WIKIS FROM PAGE 48 won’t be in finding
generally harder to configure and set a wiki solution but
up. Products in this space include in expanding user
Tiki Wiki, Wacko Wiki and XWiki. All awareness of these
offer page history for tracking changes, c ollab oration tools.
WYSIWYG editing, data storage and Appointing a wiki or
a plug-in system for expanding the Enterprise 2.0 cham-product set’s capabilities. pion to educate the
Wiki services eliminate much of the user community is
day-to-day maintenance, but many ser- one appr oach that
vices target consumers and run ads. some organizations
Wiki services that let organizations have found helpful.
perform branding and provide page But watch the seeds
history, WYSIWYG editing and ACLs that you sow: Once
(access control lists) for preventing that awareness takes
unlawful access to information on the root, IT departments The e Touch SamePage wiki platform is being used by Citrix.
site include BrainKeeper, SamePage, will have to be ready
Socialtext and Wetpaint. to deliver wikis with the auditing and Dave Greenfield is a 20-year network-
Whatever the architecture, one security features the organization ing veteran and the principal of Stra-
thing is clear: The near-term chal- requires—in the time frame and with tegic Technology Analytics. He can be
lenge for most IT organizations the simplicity users desire. ´ reached at dave@stanalytics.com.
25 TIPS FROM PREVIOUS PAGE teams and across organizations. usually not a good idea.
15. ENCOURAGE USERS TO PERSONALIZE Wikis are a perfect embodiment
THEIR OWN PAGES WITH WIDGETS, of self-expression that transcends 23. LET WIKI ADOPTION GROW VIRALLY
PHOTOS AND FEEDS organizational structure. As users within the organization
User pages are a great opportunity send out wiki links or e-mail wiki
to experiment with features and gain 20. SINGLE ALL-ENCOMPASSING WIKIS pages, other users will get interested—
familiarity with the wiki. SELDOM WORK IN THE ENTERPRISE or at least curious.
With enterprise wikis, concepts
16. WHENEVER AN OPPORTUNITY of “spaces” or “projects” are almost 24. DEFINE THE SCOPE OF
ARISES, REMIND USERS TO USE always required. YOUR INSTALLATION
THE BUILT-IN WIKI SEARCH Some wiki applications require
Most users already search the 21. SECURITY IS A MUST detailedconfigurationsforadvancedfea-
Internet but don’t know that the Granular security with the abil- tures. Make sure you know what users
same facility exists inside the com- ity to specify permis- want before rolling out your wiki.
pany. sions—even at the
page level—is often 25. REMEMBER THE RULES
17. PROVIDE FREE REIN TO USERS required for enterprise The older the wikis, the more fre-Let users make mistakes. Good wikis wikis. quent the accesses, the greater the
make it easy to reorganize content. number of lurkers, and the greater
22. START WITH THOSE the number of participants.
18. INTEGRATE YOUR WIKI WHO NEED IT MOST
WITH IN-HOUSE DATABASES There is no single best practice Sources: Gerald Kane, assistant pro-
Integratingthe wiki withyourdata- on how a wiki should be rolled fessor of IS, Carroll School of Man-
bases will allow users to create their out within a large organization. agement, Boston College; Mind Touch;
own dashboards for daily activities. However, it is often most effective eTouch; Cyrus Christianson, Citrix
to implement a wiki within those Webmaster; and “Corporate Wiki Us-
19. MAKE THE WIKI PART groups or departments that have ers: Results of a Survey,” by Ann Maj-
OF THE CULTURE immediate use for it. Forcing the chrzak, Christian Wagner and David
Self-expression is important in wiki as a companywide mandate is Yates.
