WIKI: Grow Your Own for Fun and Profit
by Alan J. Porter. $29.99 (print), $23.95 (eBook)
Free Sample Chapter – 10 Questions: A Checklist
Free Sample Chapter – XML Press Case Study
Looking for a way to increase team collaboration, manage your company’s knowledge? Do you need a way to manage projects with customers or suppliers outside your company firewall? Would you like your customers to provide feedback on the information you publish? Then a wiki might be just what you are looking for.
Perhaps you have already decided that you should use a wiki, but are not sure how to go about it. Maybe you have a wiki but would like to encourage more people to use it. Or you would just like to learn more about the practical applications for this fast growing technology.
Then this is the book for you.
WIKI: Grow Your Own for Fun and Profit introduces the concept of wikis and shows why they are becoming the must-have communications and collaboration technology for businesses of any size.
The book includes several case studies highlighting the ways that various companies are using wikis to solve differing business and communications issues, and the resulting benefits in terms of both efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Inside the Book
- Introduction
- What Can You Expect from This Book?
- What is a Wiki and Why Should I Care?
- Why the Model of a Static Web is Flawed
- Aren’t Wikis Inaccurate?
- Where Do Wikis Fit with Web 2.0?
- Why Would You Need to Use a Wiki?
- Remembering the Alamo
- Today’s Business Challenges
- Doing it Ourselves
- Defining the Wiki
- What is a Wiki Anyway?
- The Growth of Wikis
- What are Wikis Used For?
- Planting The Seed – Think Before You Implement
- Building the Seed Team
- Seed Questions
- Why Use a Wiki?
- Selecting the Right Wiki
- Nurturing the Seedlings
- Finding the Initial Information for Your Wiki
- Selecting Information to Seed the Wiki
- Importing Information into the Wiki
- Wiki Markup
- Creating the Initial Navigation and Hierarchies
- Design for the Culture, not the Process
- Social Reinforcement
- Setting Expectations for Participation
- First Growth
- Structure or Chaos?
- Wikis are Content-driven, not Layout-driven
- First Steps – Personal vs. Company Approach
- Sustaining Growth – Encourage, Don’t Mandate
- Don’t Let Go – Keep Reminding Them
- Maintaining the Garden
- Identifying the Gardener
- The Gardener’s Tasks
- Scheduled Maintenance
- Developing a Sense of Ownership
- Landscaping
- When to Start Landscaping
- Recognizing and Exploiting Wikipatterns
- Ownership and Control
- Reorganizing Content
- Redesign is Inevitable – Be Prepared
- Organic Growth
- Cross-Fertilization
- Single Login
- Cross Linking
- Community Gardening
- Building Community
- Reaching Critical Mass
- Harvesting the Information
- User-Generated Content
- The Myth of Inaccuracy
- Defining User-Generated Content.
- Managing the New Content
- Managing Content Ownership
- Incorporating Feedback
- Publishing to the Wiki from Other Sources
- Round-Tripping
- Publishing from a Wiki
- A Cornucopia of Content
- Ongoing Maintenance
- So What About the “Fun & Profit”?
- A Final Stroll Around the Garden
- Case Study 1: A Wiki-Driven Company
- Case Study 2: Building an International Community
- Case Study 3: Meeting a Specific Business Need
- Case Study 4: Wiki Document Content Strategy
- Case Study 5: A Wiki Workflow for Publishing
- Appendix A: 10 Questions – A Checklist
- What Business Issue Will the Wiki Resolve?
- How Will You Measure Success?
- What is the Expected Return on Investment?
- Where Will the Content Come From?
- Who Will Use the Wiki Initially?
- Who Will Use the Wiki in the Future?
- Who Will Own the Wiki?
- Where Will the Wiki be Hosted?
- Which Wiki Should I Use?
- What Controls Will I Need?
- Appendix B: Common Barriers to Adoption
- Cultural Barriers
- Technical Barriers
- Appendix C: Anyone Can Edit: Myth vs. Reality
- Appendix D: Notes on Popular Wikis
- Confluence
- DokuWiki
- MediaWiki
- MindTouch
- MoinMoin
- MyWiki
- PBworks
- ProjectForum
- TiddlyWiki
- TikiWIki
- Trac
- Resources
- Acknowledgments
- Index
What are They Saying?
“This is going to be an indispensable book for people who want to get a wiki going.”
— Sarah Maddox, ffeathers.wordpress.com
“Wiki-master Alan Porter has provided you with everything you’ll need to know to determine if a wiki might help you solve your content problems and, perhaps more importantly, whether a wiki will be a good fit for your organization.”
(From the Foreword)
— Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler
“Alan’s book is a welcome addition to the promotion of wikis and wiki culture.”
— Tom Johnson, I’d Rather Be Writing
“does a great job of introducing this most powerful collaboration and knowledge management tool, wikis.”
— Pancho Castano, Elsmar Cove Forum
“Alan, I’m pleased to say, has not been seduced by the software, but has set the use of a wiki within a very usable framework. He’s spot on when it comes to the benefits a wiki can offer and the implementation approach to take.”
— Ellis Pratt, Cherryleaf Blog
About Alan J. Porter
Alan Porter has 20 plus years experience in corporate communications, marketing, and content development in both the UK and the USA. Alan is a catalyst for change with a strong track record in developing new ideas, embracing emerging technologies, and introducing operational improvements. He has been involved in the development and adoption of various industry standards, and is a regular speaker at industry conferences, blogger and Twitter addict, who is happy to talk communications to anyone who will listen. He is also a published author with several books, comics and numerous magazine articles to his name.