This is a good point. The wikipedia motto “the free encyclopedia anyone can edit” tends to scare a lot of people in enterprise who don't really understand what a wiki is. I don't think open access is a primary feature of wikis; it's an optional feature but a very useful one. The 'anyone can edit' bit is especially hard to swallow for organisations that have dedicated communications departments that are responsible for websites and intranets. The misperception is that because a wiki is html then it must be a sanctioned, vetted and authorised website.
Posted by Charlie Perry at Apr 29, 2007 19:23
Very good point. Most people I tell about wikis know only wikipedia. So that think it's for building encyclopedia indeed
Posted by joitske at Jun 12, 2007 09:28
The link Nature's comparison of Wikipedia and Brittannica <sup></sup> seems to be dead.
Posted by Vadim Kopichenko at Feb 13, 2008 12:29
Link fixed via Internet Archive.
Posted by Teresa Ruano at Mar 20, 2008 18:00
We've had modest success introducing a wiki to our enterprise, but only on the basis that we create secure spaces for teams, project groups, existing communities, etc. We did find that the idea of an open-to-all wiki was too big a hurdle to adoption. Unfortunately we've found that maintaining these secure spaces with our wiki tool is onerous and brings problems of its own, namely:-
- No official support for NTLM plug-ins, so authentication frequently doesn't work;
- Not being able to make use of Outlook distribution lists for membership of spaces (because of nested groups).
I'm not a technical guy but I'm coming at this from more of an adoption angle. To me, wikis in the enterprise need better support for secure spaces so that the trust factor can be used to sell the wiki; but the tools don't seem to support this. Is this because wikis are intended to be open to all, even in the enterprise?
Posted by samdimond at May 14, 2008 06:48
In the beginning, we are building an encyclopedia for our field. While on that journey, someone gave me a copy of wikipatterns and my mind has been Blown! However, we do want that encyclopedia and FAQ format first
Posted by JudyAnn Lorenz at May 28, 2008 15:09
Our Company is looking to use a wiki to support the customer service frontline. The concept of wiki is intriging, however, am a bit skeptical on how the knowledge is managed and consistent. Does anyone have any experience on the knowledge management side of a wiki ?
Posted by Mark at Jul 01, 2008 12:47