Wiki Patterns

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====== Seed it with content ======


The Seed it with content pattern relies on using some amount of preexisting content to //seed// the wiki.  In this case that content could come from a book (all legal/IP permissions in place of course).

Considerations:

  * Not all types of seed content will work in wikis.  Works of fiction - an interesting experiment in the evolving storyline - would probably have a very small audience and little to no utility.  Kind of like wiki-art.
  * Reference manuals and how-to guides would be great for wiki conversion. Let the audience for the original book keep it up to date... Instead of the value of the book starting to decay the day after it's published, it (its wiki based progeny) would increase in value over time.
  * How do you restructure the seed content to best facilitate wiki based interaction models?
  * ...

===== Usage =====

The pattern would consist of a combination of content conversion and initial community building steps.  After that, on-going governance methods should map well to existing patterns for in progress wikis.

===== Example =====

  * Intranet: convert a procedural handbook created by employees into an intranet-based wiki.
  * Internet: convert a for-sale ebook into a wiki. See  [[http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=218538&cid=17745134|this slashdot comment...]] 
  * Author a book entirely on a wiki, and sell access to the wiki to contribute, and a one-click PDF download (created on the fly in seconds), has the most up-to-date content. Example:  [[http://www.wikiineducation.com|Using Wiki in Education]] 

===== Related Patterns =====

  * [[Magnet|Magnet]] - Seed it with content is like the Magnet pattern in that you are now providing not just read, but edit/commenting access too, in one exclusive location.
  * [[Scaffold|Scaffold]] - Seed it with content is like Scaffold in that some important considerations about how to convert the content into the wiki will determine the initial structure of the content.  There will be some initial structure that frames the content scope (topical relationships between the different seeded pages - i.e., like a table of contents)
  * others?

===== Further Reading =====