Joined on 06-19-2007
TechSoup Member
I recently helped found a startup that aims to further the evolution of collaborative writing by improving upon the wiki platform. We are very excited about how this might be used among non-profit organizations and would very much appreciate your input.
We are hoping you can help us identify some of the areas where wikis can be improved. We are collecting comments in the MixedInk blog, and look forward to hearing your thoughts: http://www.mixedink.com/blog/.
Thanks in advance - and please feel free to email me directly with any thoughts or questions: vanessa [at] mixedink [dot] com.
-Vanessa
We had a post recently on our blog about wikis for non-profits - feel free to post a comment there to direct people to your tool:
How non-profits can use wikis to build communities at minimal cost
Joined on 06-19-2007
TechSoup Member
Thanks, will do!
I have played with a quite a few wikis. I've written a few posts regarding the use of wikis as a
personal notebook, feed validation on
WikiSpaces, and an OSX
Wiki Widget.
Most recently I have been thinking about use of Wikis for software documentation--allowing a client to personalise the documents after they have been released.
I'll be interested in your findings on Wiki improvements. I hope that you post them here once you complete your research.
Best,
Matthew.
Matthew, I agree that using wikis for documentation is great. Modern software evolves too quickly (if developers care about users :-) ) and otherwise it is impossible to maintain up-to-date documentation. We use a wiki (Confluence) for
Wild Apricot software documentation. We do not (yet?) allow users to edit it but we do allow comments.
Joined on 06-19-2007
TechSoup Member
Using wikis for documentation is a great idea. I'll definitely keep you posted as I hear more ideas from others.
Best,
Vanessa
Joined on 06-27-2007
TechSoup Member
I am a proponent of wikis, but the fact is, there is not a heck of a lot that they can do that cannot be done in a way that is often more manageable and easier for non-technical people to pick up.
A big problem with wikis is obviating their utility. Another is in wiki markup. Another is that they are often hard to manage in terms of permissions and whatnot if you are not technically inclined.
Josh, good points, however modern wikis are doing pretty good job solving many of these. E.g. Confluence wiki has very good WYSIWYG interface alternative to wiki markup) (and many other modern wikis do) and access rights are pretty decent (and getting better).
About obviating their utility - I think it is about finding some specific usage models/templates, I think this is what Central Desktop guys try to do (and they even do not call it a wiki).