Things I know but I forget

[yesthattom]

I explain the benefits of using a wiki time and time again in the classes that I teach. I just remembered that a lot of what I say can be summed up as: there is no gate-keeper. Pre-wiki, the “owner” of a document would accumulate many change suggestions and then never get around to doing any of the updates. Wikis eliminate the gatekeeper.

Comments

[airshipjones.livejournal.com]

I find that the technology itself and the learning curve become the gatekeepers. We use wikis where I work too, and we have had numerous cases of the data getting corrupted by someone editing it with some editor (like kufu) that messed up the data format. And many others who just can't or won't take the time to learn how to edit a wiki (they just want a spreadsheet or something simple... go figure).

well

[supremediva27.livejournal.com]

now you know, i never understand a damn word you say about this stuff. but when you said, "there is no gatekeeper.", it reminded me of the movie, matrix, when neo says, "there is no spoon."

[geekosaur]

Mmmm, edit wars at work. (Yes, I know someone who's had this problem. We just don't have people willing to update the wiki — and the usual "wiki in the original Hawaiian means 'I can't find any damned thing'" problem.)

[auntiemisha.livejournal.com]

emacs versus vi? :-)

I am having trouble getting people to do anything at all with the wiki, I have not figured out why. I even specifically sat down with one person who was interested and the person said, "oh, this is perfect, I will start updating it right away!" and then... nothing. Any advice?

[yesthattom.livejournal.com]

I think people need to see someone else being a success, and then they'll adopt it.

When the person said they'd use it, maybe they meant they'd read it, not update it. You might want to find out what impediments they are finding. Maybe a cheat sheet or something would help.

[sweh.livejournal.com]

The lack of gatekeeper is both a pro- and a con-

Off the top of my head:

pro: speeds up documentation cycles; no bottlenecks; individuals can enter data accurately without third party filtering

con: errors can creep in; contradictions; lack of consistent style; flame wars; leaking of confidential information

No doubt there are more.

[hcoyote.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of wikis. We use them pretty extensively at AMD. They make it easier for people to write documentation. The problem is, they make it easier for people to write documentation *and never vette that it works*. For larger environments, you almost need a dedicated documentation person just to make sure everything is reviewed for correctness.