Separating Files and the Information They Contain
Larry Cannell explains the inherent weakness in files as the primary container for information:
I don’t even want files. What I want is the information stored in a file. I have been thinking about files and documents lately and I have come to the conclusion that our reliance on the computer file as the primary structure for storing our digital “stuff” is hurting us in ways we cannot see. This is holding us back from realizing truly breakthrough capabilities.
Files must be pushed out to people, and each person makes changes in isolation from others. The resulting revisions must be combined – and differences resolved – which can lead to disagreements, misunderstandings, and corrections. This can prolong the development of critical products like proposals, reports, technical documentation, and anything else that needs to be produced by many people in a short time period.
A wiki pulls those same people in to work on information in a shared space where one always sees the most up to date version – the product of all previous revisions. This eliminates the reconciliation of competing or conflicting changes, since they’re dealt with during the revision process. That’s the part of collaboration that’s otherwise the least collaborative, least productive, and most damaging to the social fabric of work groups.
JGraham says:
May 1st, 2009
It’s true that a Wiki sits in one place for everyone who wants to see it. Taking this idea further: Wiki files are still static files. You still have to click EDIT. As long as we’re encouraging collaboration and are saving past revisions, why not make a page editable the moment you enter it? Why even have an EDIT button? Either do nothing and navigate away or make the edit.
Coded Wiki sites like Wikipedia are something different, but WYSIWYG editors should make the EDIT button obsolete since you’re going to see the finished product as you type. Accidental deletions are immediately recoverable.
This is an advantage that files currently have over Wiki. You view a file in the editor, like Word, for example, and don’t have to go through a separate step to render it for the screen. Sure, you have to open up the file in order to edit it, but you can’t see it before you open it like you can with a Wiki page.
Stuart French says:
May 13th, 2009
I agree with JGraham and have been thinking this for some time. With the exception of read-only page security settings, I would love to see the type of Google Docs editability embedded into a wiki product like Confluence. This is particularly true when needing to edit just one field of a table, etc. WYSIWYG editors that show text layout such as columns during the editing process are also critical. I have come across several users who complain that they click edit and the page they see looks nothing like the one they were looking at seconds before. Not good.