Private Wikis As Knowledge Management Systems
Recently in The Commune and the Scholar I wrote about the conflict between communal information repositories (such as the Wikipedia) and the distinctive voice of lone authority.
Several readers have pointed out that Wikis are just as useful-if not more so-in private contexts as they are as general sources like the excellent Wikipedia.
Many companies and institutions-from entire enterprises to small workgroups-have replaced complex Knowledge Management Systems with wikis. Wikis can also be used to help share knowledge across organizations. For example, a publisher I work with has organized a wiki to benefit all the contributors to a specific series of books that share the same resources, vocabulary, and ideas.
What are the advantages, and what are the dangers, with private wikis?
Very much on the plus side: Private wikis can cut through bureaucracy, and make it easier for people to share information.
On the downside, with a wiki you may not know who has contributed what, and with what degree of authority?leading to possible confusion and delay. This is essentially the same problem as with public wikis, and can be mitigated in the same fashion that Wikipedia has used: openness about issues and process, and clarity about roles, reviews, and responsibility. Still, a reasonably sane corporate denizen would be wise not to accept private wiki information as gospel without understanding its source-and where the source fits into the institutional zeitgeist.
A related private wiki issue is ease of use. If knowledge workers find it difficult or time consuming to use a wiki, they won't-and it will lose utility as a knowledge management system. This implies that institutions may find it worthwhile to go with licensed wiki software such as Socialtext, or to use a consultancy specializing in wiki knowledge management systems, rather than going it alone with open source wiki infrastructure.
More important than choice of software or software implementer, any institution establishing a private wiki should establish an initial team tasked with clearing potholes out of the way and training users. Otherwise, the private wiki will likely only see marginal use-and the goal of creating less hierarchical knowledge management will fail.
Posted by Harold Davis at March 21, 2006 4:01 PM
