WaterWiki An opportunity for UN-wide collaboration Jürg Staudenmann UNDP Water Governance Advisor, Bratislava Regional Centre UNESCO, Paris (09 October 2008)

UNESCO, Paris - 09 Oct Outline What is WaterWiki? –Background and approach –Demo Prospects for the future Opportunity as UN-wide platform for KM –Potential use and benefits –Why WaterWiki (and not any other platform)? –What would be needed?

UNESCO, Paris - 09 Oct The “Wiki-experiment” Wikipedia started “small and simple”; grew in short time to one of the most important on-line resources. (The humble vision: “capturing the worlds knowledge”…) (The humble vision: “capturing the worlds knowledge”…) Practice proofs: Approach and tool conducive to –encourage hundred-thousands to share their individual knowledge –Despite skepticism from many deliver exponentially increasing knowledge resources of use to hundreds of millions of users

UNESCO, Paris - 09 Oct The “Wiki-idea” – Underlying principles Decentralized contributions & content responsibility (democratic + self-responsibility + peer control) Limited format or structure prescribed (let it grow !) “Tags” and hyperlinks as backbone (instead of folders & hierarchy) Allow/promote ANY knowledge in ANY format, files, pics, etc. But restrain opinions / viewpoints (use other fora for that) Coaching & support, rather than supervision and control

UNESCO, Paris - 09 Oct What’s WaterWiki ? UNDP’s Knowledge exchange and on-line collaboration platform for water practitioners Alternative to official UNDP / project sites A continuously growing knowledge base that –improves with each individual user-contribution –allows sharing and discussing of “true knowledge” (success, failures, lessons, –is owned by the community What it is not ? –A “normal website” –Under responsibility or control of UNDP –A pure database or “Content Management System”

UNESCO, Paris - 09 Oct Background (How comes…) WaterWiki emerged from the real NEED –to systematically map & document projects, reports & key documents, organizations, “who-is-who and does what”, –to codify UNDP-relevant “knowledge on water” –for an on-line collaboration workspace APPROACH chosen –Web-based (instead of “storing it on C:-drive”) –Interactive (instead of “central delivery”) –Real-time (instead of “thanks, please wait for publication”) –Possibility for joint collaboration on knowledge products –“Something like Wikipedia, decentralized, that that works like a “Potluck-cooking party” rather than a restaurant visit” Wikipedia

UNESCO, Paris - 09 Oct How does it work ? Like Wikipedia … Wikipedia –On-line collection of info, knowledge, files, links … –Entire content is free for use, editing, complementation, linking –Every change is tracked to revert previous versions if needed … * BUT: While entire content is visible to anyone, only registered & logged-in users can create new or edit existing pages/articles, upload files, insert links, pics, videos (YouTube), rate or discuss contributions... While entire content is visible to anyone, only registered & logged-in users can create new or edit existing pages/articles, upload files, insert links, pics, videos (YouTube), rate or discuss contributions... What about quality control? –Self-responsibility: Each contributor is attributed to his/her contributions –Peer-control: users mutually monitor, comment and directly edit each others contributions –Facilitation: “Knowledge farmers” assist users, guide or selectively complement contributions, to maximize usability/benefit –Red-button: If necessary, users can be blocked and every change undone

UNESCO, Paris - 09 Oct Evolution of WaterWiki Started “bottom-up” in Aug 2005: –zero budget (but 100% commitment + 2 interns) Aug 05 – Mar 06 (1/2 year): –From 0 to 600 visitor/day –Some 200 pages (incl. 32 “country-pages”, 25 projects, 50 reports, 40 practitioners, …) Today: –Almost 2,000 pages uploaded files (incl. 101 projects, 287 reports, 192 practitioners & 58 contacts, 97 thematic articles, 39 experience write-ups / case-studies, 127 organizations & networks, 213 definitions/concepts, …) –Current average: genuine visitors/day (approx. 15,000 page-views/day)

UNESCO, Paris - 09 Oct Demo ( Welcome –navigation, Help, recent changes, search … –How to edit (tag-cloud, links) How to edit How to edit Reports –HDR 2006 (Overview, Chapters, Link to MDGs) HDR 2006 HDR 2006 Experience / Case Studies –Uzbekistan - “Celebrating Communities for WSS” Celebrating Communities for WSSCelebrating Communities for WSS –Category “Experience” (Comparative Experience Water Councils) ExperienceComparative Experience Water CouncilsExperienceComparative Experience Water Councils FAQs / Toolkits: –New HRBA programme New HRBA programmeNew HRBA programme –FAQs on IW management IW managementIW management Country, River Basin, and other “Portal-pages” –Countries (Uzbekistan/Central Asia) Uzbekistan/Central AsiaUzbekistan/Central Asia –Amu Darya Basin (with “transclusion” from CAREWIB) “transclusion” from CAREWIB“transclusion” from CAREWIB –Projects (“transcluded” list from UNDP homepage) “transcluded” list from UNDP homepage“transcluded” list from UNDP homepage

UNESCO, Paris - 09 Oct User feedback Client survey 2007: –WaterWiki has greatly improved access to information and knowledge on water in the region (“Our own little Britannica“) –Used by practitioners & experts as (a) info-base, (b) learning resource (!), and (c) “to stay connected to other practitioners” –People like the “look and feel” of WaterWiki (recognition effect due to Wikipedia) –High flexibility in terms of content, structure, presentation, continued change & development An easy-to-use platform, broad enough to cover all relevant information sources, yet focused & specific enough to remain relevant, selective, “to-the-point” and of real practical use

UNESCO, Paris - 09 Oct Prospects for the Future 3 years piloting experience, success, recognition: We’re on the right track. That’s how knowledge management & experience exchange can work There’s a confirmed need for “a WaterWiki” (user reviews; peer-discussions; consultations) It’s time to “spread the wings and fly”: –(i) scale-up: globalize within UNDP – and beyond –(ii) open up: broaden institutionally –(ii) professionalize: define (& occupy) niche, review structure, upgrade functionalities, enrich basic content –(iii) possibly “re-/de-brand”: (no visible (UN-) brand also legally a “slim solution”) BUT KEEP THE THEMATIC FOCUS: Water (& Sanitation)

UNESCO, Paris - 09 Oct Upgrading (on-going) Upgrade with useful (and attractive!) functionalities: –WYSIWYG | Google Maps | YouTube | “Rate this page” | “ / link / print this page” | … –RSS-feeds and ”mesh-ups” (link with other e-tools like groups, blogs, social networks (facebook / LinkedIn/…?), SKYPE, news or meta-pages, etc.) Improve structure, navigation, search –Additional “exploring mechanisms” (portals, “transclusions”, cross-linking virtual toolboxes) –Tag-clouds and keyword-automated listings, –Cross-references (What’s new? | What’s popular? | Who’s been active | What’s related | …) –Monitoring & alert functions ( alert, syndication, bookmarking / referencing)

UNESCO, Paris - 09 Oct Further planned improvements Increase support, guidance, “feel & look” (= incentives for active participation): –Wizards for user-contributions (“Add new page”, “upload video”, “Related wanted pages”…) –Contributor recognition & visibility (“last 3 authors” | “this month’s top contributors” | –Indicators that contributors’ shared knowledge is actually viewed & accessed (like “video watched” on YouTube) Promote & supporting community-tools –for on-line collaboration (e.g. for joint drafting of case studies, essays, etc.) –for networking …

UNESCO, Paris - 09 Oct WaterWiki’s potential value and use for the UN-Water family To map what UN-Water partners do, know, are working on As joint knowledge base complementing (!) official UN- Water & agency websites As “One-Stop-Shop” linking to existing data- and knowledge bases (of UN-Water and/or beyond) For development of “joint UN knowledge on water” like glossary & definitions, indicators, case studies, joint reports and/or spin-offs, common facts & info on water basins, etc. As workspace for UN-Water working groups (e.g. for development & discussion of position papers or guidelines) “Glue” between existing sites and an opportunity for active and continuous inter-agency collaboration on developing and refining a wide range of knowledge products

UNESCO, Paris - 09 Oct Opportunity for UN-Water members Can build on –Existing Wiki-platform (and momentum) for water practitioners –Established structure, info & knowledge base –3 years of practical experience in developing, testing, maintaining of a Wiki platform –UNDP’s offer to support (& co-fund) development of a joint scale-up –… and of course the enormous breadth of knowledge & experience within the collective UN-Water agency W&S staff Interest expressed already by colleagues form UNESCO, WHO, IAEA, UNEP, UNECE, UN- Habitat, UNICEF

UNESCO, Paris - 09 Oct Why WaterWiki ? Use momentum and recognition-effect: –Already existing platform, content & community –Wikipedia-similarity : People know instantly what to expect and how it works –Initial success and already significant recognition “WikiMedia” as platform: –Widely tested and used, technically stable, –Open source = continuous development & improvements guaranteed Lots of functionalities and potentials Easy for IT-support staff to link & work with –High-ranking in Google-search! –“Twin-projects”: BioenergyWiki (US NGOs); WikiGender (OECD); CoastalWiki (EU project); akvo.org (private, “market place” for water projects); BioenergyWiki WikiGenderCoastalWiki akvo.orgBioenergyWiki WikiGenderCoastalWiki akvo.org

UNESCO, Paris - 09 Oct Why WaterWiki ? (cont.) Why not any existing UN-platform (such as Aquastat, GEMS, IW:LEARN, etc.)? –They usually are specific (GEF or water quality or indicator data) –They generally are owned by and/or attributed to certain institutions or projects (only) –They in most cases are centrally generated, updated, maintained Why of interest for WaterWiki? –As the “UN-Water Wikipedia”, WaterWiki could become exponentially more relevant and useful for a much wider range of potential users

UNESCO, Paris - 09 Oct The way ahead  UN-Water Task Force on WaterWiki –comprehensive mapping of existing sites, tools, trends –adequate consultations with all UN-Water agencies –development and implementation of UN-wide WaterWiki concept –Roll-out of new WaterWiki  Selected multi-agency (bi-lateral) web-projects with UN-Water members –Concrete solutions and “mashups” –Showcasing while creating real value for users / water & development community

Thank you !