[Wolves] Wikis - an article

[Jono Bacon]

--- Aquarius <aquarius-lists@kryogenix.org> wrote:
> Hm. Not a lot other than "I agree", although I think
> that the notion of 
> collaborative publishing is enabled but rarely
> actually *done* by wikis. I see 
> them being used quite a bit more as a place where a
> main author or author 
> group can put up things online which can be
> corrected by everyone, rather than 
> true collaboration (if such a thing exists...)

I am pretty much sided with Aq here. I think Wiki's
are a great principle, but the practicality of them is
probably not the same. Wiki's seem to me a great
system for providing a means for people to edit
documents, but the actual process of people doing this
needs to be pro-active. I believe Open Source (and
this is a concept of collaborative open development)
is something that people essentially do to help
themselves (as ESR stated in The Cathedral and the
Bazaar about each developer scratching his or her own
itch). The problem with Wiki's is the problem with
many documentation projects; the initial itch has
already been scratched and you are merely showing
someone how to scratch their own. This is not as
satisfying as contributing to functionality for many
people and hence why many documentation projects end
up flagging a bit and eventually dying.

This is, of course, a generalisation. I used to be
involved with some documentation projects; I did an
Installfest HOWTO years ago for example, but I
understood the personal benefits of contributing to
documentation were different than contributing to
software.

These are certainly issues to be looked at. The social
issues of systems like Wiki's IMHO weigh out the
technical reasons - Wiki's are pretty much functional
enough, no great major tecnology is behind them, but
the social aspects of making them work in a volunteer
collaborative group is another thing.

  Jono




=====
Jono Bacon - http://www.jonobacon.org/
Web Developer - Musician - Writer - Freelancer

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