, except contributors. It works very well for us.

]]> By: Lorenzo http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/2009/05/28/to-wiki-or-not-to-wiki/comment-page-1/#comment-12322 Lorenzo Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:48:15 +0000 http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/?p=350#comment-12322 I think it's sad that Technical Writers aren't up to snuff on this excellent technology. Whenever the word Wiki gets mentioned, someone immediately pipes in with Wikipedia as a prime example of a wiki, but I don't think that's accurate. A Wiki can be made as secure or as simple to update as the developer wishes. Editing capability can be extended to as many or as few people as necessary and access can be made secure, with logins, if required. Behind the firewall, anything is possible with a Wiki. It is a documentation nirvana. I think it’s sad that Technical Writers aren’t up to snuff on this excellent technology. Whenever the word Wiki gets mentioned, someone immediately pipes in with Wikipedia as a prime example of a wiki, but I don’t think that’s accurate. A Wiki can be made as secure or as simple to update as the developer wishes. Editing capability can be extended to as many or as few people as necessary and access can be made secure, with logins, if required. Behind the firewall, anything is possible with a Wiki. It is a documentation nirvana.

]]> By: Eddie VanArsdall http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/2009/05/28/to-wiki-or-not-to-wiki/comment-page-1/#comment-12171 Eddie VanArsdall Sat, 30 May 2009 13:45:50 +0000 http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/?p=350#comment-12171 For the last 2.5 years, I worked with a conglomerate of scientific institutions. The developers wanted us to scrap our traditional manuals and online help and put all of our documentation on a wiki. For many reasons mentioned here (e.g., resources, management, maintenance), we never made the transition. The problem was that the wiki advocates didn't perceive moving our documentation to a wiki as a significant change. In their view, we would simply post the docs on the wiki and point links to them. No one understood that we would need to fund and staff a full-fledged project to plan the design and architecture of the wiki, develop a strategy for converting content from FrameMaker and ePublisher, and maintain the wiki. (Yes, despite the "build it and they will come" belief, someone has to take the lead.) I have attended a number of presentations on wiki docs and have talked with people who have made true strides in implementing them. I have also participated in a FLOSS Manuals project and have experienced how the organization extended a TWiki for publishing. My impression is that the most successful projects required dedicated software developers to enhance the effort with customized programming. So there's yet another resource layer. I have a couple of posts on this subject: http://www.vanarsdall-infodesign.com/2009/03/11/words-to-wiki/ and http://www.vanarsdall-infodesign.com/2009/03/27/words-to-wiki-part-2/ Cheers, Eddie For the last 2.5 years, I worked with a conglomerate of scientific institutions. The developers wanted us to scrap our traditional manuals and online help and put all of our documentation on a wiki. For many reasons mentioned here (e.g., resources, management, maintenance), we never made the transition.

The problem was that the wiki advocates didn’t perceive moving our documentation to a wiki as a significant change. In their view, we would simply post the docs on the wiki and point links to them. No one understood that we would need to fund and staff a full-fledged project to plan the design and architecture of the wiki, develop a strategy for converting content from FrameMaker and ePublisher, and maintain the wiki. (Yes, despite the “build it and they will come” belief, someone has to take the lead.)

I have attended a number of presentations on wiki docs and have talked with people who have made true strides in implementing them. I have also participated in a FLOSS Manuals project and have experienced how the organization extended a TWiki for publishing. My impression is that the most successful projects required dedicated software developers to enhance the effort with customized programming. So there’s yet another resource layer.

I have a couple of posts on this subject:

http://www.vanarsdall-infodesign.com/2009/03/11/words-to-wiki/

and

http://www.vanarsdall-infodesign.com/2009/03/27/words-to-wiki-part-2/

Cheers,
Eddie

]]> By: To Wiki or not to Wiki Writer River http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/2009/05/28/to-wiki-or-not-to-wiki/comment-page-1/#comment-12169 To Wiki or not to Wiki Writer River Fri, 29 May 2009 23:08:54 +0000 http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/?p=350#comment-12169 [...] To Wiki or not to Wiki Gordon | May 29, 2009 | permalink   [...] [...] To Wiki or not to Wiki Gordon | May 29, 2009 | permalink   [...]

]]>