May 6, 2009 - 5:09am
Wikis are winning a reputation of a serious publishing platform. They can help you collaborate in business by giving you a space to share files, videos, documents, and knowledge among managers, employees and even customers. There are dozens of ways how wikis can help you save time and money.
What is a wiki?
Meaning "quick" in Hawaiian, a wiki is a web page that enables a group of people to read, create, edit, and delete its content. Because of its simplicity and flexibility, even non-technical people can work with a wiki.
At first glance it might seem like a perfect recipe for disaster - anyone can edit your web page! How could you take this technology seriously? But in practice it usually works. Since people can edit the content, any misleading information will be quickly removed or edited.
In addition, you can control what information is posted by users. Hosted wikis usually include rollback features that allow restoring edited text to an earlier version if you don’t like the changes that were made. You can also restrict user access to wiki space, or block some ip addresses from editing your wiki.
The most well-known example of wiki is Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia edited by volunteers from all over the world. It was launched in 2001 and quickly proved the efficiency of collaborative writing.
You can either host a wiki yourself or take advantage of paid hosting. If you have necessary skills to host a wiki on your own server, you can choose between dozens of free wiki software programs. Browse the WikiMatrix to compare their features.
Wiki uses
A wiki is an excellent tool to exchange information among people. You can use it to answer questions, share some personal knowledge, edit and add documents and presentations, and keep everyone on track about new projects.
There are several ways how you can make wikis work for your company:
1. Event organizing.
In the popular CommonCraft video called “Wikis in Plain English,” a wiki is used to organize an event. There are a lot of companies that need to conduct meetings, conferences, seminars, presentations, etc. A wiki will let you discuss your meeting agenda, timelines and responsibilities. Even the assistants of Barack Obama used a wiki to organize volunteers for his election campaign.
2. Project management.
A wiki is a helpful tool for project management because it allows users to post all relevant information in one place. You can see the entire project; reduce reliance on email and documents that can easily get lost or confused with older versions; and keep informed about the progress of the project.
3. Internal documentation
A wiki can be used as a starting point for all documentation. It will be a great time saver for your company – all employees will be able to find necessary spreadsheets, applications, forms and documents of your organization online even if they work in other cities. And, there is only one current version of any document.
4. File server.
A wiki can give a small company the functionality of an advanced file server because all documents can be accessed from virtually any web browser without the cost and technical requirements needed to maintain a complicate computer network.
5. Notepad.
Why lose time writing dozens of e-mails with your critical messages or new ideas how to attract new customers and retain existing ones? You can use a wiki as your personal notepad to enter notes and share them with other employees.
6. Virtual whiteboard.
A wiki can also be used as a virtual whiteboard. The opportunity to work together as a team is necessary to sustain a competitive advantage. For example, you can store a series of phone scripts with your comments for salespeople. Or web designers can add their ideas about new website interface.
7. Test publishing.
If you want to publish new information on your official website, you can firstly post in on a wiki and send the link to your co-workers. They will evaluate how the page looks like and make necessary corrections. Thus you can be sure that your official website is highly professional.
8. Your own library.
Many companies use a wiki as an online library or encyclopedia (remember Wikipedia?). For example, you can store all the pertinent information about your products in one place or keep a running history of your regional office.
Then, when someone is looking for that information later on, they can check the collected facts and add their own comments, photos or videos. It is a great way to avoid duplication of effort and maintain a corporate memory, especially as workers come and go.
9. Guest book.
You can use a wiki as a website guest book where users leave their opinion about your service or products. They can add comments about their own experience or help new users make a more educated choice.
10. FAQ.
A wiki can be a primary tool for public consultation. There is no need to lose time sending hundreds of e-mails with the same answers when you can post all information in one place. Visitors can add their comments or add new questions. It is a good way to make sure that your FAQ page is helpful, professional and up to date.
11. Policies and guidelines.
In today’s online world, people expect to find product information and customer support easily on the web. A properly structured wiki can be extremely useful for guidelines or purchasing policies. It will enable your customers to add personal advice, create tutorials or “Getting Started” guides.
12. Content building.
A wiki can help you build content for product documentation, reports, articles and even books. Throughout the process, users can add notes or offer feedback for information you post. This kind of collaborative workflow helps to generate new ideas and look at your content from different angles.
13. Online community.
With wikis, you can create an online community and invite customers to take part in discussions. For example, an independent bookstore can host an online book club. A travel agency can host a wiki where people share their what-to-see and where-to-go advice. It's a good way to foster customer loyalty and snag new customers to your business.
14. Education.
A wiki is a useful tool to teach many different topics, for example foreign languages. You can post your notes from lessons or conference talks for your students. This way you can even create multimedia textbooks. You can also inform your students about upcoming topics and events and publish homework tasks.
Get the idea? These are just a few ways how a wiki can be used. Think about your business needs – and you will find lots of new ways to use this versatile online tool.
What is a wiki?
Meaning "quick" in Hawaiian, a wiki is a web page that enables a group of people to read, create, edit, and delete its content. Because of its simplicity and flexibility, even non-technical people can work with a wiki.
At first glance it might seem like a perfect recipe for disaster - anyone can edit your web page! How could you take this technology seriously? But in practice it usually works. Since people can edit the content, any misleading information will be quickly removed or edited.
In addition, you can control what information is posted by users. Hosted wikis usually include rollback features that allow restoring edited text to an earlier version if you don’t like the changes that were made. You can also restrict user access to wiki space, or block some ip addresses from editing your wiki.
The most well-known example of wiki is Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia edited by volunteers from all over the world. It was launched in 2001 and quickly proved the efficiency of collaborative writing.
You can either host a wiki yourself or take advantage of paid hosting. If you have necessary skills to host a wiki on your own server, you can choose between dozens of free wiki software programs. Browse the WikiMatrix to compare their features.
Wiki uses
A wiki is an excellent tool to exchange information among people. You can use it to answer questions, share some personal knowledge, edit and add documents and presentations, and keep everyone on track about new projects.
There are several ways how you can make wikis work for your company:
1. Event organizing.
In the popular CommonCraft video called “Wikis in Plain English,” a wiki is used to organize an event. There are a lot of companies that need to conduct meetings, conferences, seminars, presentations, etc. A wiki will let you discuss your meeting agenda, timelines and responsibilities. Even the assistants of Barack Obama used a wiki to organize volunteers for his election campaign.
2. Project management.
A wiki is a helpful tool for project management because it allows users to post all relevant information in one place. You can see the entire project; reduce reliance on email and documents that can easily get lost or confused with older versions; and keep informed about the progress of the project.
3. Internal documentation
A wiki can be used as a starting point for all documentation. It will be a great time saver for your company – all employees will be able to find necessary spreadsheets, applications, forms and documents of your organization online even if they work in other cities. And, there is only one current version of any document.
4. File server.
A wiki can give a small company the functionality of an advanced file server because all documents can be accessed from virtually any web browser without the cost and technical requirements needed to maintain a complicate computer network.
5. Notepad.
Why lose time writing dozens of e-mails with your critical messages or new ideas how to attract new customers and retain existing ones? You can use a wiki as your personal notepad to enter notes and share them with other employees.
6. Virtual whiteboard.
A wiki can also be used as a virtual whiteboard. The opportunity to work together as a team is necessary to sustain a competitive advantage. For example, you can store a series of phone scripts with your comments for salespeople. Or web designers can add their ideas about new website interface.
7. Test publishing.
If you want to publish new information on your official website, you can firstly post in on a wiki and send the link to your co-workers. They will evaluate how the page looks like and make necessary corrections. Thus you can be sure that your official website is highly professional.
8. Your own library.
Many companies use a wiki as an online library or encyclopedia (remember Wikipedia?). For example, you can store all the pertinent information about your products in one place or keep a running history of your regional office.
Then, when someone is looking for that information later on, they can check the collected facts and add their own comments, photos or videos. It is a great way to avoid duplication of effort and maintain a corporate memory, especially as workers come and go.
9. Guest book.
You can use a wiki as a website guest book where users leave their opinion about your service or products. They can add comments about their own experience or help new users make a more educated choice.
10. FAQ.
A wiki can be a primary tool for public consultation. There is no need to lose time sending hundreds of e-mails with the same answers when you can post all information in one place. Visitors can add their comments or add new questions. It is a good way to make sure that your FAQ page is helpful, professional and up to date.
11. Policies and guidelines.
In today’s online world, people expect to find product information and customer support easily on the web. A properly structured wiki can be extremely useful for guidelines or purchasing policies. It will enable your customers to add personal advice, create tutorials or “Getting Started” guides.
12. Content building.
A wiki can help you build content for product documentation, reports, articles and even books. Throughout the process, users can add notes or offer feedback for information you post. This kind of collaborative workflow helps to generate new ideas and look at your content from different angles.
13. Online community.
With wikis, you can create an online community and invite customers to take part in discussions. For example, an independent bookstore can host an online book club. A travel agency can host a wiki where people share their what-to-see and where-to-go advice. It's a good way to foster customer loyalty and snag new customers to your business.
14. Education.
A wiki is a useful tool to teach many different topics, for example foreign languages. You can post your notes from lessons or conference talks for your students. This way you can even create multimedia textbooks. You can also inform your students about upcoming topics and events and publish homework tasks.
Get the idea? These are just a few ways how a wiki can be used. Think about your business needs – and you will find lots of new ways to use this versatile online tool.
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