Making Your Wiki Work For You

04Nov08

By Beth J. Bates, New Media Special Correspondent

While Wikipedia has become a household name over the past seven years, the use of the Wiki as a practical business tool is still emerging. First, let’s define Wiki — a Wiki can be a web page or group of pages that allows anyone to add or edit content. Content can be in the form of text, images, multimedia files, documents, etc.

While it may sound a little risky (anyone posting anything on your website can be a scary thought), companies have found that Wikis can be helpful, cost-effective and efficient tool for collaborating and sharing information. Business Wikis can be used for:

• Project Collaboration — Wikis are a great place for a team to collaborate on project status, budget and timelines. It provides one space for your entire team to work, keeping everyone involved. A Wiki also ensure that documents are organized in one place with version control.
• Knowledge Sharing — Wikis are an effective way to manage your company knowledge base. Your Wiki can be maintained by everyone, making it a living, growing repository of information. Many IT departments use the Wiki as a “help desk”, posting important technical information for the entire company.
• Document Repository — Because Wikis use document versioning they make excellent document repositories. Human resource professionals can use the Wiki to provide access to policies and forms. Project managers can use it for project documentation. Wikis ensure that all of your users are working from the same document and that documens aren’t lost or overwritten.

It’s important to assign a resource to oversee and care for the Wiki. This person will maintain the Wiki’s naming convention and links. Remember, your Wiki is a dynamic tool.

Here are a few Wiki applications that are free and easy to set-up:

• MediaWiki — this is the Wikipedia platform
• WikiSpaces
• WetPaint

Beth J. Bates is a freelance social media strategist. Beth consults with Hinge on social media tool selection and strategy and helps its clients find effective ways to leverage these new mediums to meet business goals.

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