Wikis, Blogs and RSS For Operational Communications

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Wikis, Blogs and RSS For Operational
Communications
Darlene Fichter University of Saskatchewandarlene
.fichter_at_usask.ca
OLA Super ConferenceFebruary 3, 2006
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Darlene Fichter
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Overview

• Internal collaboration communication
• Wikis and weblogs and RSS
• How do they work
• What are some of the benefits
• What to use when

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Questions

• What is your primary role at your organization?
• Reference/Instructional Librarian
• Library ITS (web developer, systems librarian)
• Library manager
• Other
• Are you interested in using weblogs/wikis and RSS
  for
• Business processes
• Personal web publishing
• Community building
• Intranet
• Dont know
• Do you blog, read weblogs or contribute to a
  wiki?
• Does your organization use blogs, wikis or RSS?

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Poll Committees and Teams

• How many groups do you belong to?
• ? None ? one to two ? three to five ? More than
  5
• How do you share information?
• Email
• Mailing list
• Shared file server
• BBS
• IM
• What are some of the limitations?

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What if

• Reduce email overload
• Have an archive of the work done to date
• Build a knowledge base auto-magically
• Have an easy way to write reports, documents,
  policies, and procedures together

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Technologies Enabling Online Collaboration

• Dozens
• Discussion forums
• Email
• Instant messaging
• Newsgroups
• Webcasts
• Web conferencing

• Weblogs
• Team rooms
• Text messaging/wireless
• RSS
• Wiki
• Expertise location
• FOAF

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Zoom In

• Weblogs
• Wikis
• RSS

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What is a Weblog?

• Blog/ Weblog is web site with pages
• Containing brief entries arranged chronologically
• Can be a diary, a Whats New page or comments /
  links to other web sites

To me, the blog concept is about three things
Frequency, Brevity, and Personality. Evan
Williams (creator of Blogger)
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Posts
Daily Archive
Search
Links/blogroll
Category Archive
Feeds
Monthly Archive
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Blog Post
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Weblogs Meet Two Primary Needs
Informing
Publishing and syndicating
Interacting
Questions and comments
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Weblogs Can Create New Relationships

• Excellent at one-to-many communication
• Can allow participation and comments
• Break down the silos
• Create connected content

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Why are Weblogs Adopted So Quickly

• Simple way for employees to share ideas
• Flexible
• A good match between the need and the
  knowledge worker

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Primary Uses of Internal Weblogs

• Knowledge-sharing (63)
• Internal communications (44)
• Project management (30)
• Personal knowledge management (23)
• Event logging (23)
• Team management (20)

• Personal knowledge management (23)

Blogging in the Enterprise Executive Summary
from the Guidewire Group Market Cycle Survey -
October 2005
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Key Benefits

• Improved internal communications (77)
• Replacement of other existing work processes
  (41)
• Replacement of email (39)

Blogging in the Enterprise Executive Summary
from the Guidewire Group Market Cycle Survey -
October 2005
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Internal communications

• Admin News, Personnel News, Staff news, etc

blogwithoutalibrary - http//www.blogwithoutalibr
ary.net/?page_id94internal
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(No Transcript)
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Basic Blogger Reader Interaction
Blog it
Comment
Read it
Readvia a newsreader
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What is RSS?
Automated Web Surfing

• When people ask me what RSS is, I say it's
  automated web surfing. We took something lots of
  people do, visiting sites looking for new stuff,
  and automated it. It's a very predictable thing,
  that's what computers do -- automate repetitive
  things. Dave Winer

Really Simple Syndication Blog http//www.reallysi
mplesyndication.com/2005/09/11a951
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One Click to Rule Them All
Yahoo Search
BBC
Data Ref Blog
Ref Desk Blog
RSS News Readers / Aggregators
NYT
New IT Books
IT Status
Loans
Trials
Staff
Events
http//www.coldal.org/clips/3rings.mp3
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Newsreader Lots of Choices
www.bloglines.com
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Feeds
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What if you dont want an RSS reader

• Many tools that support RSS to email notification
• Rmail http//www.r-mail.org/
• Bloglet - http//www.bloglet.com/
• Bot a Blog - http//www.botablog.com/
• Squeet - http//squeet.com/

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What if you dont want email or RSS

• Personal RSS newspaper
• Superglu
• Build a web page with feeds in columns

http//dev.morainevalley.edu/lrc/blogs.htm
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Small Team Blog Data Library
Software Movable Type
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Data Library

• 6 people
• One works off site

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Data Blog

• Build a knowledge base collaboratively
• Frequently asked questions
• Best practices
• Login information for external services
• Current updates
• Track status and issues with data files

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Movable Type Software Features

• Multiple authors
• Multiple blogs
• Create categories
• Simple to use (very little training)
• Built-in search engine
• Archives by month

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Blog Statistics

• Launched March 2004
• 521 posts in 18 months
• Very few comments

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User Acceptance and Adoption

• Everyone has posted
• Three people are the most active and post often
• Is used as a reference and not read daily by
  most staff
• Email notifications are used for alerts on any
  urgent posts

Build off email adoption.
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Weblog Exercise

• Brainstorm a few ways weblogs might be used in
  your organization?
• Identify how weblogs would be better than the
  existing approach.
• Identify obstacles / resistance to using weblogs
  inside the firewall.

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Weblog Roadmap Project Approach

• Now
• Identify a need and find a supporter (buy-in)
• Start with a simple system
• Pilot it
• Make sure users understand the basics
• Create employee blogging guidelines especially if
  the blogs are public

Expanded and Adapted from John Robb, Userland
Software
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Weblog Roadmap

• Near Term
• Get em publishing about what theyre working on
  (projects, database trials, marketing plans)
• Help them to start "subscribing" to each other
  and to news sources
• Begin to build / encourage "team blogs" around
  key topics / areas

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Wiki
WikiWikiWeb
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What is a Wiki?

• Web application invented by Ward Cunningham in
  1994 that allows anyone to add content and anyone
  to edit it.
• Its a tool for collaboration, really, we
  dont know quite what it is but its a fun way of
  communicating asynchronously across the network.
• Wiki means quick in Hawaiian

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Wikis Characteristics

• Intended to be simple so you can focus on the
  writing, not the mechanics and syntax
• No HTML know-how required

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Wikis Collections of Pages
Main Page
Virtual
Contact Us
Electronic
edit
edit
edit
edit

• Wiki pages look like web pages
• Anyone with a web browser can read a wiki site

Illustrations adapted from Guillaume du Gardier.
What is a wiki? June 2, 2005
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Click, Write and Save
...KMWorld 2005
KMWorld 2005
edit
edit
save

• Anyone with a web browser can edit a wiki site
• Anyone can undo any change at any time

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Creating New Pages

• Make a new page by typing the name in CamelCase,
  aka WikiName

Title
NewName
NewName
edit
edit

• Click on any WikiName to see pages that link to it

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Wiki Design Principles

• Openness and trust
• if a page is incomplete or inaccurate anyone can
  edit it
• Incremental
• pages can cite other pages, even those not yet
  written
• Observable
• you can see the changes being made
• Organic
• site structure is up to everyone, and it will
  evolve and change
• More principles

Wiki Design Principles http//www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?
WikiDesignPrinciples
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Wiki Examples Wikipedia
www.wikipedia.org
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Wikipedia Recent Changes
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Time Lapse London Bombing
http//thelastminute.typepad.com/blog/2005/07/the_
day_citizen.html
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Wikipedia Viewing History
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Wikipedia Talk Page
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Wiki Gardeners

• Person who goes around tidying up the wiki,
  pruning, editing, organizing, and cleaning up
• Usually liked and respected

On a library wiki, you might want to assign this
role.
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External Library Wiki Subject Guides
http//www.library.ohiou.edu/subjects/bizwiki/inde
x.php/Main_Page
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Tour Library Wikis

• Internal uses
• Staff Intranet
• Projects
• Event planning
• IT documentation
• Helpdesk reference / library ITS

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Library Intranet
http//wiki.lib.umn.edu/
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Library Intranet
http//wiki.lib.uconn.edu/wiki/Main_Page
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Project/Committee
http//www.seedwiki.com/wiki/b-team/
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Internal Wikis in Libraries

• Collaborative writing (projects, teams developing
  procedures, policies, plans)
• Meeting notes and reports
• Shared knowledge repository

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Simple Case Study Event Planning
Hosted Wiki Jotspot
www.jotspot.com
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WYSIWYG Editor
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What Pages Have Changed?
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See What Changed
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Single Page or Side by Side
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Wiki (Jotspot) Anatomy Features
Search
Attach a File
Changesvia RSS
Inviteusers
Import Word
Emails
Make a comment
Send an Email
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Event Planning and Support
http//coppul.jotspot.com (Password protected)
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Wiki Reactions

• Well, I wasn't sure about that wiki (sounded
  like something from Star Wars), but I decided to
  try it out. It is fabulous! Every conference
  should have one.
• Gail Curry, UNBC

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Conference / Wiki Support

• Participants signed up for wifi, dine-arounds,
  connected with each other before the event
• Shared notes during the presentation and uploaded
  slides
• Evaluation of the workshop

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Wiki Roadmap

• Install wiki software on web server
• Plan rollout and content
• Build the initial structure
• Populate initial content with early adopters
• Initial rollout with smaller group
• Train and coach users
• Do not underestimate inertia and time

• Build the initial structure

Peter Theony, Wiki Based Collaborationhttp//twi
ki.org/cgi-bin/view/Codev/TWikiPresentation17Feb20
05
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Practical Tips

• Have a champion
• New way of thinking, paradigm shift from
  Intranet / webmaster or CMS (content management
  system)
• Choose the right features
• Attach files
• Access control
• Version control
• Ease of use make sure add a page is self
  evident
• Match look and feel
• Alert and post via email to wiki

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Tools to Help You Choose

• Wiki Matrix
• http//www.wikimatrix.org/
• Emma Tonkins charts in
• Making the Case for a Wiki. Ariadne, January
  2005http//www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue42/tonkin/

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Weblogs and Wikis Face Off
Photo Credit Pascal Vuylsteker
http//www.flickr.com/photos/pvk/CC Attribution
2.5
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Wikis Weblogs

• Group voice
• Unstructured, organic
• Anyone edits
• Fluid medium change any time
• Better management versions, rollback and change
  log, syndicate changes
• Less familiar

• Individual voice
• Default is by date, reverse chronological
• Anyone comments
• Post medium like email (comment, reply, comment,
  )
• Edits arent tracked usually, new items are
  syndicated
• More familiar

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Wiki Exercise

• Look back at your ideas for weblogs would some
  work better as wikis? Which ones?
• Identify 2 or 3 areas where a wiki web would help
  with collaboration and communication.
• Identify the biggest obstacles and how you
  might overcome them.

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Wiki Summary

• Wikis help support collaboration
• Tools are simple, quick and inexpensive
• They belong in our collaboration toolbox
• Our workplaces are diverse
• Diverse users
• Diverse needs
• Diverse software choices

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Wiki Brainstorm

• Think about collaborative/team activities in your
  organization and library.
• Identify 2 or 3 areas where a wiki web would help
  with collaboration.
• Identify the biggest obstacles and how you
  might overcome them.

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More Resources

• Ten Guidelines for Developing Your Internal Blog
  Michael Stephens
• http//www.tametheweb.com/ttwblog/archives/000422.
  html
• List of Blogs for Internal Communications
  Amanda Etches-Johnson
• http//www.blogwithoutalibrary.net/?page_id94int
  ernal
• Wiki Resources
• http//library.usask.ca/fichter/wiki/

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Questions
darlene.fichter_at_usask.ca
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Why Weblog/Wiki and Not a CMS?

• Flexibility of the blog format
• Long and short items
• Categorize content
• Granular (comment at the post level)
• Handle unstructured nature of CI content
• Post to 2 different blogs by applying 2 labels
• Restrict some blogs to particular users

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Weblog Roadmap

• Long Term
• Build an overall community system for the weblogs
  (aggregate feeds, new posts, search).
• Write up the results and start to sell the
  concept.
• Next, begin to experiment with ways to slice and
  dice the knowledge that is being generated.
• advanced search engines and directories
• aggregate RSS streams
• alerts
• social software analysis