Question:

What’s all the fuss about wikis? Aren’t they just a glorified Web site?

Steve Ballard

Answer:

Well, Steve, on a wiki, you or another approved team member can change text, change a number, change a photo RIGHT NOW.

Let me tell you how that has to happen on a non-wiki site. Since 1993, when I built my first www.techwriters.com Web site, I have to:

1. Build a very time-consuming e-mail specifying exactly, and very clearly the changes I want.
2. Send it to a Webmaster I employ (if I can find one).
3. Then wait.
4. Then ping him or her, forward the e-mail to him or her again. Did you get this? When do you think you might have time to do this?

One such supposed Webmaster was an employee who told me he builds Web sites and updates them for customers, like a Realtor in town. But if the text was in a table, like my prices for my vacation rentals, he couldn’t do it. And he only wanted to recruit. It took him WEEKS to get around to making Web site changes for me, when he could do it, knowledge-wise.

Web sites have become much more complicated than HTML, which I did teach myself. I have graphics on my three sites (www.Techwriters.com; www.SeasideHome.US; www.SantaCruzHome.US ), I have prices in tables, I have forms that take money. My employees’ knowledge or my HTML knowledge does not cover forms, nor does the knowledge of most Web site companies. I only recently found a guy who can do CSS, PHP, and the requisite CMS for my sites. He’s $85/hr. I do know of one good programmer; we’re lining up more. Now they must know Ajax, Python, and Joombla.

To turn all of my sites into wikis, I just migrated my three sites off one hosting company here in Santa Cruz and onto GoDaddy, which supports PHP5. We find Web service providers for our clients who do support PHP5. I can’t wait to have wikis instead of what I’ve got now—very expensive, time-consuming, and maddening to change.

Q: Why do I see another article about wikis and Web 2.0 now everywhere?

Wikis bring more ideas, editing, and people connection to a company or organization. Instead of just depending on the intelligence and creativity of your paid staff, you can now receive input from many others in your niche community or technology. We found out from MySpace, FaceBook, WikiPedia, Linux, and many other open source creations that people love to add and improve content. And they have a lot of good ideas and contributions to make!

Wikis bring more interactivity, more collaboration, more personality to a project, compilaton, or user instructions. Now people who need the information can have as much say as the people who provide the information. They love sharing what they know. And they're your customers. You want to know how they feel and applaud them for contributing. That's what a wiki does.  

Q: Do you know of any downside to inputting into a wiki?

Even a wiki as succesful as Wikipedia--a public, free, online encyclopedia that is extremely useful and accurate--can experience some rare problems, such as "wikiwars" and "malicious content." But we can help you apply automated processes, social policies, and monitors (editors) to filter and exclude negative influences.

Q: Will my customers really contribute to a wiki? 

That depends. Are they passionate about your product? If they are, they will, because they love knowing and interacting with other people who are just as passionate.  It's all about your customers, and making them happy.

If customers are indifferent, then no.  You don't need a wiki... or a blog... you need a better product! &-) 

Documentation Wiki Questions

Q: My engineers like to use wikis for their project documentation. How do I leverage what they do into better, faster customer documentation?

First, you may want to hire a good Editor to turn what the engineers wrote (native and non-native English speaking) into correct, short, clear instructions. And you will quickly learn that you want to migrate some of that good wiki content into your technical publications system. Once the new content becomes part of the system--especially if you use content management--you can include it in PDFs and manuals released to customers. Our company, Wiki Solutions, specializes in doing this for you and giving you tools and training to do it yourselves. 

Q: How can I integrate a wiki into my existing publishing systems? 

There are different technology solutions available for technical publications systems. A wiki is both an editing tool and an output format. Wiki Solutions can help craft a solution for your particular environment.

Q: I'm an engineer. Why should I write anything? That's what tech writers are for. 

Companies have struggled with a growing problem over the last few years. Increasingly, they need installation, customization, integration, and operations instructions for highly technical audiences. They may also need code samples or in-depth examples. Traditional tech writers cannot always write the code samples these sophisticated readers really need. It takes a Programmer to talk shop with a Programmer reader. If you take the time to give a fellow Programmer what you know he or she wants and needs, instead of trying to explain it to a Tech Writer, where things often get lost in the translation, you save your company time and money, and you give better service to your customers.

Wiki Writing Questions 

Q: Do I write any differently than I would for a book, help system, or Web site?

No. Have at it. Of course, if you really want your reader to understand what you're trying to tell them in one reading, you may want to follow a few rules the very best tech writers follow, such as:

1. Write in numbered steps. Open up a cookbook from your kitchen. Look at the presentation for a recipe. That's the format for easy-to-follow customer instructions.
2. Write active, rather than passive verbs. Try this for fun. Eliminate all occurrences of these words: is, are, was, were, will, be, been, am. Any time you put one of those words into a sentence, you eliminate and obscure any actor. Your reader does not know who needs to take action--the software, or her.
3. Take it easy on the capital letters. Do not capitalize a word unless you write a proper noun, like Sun, HP, Oracle.

For more writing rules that very good tech writers follow, take the online course, 'How to Do Tech Writing' on www.Techwriters.com.

Q: I totally disagree with an edit my colleague made to my writing on the wiki. How should I handle it?

 Politely! Just as you would talk with someone in person, be polite about changes on the wiki. Perhaps you could use the Comments section to ask a question, to clarify your position and ask your colleague about his/her edit. And remember, you can always take a discussion "offline" to email or a phone call or even in person!