{panel}
*{_}Karen Huffman and Michael Jourdan from National Geographic Society participated in an{_}* _[*{_}NIH/NLM-sponsored Wiki Fair{_}*|http://colab.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?NIHWikiFair_2007_02_28]_{*}_, February 28, 2007._* *Below are excerpts from our presentation. See* *[*attachments*|^20070228ngswikis.ppt]* *tab for the full presentation.*
{panel}
h3. Define Your Spaces
Below is an alphabetical list of the ways we are using our wikis at National Geographic. Our list is growing as we learn more about wikis and work with groups to envision additional possibilities.
{section}
{column:width=50%}
* Calendars
* Dictionaries and encyclopedias
* Directories
* Manuals, tutorials, and best practices
* Newsletters
* Project planning and status reports
{column}
{column:width=50%}
* Reference material/FAQs
* Research and expertise database
* Resumes
* Special interest groups
* Team and division sites
* White-boarding/prototyping ideas
{column}
{section}
h3. Lessons Learned
* *Ordered chaos* \- define or plan your spaces to help make sense of what might appear chaotic to users. Organize the content into logical groupings, or spaces.
* *Collaboration* is key but a level of trust is required - need to know who are your participants / your audience. Too much security is counter to the wiki model; so we are trying to find a balance in what might work for our staff that require tighter security on their wikis.
* *Make it easy* for people to contribute/Don't make it too difficult to collaborate. The input form extension has helped us to simplify adding new pages.
* With different learning styles, you need to *develop multiple training formats* \- online training material, one-on-one sessions, 20-minute coffee breaks, e-learning tutorials, etc.
* *Market your ideas* to staff so that people know what services and tools you have to offer.
* *Be prepared to support organic growth.* In our case, once we set up and build the basic framework, we then assign and train staff to manage their own wiki spaces.
* *Communicate your impact and risk* both horizontally and vertically. We just recently started using Omniture for tracking metrics but are also looking at other ways to share with upper management our return on investment through comparison grids with other solutions, time investment as well as our success stories.
* *Realize wikis will not work for everything\!* Let go if solution doesn't work. Don't change just to "fit" the data/content into a wiki. Need to weigh the pros and cons of the solutions you select.
\\
*{_}Karen Huffman and Michael Jourdan from National Geographic Society participated in an{_}* _[*{_}NIH/NLM-sponsored Wiki Fair{_}*|http://colab.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?NIHWikiFair_2007_02_28]_{*}_, February 28, 2007._* *Below are excerpts from our presentation. See* *[*attachments*|^20070228ngswikis.ppt]* *tab for the full presentation.*
{panel}
h3. Define Your Spaces
Below is an alphabetical list of the ways we are using our wikis at National Geographic. Our list is growing as we learn more about wikis and work with groups to envision additional possibilities.
{section}
{column:width=50%}
* Calendars
* Dictionaries and encyclopedias
* Directories
* Manuals, tutorials, and best practices
* Newsletters
* Project planning and status reports
{column}
{column:width=50%}
* Reference material/FAQs
* Research and expertise database
* Resumes
* Special interest groups
* Team and division sites
* White-boarding/prototyping ideas
{column}
{section}
h3. Lessons Learned
* *Ordered chaos* \- define or plan your spaces to help make sense of what might appear chaotic to users. Organize the content into logical groupings, or spaces.
* *Collaboration* is key but a level of trust is required - need to know who are your participants / your audience. Too much security is counter to the wiki model; so we are trying to find a balance in what might work for our staff that require tighter security on their wikis.
* *Make it easy* for people to contribute/Don't make it too difficult to collaborate. The input form extension has helped us to simplify adding new pages.
* With different learning styles, you need to *develop multiple training formats* \- online training material, one-on-one sessions, 20-minute coffee breaks, e-learning tutorials, etc.
* *Market your ideas* to staff so that people know what services and tools you have to offer.
* *Be prepared to support organic growth.* In our case, once we set up and build the basic framework, we then assign and train staff to manage their own wiki spaces.
* *Communicate your impact and risk* both horizontally and vertically. We just recently started using Omniture for tracking metrics but are also looking at other ways to share with upper management our return on investment through comparison grids with other solutions, time investment as well as our success stories.
* *Realize wikis will not work for everything\!* Let go if solution doesn't work. Don't change just to "fit" the data/content into a wiki. Need to weigh the pros and cons of the solutions you select.
\\