Five Ways To Get Your (Corporate) Wiki On

Wikis are a great source of constantly updated, widely accessible information for consumers. But enterprise use is limited. So here's five simple steps to encourage wiki adoption in your company, courtesy of an Interop speaker.Corporate Web 2.0 evangelists need to give employees a reason to visit and use the company or department wiki. That means starting threads around everyday work activities, not just big-picture strategic stuff, said Atlassian Software president Jeffrey Walker, who spoke Wednesday at Interop.

That means more entries related to agendas, meeting minutes, daily tasks and short term projects. "It's a repeatable process that gets people coming back to the wiki," said Walker. Wikis also need to include content that will grab the attention of some of corporate America's most technophobic citizens -- senior managers. "A lot of them don't even read their e-mails," said Walker. But, he added, they'll visit the wiki if it includes sales progress reports, revenue updates, and other critical business metrics.

Additionally, wikis shouldn't be just about work if you want them to be widely used. ""Your organization is a social organization," said Walker, who noted that one Australian IT company keeps its wiki updated with rugby news as well as work information.

Also, use traditional IT tools that employees are familiar with to provide an on-ramp to social computing, Walker said. For instance, e-mail can be "an infiltration tool" when messages include links to a wiki section with more detailed information.

Finally, your wiki should be as open as practically possible -- with certain areas walled off only when absolutely necessary. "The more you keep it open, the more you will enjoy success like Wikipedia," said Walker.

Isn't that the goal of every Web 2.0 evangelist?