(specify "skilled" in this sentence: These things take a huge amount of collective skilled work.)
(add useful links on creating a successful wiki; make separate section for "Making a successful new wiki is hard" so the article can be made less one-sided.)
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It's easy to set up a bare-bones wiki installation on a web site.  
It's easy to set up a bare-bones wiki installation on a web site. It's very hard - much more difficult than most people imagine - to turn that into a successful wiki.  


It's hard - much more difficult than most people would probably think - to take the next steps of:
== Making a successful new wiki is hard ==
 
Challenges include:
* protecting from spam and vandalism
* protecting from spam and vandalism
* continuing to develop the site
* continuing to develop the site
* finding content
* finding content
* creating community and resolving disagreements among participants
* creating community<ref>[http://cotw.cc/wiki/Online_communities Online communities] on the ''Coalition of the Willing'' wiki lists very valuable resources for building online communities.</ref> and resolving disagreements among participants
* managing the content for quality and structure
* managing the content for quality and structure
* building the infrastructure: [[:Category:Templates|templates]],{{w|Help:Template}} [[Appropedia:Categories|categories]],{{w|Help:Category}} [[Special:PrefixIndex/Help:|help pages]],{{w|Help:Contents}} policy/guideline/procedure pages, etc. to foster productive collaboration
* building the infrastructure: [[:Category:Templates|templates]],{{w|Help:Template}} [[Appropedia:Categories|categories]],{{w|Help:Category}} [[Special:PrefixIndex/Help:|help pages]],{{w|Help:Contents}} policy/guideline/procedure pages, etc. to foster productive collaboration
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These things take a huge amount of collective skilled work.
These things take a huge amount of collective skilled work.


It is a rare community that has even one obsessive wiki admin/contributor, let alone the half dozen or more that are needed to make a successful wiki.  
It is a rare community that has even one obsessive wiki admin/contributor, let alone the half dozen or more that are needed to make a successful wiki. Building up the community and participation needed will take a serious commitment.  


== If they come, will they edit? ==
== If they come, will they edit? ==
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* It is possible to get editors - e.g. [[Appropedia]] and [[Greenlivingpedia]] have had a large number of contributions. Appropedia has had {{NUMBEROFEDITS}} edits since May 2006 (increasing over time) and {{NUMBEROFVIEWS}} page views.  
* It is possible to get editors - e.g. [[Appropedia]] and [[Greenlivingpedia]] have had a large number of contributions. Appropedia has had {{NUMBEROFEDITS}} edits since May 2006 (increasing over time) and {{NUMBEROFVIEWS}} page views.  
* Appropedia has had 129 views per edit; Greenlivingpedia has had 157. On the English Wikipedia about 0.02% of the unique visitors actually edit,<ref>For Appropedia statistics see [[Special:Statistics]]; for Greenlivingpedia see [[Greenlivingpedia:Special:Statistics]]; and for Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects see [[meta:User:Stu/comScore data on Wikimedia]] (the figures are obtained in a different way since the Wikimedia [[mw:Manual:$wgDisableCounters|view counters]] are turned off).</ref> and yet it is extremely active and comprehensive. With these figures, a community-wide or a global wiki clearly has a much better chance. A locally based wiki will at best be moderately successful, and that only if there is someone very committed to editing the wiki.
* Appropedia has had 129 views per edit; Greenlivingpedia has had 157. On the English Wikipedia about 0.02% of the unique visitors actually edit,<ref>For Appropedia statistics see [[Special:Statistics]]; for Greenlivingpedia see [[Greenlivingpedia:Special:Statistics]]; and for Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects see [[meta:User:Stu/comScore data on Wikimedia]] (the figures are obtained in a different way since the Wikimedia [[mw:Manual:$wgDisableCounters|view counters]] are turned off).</ref> and yet it is extremely active and comprehensive. With these figures, a community-wide or a global wiki clearly has a much better chance. A locally based wiki will at best be moderately successful, and that only if there is someone very committed to editing the wiki.
* The large comparison table of wikis at [[Green wikis and development wikis]]<ref>The initial comparison was carred out as part of a study for [[Akvo]] and [[UNESCO-IHE]], on collaboration in [[appropriate technology]] and related areas.</ref> shows a profusion of wikis, but a high proportion of them are inactive. Only a very small number have grown to a useful resource, mainly thanks to the dedication of a small, committed group of people - sometimes it is just one committed person, which is enough to create something useful but it is often not very visible, and does not contribute to encouraging broader collaboration by the viewers (to be precise, that tiny proportion of a large number of viewers).
* The large comparison table of wikis at [[Green wikis and development wikis]]<ref>The initial comparison was carried out as part of a study for [[Akvo]] and [[UNESCO-IHE]], on collaboration in [[appropriate technology]] and related areas.</ref> shows a profusion of wikis, but a high proportion of them are inactive. Only a very small number have grown to a useful resource, mainly thanks to the dedication of a small, committed group of people - sometimes it is just one committed person, which is enough to create something useful but it is often not very visible, and does not contribute to encouraging broader collaboration by the viewers (to be precise, that tiny proportion of a large number of viewers).


'''Conclusion''': Your wiki needs to engage with a very large number of people to get a significant absolute number of contributors. This is a classic manifestation of the Pareto principle,{{w|Pareto principle}} also known as the law of the vital few.
'''Conclusion''': Your wiki needs to engage with a very large number of people to get a significant absolute number of contributors. This is a classic manifestation of the Pareto principle,{{w|Pareto principle}} also known as the law of the vital few.
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== Notes ==
== Notes ==
<small><references/></small>
<small><references/></small>
== Interwiki links ==
* [http://cotw.cc/wiki/Online_communities Online communities] ''Coalition of the Willing''. Lists essential reading for building online communities.
== External links ==
* [http://www.groven.no/harald/Factors_for_a_successful_wiki Factors for a successful wiki], ''an edited version of an enlightening discussion on the Mediawiki-L list November 2006.''
* [http://wikimania2006.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proceedings:LP1/Full_text A Tale of Two Wikis: Techniques for building, managing and promoting collaborative communities], written version of a talk from Wikimania 2006.
* [http://editthis.info/wiki/How_to_make_a_successful_wiki How to make a successful wiki] - ''EditThis.info'' - brief tips.
* [http://www.possibility.com/wiki/index.php?title=GettingYourWikiAdopted GettingYourWikiAdopted] - extended advice on getting a wiki adopted. Focused on in-company wikis, but most is relevant to any wiki.
* [http://www.thoughtfarmer.com/blog/2007/12/07/wikipilot/ ‪6 Tips for a Successful Wiki Pilot], ''ThoughtFarmer'' - tips for a business intranet wiki.


[[Category:Wikis]]
[[Category:Wikis]]
[[Category:Community]]

Revision as of 12:08, 15 June 2011

It's easy to set up a bare-bones wiki installation on a web site. It's very hard - much more difficult than most people imagine - to turn that into a successful wiki.

Making a successful new wiki is hard

Challenges include:

  • protecting from spam and vandalism
  • continuing to develop the site
  • finding content
  • creating community[1] and resolving disagreements among participants
  • managing the content for quality and structure
  • building the infrastructure: templates,W categories,W help pages,W policy/guideline/procedure pages, etc. to foster productive collaboration

These things take a huge amount of collective skilled work.

It is a rare community that has even one obsessive wiki admin/contributor, let alone the half dozen or more that are needed to make a successful wiki. Building up the community and participation needed will take a serious commitment.

If they come, will they edit?

  • It is possible to get editors - e.g. Appropedia and Greenlivingpedia have had a large number of contributions. Appropedia has had 1,123,316 edits since May 2006 (increasing over time) and page views.
  • Appropedia has had 129 views per edit; Greenlivingpedia has had 157. On the English Wikipedia about 0.02% of the unique visitors actually edit,[2] and yet it is extremely active and comprehensive. With these figures, a community-wide or a global wiki clearly has a much better chance. A locally based wiki will at best be moderately successful, and that only if there is someone very committed to editing the wiki.
  • The large comparison table of wikis at Green wikis and development wikis[3] shows a profusion of wikis, but a high proportion of them are inactive. Only a very small number have grown to a useful resource, mainly thanks to the dedication of a small, committed group of people - sometimes it is just one committed person, which is enough to create something useful but it is often not very visible, and does not contribute to encouraging broader collaboration by the viewers (to be precise, that tiny proportion of a large number of viewers).

Conclusion: Your wiki needs to engage with a very large number of people to get a significant absolute number of contributors. This is a classic manifestation of the Pareto principle,W also known as the law of the vital few.

How successful wikis started

  • Wikipedia started as a commercial effort, only later being made a non-profit.W
This page or section needs to be expanded.You can help Appropedia by adding information on this topic. Thanks!Read more...

Think globally - collaborate don't compete

Collaboration and competition are both powerful creative forces in nature and society. They each have their place - but the nature of wikis is radical collaboration.

See Permaculture wiki #Think globally: A call to collaboration

See also Green wiki, Appropriate technology wiki and Wiki synergy.

Advice from Jimmy Wales

Jimmy Wales, the co-founder of Wikipedia, lists five elements he considers essential to the success of a large-scale collaboration:[4]

  1. Mechanisms for effective collaboration (wiki software provides revision control, ability to revert unconstructive edits; but there must be a dedicated community of users to continuously monitor a wiki).
  2. Online identities (pseudo-identities are fine as long as they are stable).
  3. Shared vision. The community of participants must share the same vision of what they are trying to build.
  4. Flat hierarchies, with the fewest possible barriers to participation.
  5. Speed. People must be able to see results from their work with the least administrative delay.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Online communities on the Coalition of the Willing wiki lists very valuable resources for building online communities.
  2. ↑ For Appropedia statistics see Special:Statistics; for Greenlivingpedia see Greenlivingpedia:Special:Statistics; and for Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects see meta:User:Stu/comScore data on Wikimedia (the figures are obtained in a different way since the Wikimedia view counters are turned off).
  3. ↑ The initial comparison was carried out as part of a study for Akvo and UNESCO-IHE, on collaboration in appropriate technology and related areas.
  4. ↑ Lynch, C.G. (2007-06-28). "Five Things Wikipedia's Founder Has Learned About Online Collaboration". CIO. Archived from the original on 2011-03-06. Retrieved 2008-10-14.

Interwiki links

  • Online communities Coalition of the Willing. Lists essential reading for building online communities.

External links

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