1. Engaging in WaterWiki Opportunities for UN-Water knowledge & coordination support Proposal by Juerg Staudenmann, Water Governance Advisor, UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre Presented by Andrew Hudson / Joakim Harlin To the UN-Water Meeting, Rome – 15-17 January 2008

2. UN-Water - Rome, 15-17 Jan 2008 2 What is WaterWiki ? (www.WaterWiki.net) www.WaterWiki.net UNDP’s Knowledge Portal and On-line Collaboration Platform for practitioners working on water governance in Europe &CIS THE NEED (Sep 05): requirement to systematically document & map projects, reports, key documents & organizations, “who-is-who and does what”, and UNDP’s on-going work on “Water Governance” (in Europe & CIS) THE APPROACH: to create a web-based and interactive repository of info, knowledge and experiences (instead of “storing it all on a C: drive”) THE SOLUTION: a Wiki-Platform, just like Wikipedia, which would allow any interested practitioner to draw upon, but also to contribute directly … Wikipedia

3. UN-Water - Rome, 15-17 Jan 2008 3 What is WaterWiki ? (cont.) Wikis, as compared to “regular websites”: –Easy-to-use and -maintain – by anyone (no HTML or IT language needed) –While webpages usually are centrally owned (by an organization that also bears the responsibility of creating, updating and approving content), Wikis aim to be “publicly owned” web-spaces –Any (identified and logged-in!!) user can add or edit any content; all edits can easily be monitored and undone by others (full “page history” and roll-back function) Wiki vs regular website: –A “Potluck-cooking party” vs restaurant visit –Or: A knowledge base that “grows organically” with each user- contribution, instead of “being constructed” by one or more “responsible info-providers” Quality control? –Is decentralized / democratic / peer controlled: the user-group itself mutually monitors, comments and directly edits its contributions –Few facilitators (“knowledge farmers”), mainly to assist users and guide the way contributions are made & managed (updated) –AND: Who says a restaurant meal necessarily has to be of higher quality than self-cooked food?

4. UN-Water - Rome, 15-17 Jan 2008 4 3 years of Wiki-experience at UNDP Bratislava Reg. Centre History –Started “bottom-up”, with zero budget, 100% commitment (plus 2 interns) –Now: Over 1,800 pages and 800 uploaded files (incl. 98 projects, 287 reports, 97 thematic articles, 39 experience write-ups / case-studies, 127 organizations & networks, 192 practitioners & 58 contacts, 213 definitions/concepts, 32 “country-pages”, …) –On average 700-900 genuine visitors/month (approx. 15,000 page-views) Major benefits of using WaterWiki: –WaterWiki greatly improved access to information and knowledge on water in the region (Client survey 2007: Our own little Britannica“) –Used by practitioners as (a) info-base, (b) learning resource (!), and (c) “to stay connected to other practitioners” –An easy-to-use platform, not only serving as info-base, but used to exchange experiences & case studies –WaterWiki is broad enough covering all relevant information, yet focused/specific enough to be relevant, “to-the-point” and of real practical use for practitioners –People like the “look and feel” of WaterWiki Current work to improve WaterWiki: –Upgrade and add useful (AND attractive!) functionalities: WYSIWYG | “Add new page” wizard | print/send/link this | random page | Google Maps | “Rate this page” | Video/YouTube | RSS-fed news & meta-pages… –Better structured navigation and “exploring mechanisms”, incl. monitoring & alert functions (What’s new? | What’s top? | what’s needing your input? …) –Emphasis on support for on-line collaboration & joint drafting (articles, reports, definitions, case studies, …) –”mash-ups” with other e-tools like e-mail groups, blogs, social networks (facebook?), SKYPE, etc –increase support and incentives for contributors: How/Where to add wizards, recognition & visibility (author- and “top contributor”-lists, indications that shared experiences are actually accessed & used by others, …

5. UN-Water - Rome, 15-17 Jan 2008 5 WaterWiki 2.0 – The recommended* way ahead * incl. web4dev conference, Nairobi Nov 2007 EXPAND ! –Geographically: all regions - while keeping (sub-)regional “chapters” (?) –Institutionally: More (all?) UN-agencies – and possibly even beyond UN –Possibly “de-brand”: no specific (UN-) agency (visible) behind it; or not even “UN”?  Legally a “slim solution” solving the author/property-rights issue –BUT KEEP THE THEMATIC FOCUS: Water (& Sanitation) Use WaterWiki as (interactive) publishing-platform: Invite partners to “copy-paste” their original publication onto WaterWiki for direct editing & discussion –Mark as “edits welcome”, while providing a link to the original / official –Interlink with other content on WaterWiki –Make use of edits / discussions for future updates Examples:  Confirmed: UNECE’s First River Basin Assessment: Create new page for each River Basin (with dynamic links to relevant projects, reports, contacts, articles, …)  Under discussion: EC ‘Water Management Guideline’: New topics, articles, “How-to..?”-pages (linking also to related reports, projects, articles, …)  Potentially: Publish (or create) joint UN-Water Publications as live documents, accessible and editable by the registered users (WWDR, JMP, IWRM report, etc.)?

6. UN-Water - Rome, 15-17 Jan 2008 6 WaterWiki for adoption ! UNDP’s “offer”: –Existing WaterWiki structure and info / knowledge base (1800 pages, 800 uploaded files, …) –3 years experience developing and maintaining Wiki platforms (and other advanced IT-tools) for web-based knowledge management, coordination and collaboration –Active support to establish a joint, UN-coordinated, living knowledge base and collaboration platform (part-time “knowledge farmer” position planned for 2008) –Started upgrading and expanding: Perfect time for partners* to come on board and join forces! * To date, interest to collaborate actively on WaterWiki has been expressed by UNEP, UNECE, UN-Habitat, UNICEF (and EU/EC) * To date, interest to collaborate actively on WaterWiki has been expressed by UNEP, UNECE, UN-Habitat, UNICEF (and EU/EC) A suggested approach: a Wiki-based knowledge base – consciously open for adding / editing / file uploading / commenting – complementing the official UN-Water & agency websites (with “officially endorsed content”)  Link with (build on) existing webpages & portals (e.g. UNESCO water portal) for basic info, facts, official documents  Aim at (joint) generation and exposition of value-added content/knowledge that is of (UN-) joint value and importance  High flexibility in terms of content, structure, presentation, but providing pro-active facilitator-support to the publishers (à la Wikipedia) UN-Water could make use of WaterWiki to: –Write-up (and present to external partners & clients) issues, case studies, and “the UN’s work on water & sanitation” –Map out Who’s-who and Who’s-doing-what (people & agencies) for better inter-agency coordination –Develop joint (= UN-coordinated) oeuvres such as definitions, position papers, practical tools & notes, possibly in the future even reports (WWDR?), … –Expose water- (and UN-) related issues for discussion within the UN family, partners and publicly –…?

7. UN-Water - Rome, 15-17 Jan 2008 7 Thank you ! Discussion: 1.Interest of UN-Water partners? 2.Roles and responsibilities for the way ahead? 3.Concrete next steps?

8. UN-Water - Rome, 15-17 Jan 2008 8

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10. 10 WaterWiki 2.0 – The new look (link) link Google-Map Revised navigation Making knowledge sharing easier

11. UN-Water - Rome, 15-17 Jan 2008 11 WaterWiki 2.0 – New extensions RATE IT! Using templates for easier navigation & orientation

12. UN-Water - Rome, 15-17 Jan 2008 12 WaterWiki 2.0 – The way ahead (concept & technical approach) Continue expanding documentation (News? Events?) and put heavier focus on 1.“genuine knowledge” (= articles, experience write-ups & case-studies, how-to’s, etc.) 2.on-line collaboration & joint drafting (knowledge base with articles, concepts, reports (?), …) Upgrade to newest MediaWiki version (1.11) and newest MediaWiki version (1.11)newest MediaWiki version (1.11) –expand functionalities (e.g. tag-clouds, Google Map, rating stars, tutorials, interfaces (WYSIWYG) and context-support, …) –”mash-up” with other e-tools like e-mail groups, blogs, social networks (facebook?), SKYPE, etc (A bit) more structure & orientation to make finding (and contributing!) of knowledge even easier: –advanced tagging / categorization; –automated listings & navigational tools/aid; –powerful “exploring mechanisms”: entry- and meta-pages (e.g. by river basin), thematic sub- portals, dynamic cross-linking, etc.) For contributors, increase incentives : –support (Where to add my knowledge? How to start a new article?); wizards … –recognition & visibility: author- or “top content”-lists, indications that knowledge & experience is actually accessed & used by others, etc. Overcome the language barrier  The time has come to professionalize  ( = review the underlying “knowledge management concept” and raise funding!! )