A centre of expertise in digital information management UKOLN is supported by: Wiki or Won’t He? The highs and lows of establishing a public sector wiki Marieke Guy Interoperability Focus

A centre of expertise in digital information management A Brief Introduction…. I work for UKOLN, National centre of expertise in digital information management Located at the University of Bath Funded by JISC and MLA to advise UK HE and FE communities and the cultural heritage sector Areas of work include: UK Web Focus, Ariadne, support for digital repositories, Grand Challenge project I work on the Interoperability Focus team, previous roles include QA Focus, SPP Project Manager, ePrints UK project manager, QA Focus, Web Magazines

A centre of expertise in digital information management Setting the Scene Changing audience, changing expectations Web 2.0 – scalability, remixing, participation, collective intelligence An attitude not a technology Web Library = Library 2.0 Public sector needs to move with the times Still has limited resources, expectations to manage, funders to keep happy, users to support etc. Can we walk the tightrope?

A centre of expertise in digital information management What is a Wiki? Ward Cunningham described it as 'the simplest online database that could possibly work‘ A Web space containing pages that can be freely and easily written or edited by anybody (collaborative writing) Uses a simple markup language (wikitext or wikisyntax) Can use logins or be open, page locking Ability to compare previous versions of a page, revert back and track who edited the page Many allow users to discuss issues prior to making changes Taken off in recent years with the rise of social software, community, Web 2.0 etc.

A centre of expertise in digital information management What Wikis are out there? Software: –One page wikis: Writely, Stikipad –Multi-page wikis: MediaWiki, Twiki, Kwiki, Moin Moin, Instiki Wiki Communities: –Wikipedia, Wikitravel, Ganfyd, Wikibooks Wiki search engines: –Qwika Compare wiki functionalities - wikimatrix

A centre of expertise in digital information management Public Sector Wikis Government –Dowire.org, e-innovations, Bristol wireless, Flu wiki, Taskforce Libraries –Library Success, State University of New York Library Wiki, St. Joseph County Subject Guides, LIS Wiki. –Cannot find any UK libraries using Wikis externally HE/FE –Education – very social activity, community and collaboration, net generation, group work, reflection –DigiRepWiki, CETIS, Osswatch, h2g2, BBC Intranet

A centre of expertise in digital information management General Wiki Issues Vandalism –Moderators and community police Spam –Spambots, recent changes monitored using rss feed, logins Wiki etiquette –Stay civil, credit work, keep on topic, refactor don’t delete Searching (more tagging needed), archiving (ephemeral), organisation of pages – no heirarchy Mark up – no standardisation…yet – training implications Stopping your wiki from becoming an unmaintained storehouse of out-of-date information!

A centre of expertise in digital information management Organisational Wiki Issues Organisational Culture –Freedom to move away from usual design, protocols, habits Liability, accountability and copyright/IPR Organisation’s AUP Collective view - not always an unbiased perspective – who’s opinion is it anyway? Resources –Staff training, time, costs

A centre of expertise in digital information management Setting up a Wiki 1.Think about what software you would like to use and load the software locally on to your Web server –Issues with technical support (open source/commercial) 2.Identify the purpose for your wiki and decide on expectations 3.Agree on details (permission levels, licences, url etc.) 4.Create the basic structure 5.Customise areas, add extensions and features 6.Add documentation 7.Add some content 8.Publicise and let it evolve…

A centre of expertise in digital information management

A centre of expertise in digital information management IF Community Wiki Set up as an experimental service in May 2006 MediaWiki is UKOLN’s wiki of choice CMS Wiki wanted as part of feedback for IWMW2005 Idea of a knowledge base and a discussion place Wiki Peer group established for feedback on areas like licence, registration details, basic structure etc. Dual licence decided on (CC and GNU FDL) Really put ‘out in the open’ at IWMW2006 and used as an event tool

A centre of expertise in digital information management The Highs and Lows What works… –Small group working – parallel session groups - changes are immediate, open access, great collaboration tool –Intranet discussion area –Once established technical support is minimal What doesn’t… –CMS discussion, no champion – giving it some more thought –Getting people to use it, SPAM

A centre of expertise in digital information management The Way Forward? More time, still cutting edge Tie wiki in more with the Institutional Web Management Community (a name change?) and related events New areas for discussion Enhancing cooperation and adoption by promotion, champion Adding in Web 2.0 ideas e.g. syndication, tagging Taking it further e.g. a book

A centre of expertise in digital information management Ideas for your Library Book reviews Comments section, suggestion box FAQs Commonly asked questions (reference or general library) Local history, personal stories Course collaboration, e-portfolios Library project work, input for research work

A centre of expertise in digital information management Conclusions Make sure people understand why it makes sense to share If your target group couldn’t converse offline then they probably won’t online Important to reduce the barriers to participation by supporting the core group Encourage accountability and group cohesion Allow users to create their own pages Guide new users Be flexible Be ready to try out an implementation (or two) Be patient…

A centre of expertise in digital information management Any Questions? Q.How many wiki people does it take to change a light bulb? A. One, but anyone can change it back.