A presentation called 'How we wiki' for the Gov2.0 conference on 19 October 2009 in Canberra.

1. How we wiki Bobby Graham: Director Web Publishing (Acting) National Library of Australia Gov 2.0 Conference: 19 October 2009

2. Vital statistics The Library has 450 employees. We implemented our first wiki in 2006. We have 100+ wiki spaces. We use Confluence. Now we have two wikis: internal and external.

3. Why wiki? We support transparency of information. We engage with other libraries – nationally and internationally. We have a professional interest in information management.

4. Why Confluence? It was compatible with our systems infrastructure. It is widely used by corporate organisations. We had an existing relationship and experience with the company. It has an active open source community, building macros and plug-ins.

5. What wiki features? WYSIWYG editor Pages, news items and comments Access control One installation; multiple wikis Export to PDF and MS Word

6. What wiki stuff we like Browser based editing Versioning Recently updated listing Search Pages print well

7. Wiki flexibility It happens now Easy to restructure History Easy to roll back But . . . flexibility, freedom, trust = uncertainty

8. Wiki engagement Anyone can participate in the wiki. All staff can access, read and edit any wiki space. All staff can freely con-tribute new content using any web browser. We all collaborate.

9. Wiki governance Admin is by community. Any wiki user can fix spelling, formatting, grammar or structure. Author is recorded. We can roll back to a previous version. Space administrators

10. Wiki transparency We share information. All staff can collaborate on any project or topic. All staff can share infor-mation across all APS levels.

11. Work in teams We could work in a group or in a project team. We work across teams and projects. We collaborate internally and externally. Each community space is like a mini wiki in its own right.

12. What kind of projects? We manage the Library’s collections. We look after the Library’s readers and users. We plan to implement new services. We work in divisional, branch and group projects.

13. How we wiki Pages are the building blocks of the wiki. A statement of purpose is a good way to start. We add content like text, images and tables. We attach files. We can find stuff: any location is good. We (sometimes) archive stuff.

14. What we wiki We plan, draft and write documents. We prepare project plans. We manage activity schedules. We maintain rosters and planning docs. Sometimes we improve business processes.

15. Wiki woes Wiki users expect Word. They miss structure and presentation. Some resist a new system. Users may not commit or own spaces or pages. It’s easy to publish and forget, or not archive. Wiki is yet another place to publish (not).

16. Case study: How to improve a business process 400+ procedures documents . . . In various Excel spreadsheets How to share information in all of these docs? How to update the documents? Where to publish them? Who is responsible?!

20. Source files updated and maintained.

21. Archived in TRIM.

22. Content published on intranet and linked to TRIM.

23. Updated content always available to users.

25. What have we learnt? People may make mistakes, but they will take responsibility for: their own learning organising things tidying up Given the opportunity: they have good ideas learn from each other

26. What works well? Documenting services Documenting processes Working and writing collaboratively Collaborating with external partners

27. What doesn’t work well? The wiki could be used for what it was never intended: archiving publishing workflows publishing secure documents Blog style writing

28. Is wiki successful? How should we measure success? 100+ wikis implemented in three years 10 public wiki spaces 12 closed wiki groups Continued use of service

29. Wiki future We plan to improve the interface: add themes. We’d like to make browsing more pleasant. We plan to improve wiki help and guidance. We’d like to assist with training.

30. With thanks to Michele Huston for her direction and leadershipAll images courtesy of the National Library of Australiabgraham@nla.gov.auTel: 02 6262 1542http://libertylittlebasil.blogspot.com/@LibertyBasil