Sharepoint and Wikis

For me one of the most exciting new features in WSS 3.0 is the inbuilt Wiki functionality. Over the last few years Wikis have taken the internet by storm particularly the wikipedia.org website. Essentially Wikis are a collaborative writing tool used to produce knowledge bases. You might ask what can a Wiki do that can’t be done with a word document? I think the key advantages are:

• Linking. When creating a Wiki it easy to link to other web pages even ones that don’t already exist. For example if I was creating a Wiki about Alphameric. I might write “Alphameric provide ERP solutions using Microsoft Dynamics-Nav”. Simply by placing double square brackets around any word which I think might need to be looked up will provide a Hyperlink. So the sentence would look like this “Alphameric provide [[ERP]] solutions using [[Microsoft]] [[Dynamics-Nav]]”. When someone comes to read my Alphameric Wiki they may not understand what an ERP is so they can click on the link. If a web page has been created for ERP then they will be taken to it otherwise they will be presented with a blank Wiki where they are invited to add a definition of an ERP.
• Ad-Hoc. Wiki writing is informal, you can start an article and leave it as unfinished “Stub”. The next user who comes along can then finish it.
• Open ended. Users can create pages about absolutely anything. There is a flexibility which is unachievable with conventional documentation methods.

Here are some things I believe we could use Wikis for:

• Customer Information. What the customer does, who works there, what they are like, what software was is installed, what products they might be interested in?
• Software Documentation. Both internally and at customer sites. Following a new install we could provide customers with a documentation Wiki, they/we are then free to modify this as they learn more about the product or developments change.
• Projects. Information can be provided by Project Manager relating to progress, deliverables etc.
• Human Resource. Employee profiles, Tax Office Info, Pay Info, Health and Safety. Any new employees could be advised to spend a few hours with the Wikis to work out what we do.

Any thoughts?

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