Our research on the use of wikis in organisations, showed us that many wiki projects are based on unrealistic expectations. As I wrote in a recent article on CMS Watch, some common myths around wikis are:
- That a wiki will motivate everyone in the organisation to contribute information
- That employees will know how to contribute
- That a wiki will make it easier to keep track of relevant information
In a recent interview with ComputerWorld Canada, I expanded a bit on these myths. To quote:
“… a conservative corporate culture that is not based in collaboration to begin with, will have to ensure its expectations are realistic when launching a wiki. If employees are expected to use the platform to critique each others’ work – as they would normally do through e-mail chains and back-and-forths – it can be a hurdle to openly critique content.”
While these three myths are based on overly positive assumptions about introducing a wiki to the organisation, I’ve also encountered a number of overly negative assumptions – perhaps not always rooted in reality:
- That a wiki will encourage vandalism
- That a wiki will expose confidential information for all to see
- That quality of information will decrease and that important information will no longer be correct
What are your experiences with wikis? Have you encountered either negative or positive assumptions such as these, and how did they actually turn out in reality?
Matt Wiseley January 27th, 2009 19:09
Great points. I’ve found fear of vandalism to be the #1 fear of traditional-thinking web/intranet publishers when considering a wiki. The best remedy: point them at Wikipedia. No, their wiki will not be Wikipedia, but that site does prove a very important point: if you can solve the adoption problem (get your employees to use it) the wiki will manage itself. Nobody wants incorrect information about what they do on the site. Nobody wants to see inappropriate or offensive material. And nobody wants to be identified as the source of either. If it’s true for a wide open public wiki like Wikipedia, it will be especially true in a corporate/business environment where anonymity is not so easy to come by.
J. Boye » Blog Archive » Is wiki vendor Socialtext a poster child for software as a software? February 11th, 2009 19:09
[...] and hear their experiences with an emerging technology. My colleague Dorthe recently identified several wiki myths, many of which came from talking to [...]