Future Changes

6 steps to enhance your wiki’s chances of being STOLEN, and the patterns to make it happen

Yes, that’s right: STOLEN. But in a good way. One that builds a vibrant community and strong participation on your wiki. Here’s how creator Dave Foord describes it: “Unfortunately many people set wikis up with the best intention for their students, only to find that they didn’t work, or didn’t achieve the desired learning outcomes.” He studied this, “to try and identify why some educational wikis worked, and what could be done to increase the chances for others in the future. The research lead to the creation of the STOLEN principle – 6 basic features each identified by the letters STOLEN, which if considered could increase the wikis chances of being successful.”

istock_000004211579xsmall.jpgAs soon as I read Foord’s six steps on the STOLEN principle wiki (which you can edit – excellent!), I noticed parallels to several wiki patterns.

Here are the steps and some patterns that can help you make each step happen:

Specific Overall Objective – Magnet, FAQ
Timely – Set Window of Discussion, Lunch Menu
Ownership – MySpace, BarnRaising, PageOwnership
Localised objective – StartingPoint, EmptyPages, Scaffold
Engagement rules – Invitation, Welcoming
Navigation – Automatic Index, Seed it with content, Too much structure

What patterns do you see in your wiki? Which ones have you used?

Check out my new Wikipatterns book – a how-to guide for growing wiki use in organizations with practical advice from a wiki expert. (That’s me!)

Here’s what people are saying about the book:

  • “Create an idea-sharing environment where incomplete can be linked together and from this, solutions emerge.” – From the book’s Foreword, by Ward Cunningham
  • “I’m going to recommend this without even reading it! Should be an e2.0 must-read top-shelfer…” – Susan Scrupski
  • “Just pre-ordered this from Amazon. Looks to be a good read and an essential tool in any E2.0 evangelist’s tool kit.” – Scott Gavin
  • “I love it when this happens, a blog I’ve read for ages (devoured some would say) gets published in book format. Needless to say my copy is already ordered.” – Gordon McLean

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Wikipatterns book: a practical guide to improving productivity and collaboration in your organization Future Changes is Stewart Mader. He wrote the book on wiki adoption, and he has led or advised enterprise-wide wiki deployments in Fortune 500 companies, universities, nonprofits, small and medium size companies.

Advisory Services include: adoption strategy and timeframe, vendor/product analysis, content structure and templates, roles and permissions, data migration, and workshops. Linda Ziffrin of Valley View Ventures handles bookings. Contact to discuss your needs.
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