My main claim is that technical writers should use organizational methods to better manage corporate wikis. If you look at how well structured an online help system is - from the SME interview to the topic list to the review cycle to the usability test and keyword identification - you see that most of these organizational elements are not being applied to the management of corporate wikis.
As a result, while the wiki may be a wonderful collaborative tool, the content is not usually verified, tested, organized, considered for keyword marking, considered for TOC marking, or considered for Index marking. When many authors contribute to a wiki, all the authors don't know what the other authors are doing. What you end up with is a pile of content - one big pile - with a stick through the middle.
Technical writers should lift off each piece of content from the stick, examine it for audience, purpose, date written, expiration date, category, type, and validity before publishing it for corporate usage.
At a conference last week, we discussed wikis and content validity. I learned that Wikipedia does have a review process before articles are posted. I'm sorry I don't have the specifics, but I'm sure the info is available on the site.
ReplyDeleteYour topic sounds interesting in part because it's a challenge I face at work.