Library Revolution

Several weeks ago, a colleague and I ran a small workshop for librarians on wikis. We had a great group of people who were enthusiastic about learning something new, but some of them had no clue whatsoever about what a wiki even was. No problem, though, since the whole point of a wiki is that it is quick, easy, and collaborative in nature. By the end of the session, we had worked together to learn about wikis (with a short digression to discuss XML feeds), the uses they could be put to in their libraries, and each member of the group had edited a pre-established wiki and created at least one of their own. Everyone left with a smile on their face.

Now, I usually find it easy to run a training session or workshop and have everyone leave the room smiling and enthusiastic, to one degree or another. But the real trick is the follow-up. What happens when they get back to their libraries, get socked with a pile of work and a line of patrons to help, and I’m not there to cheer them on with the project they were working on? Sometimes nothing happens. I talk to the people a few weeks later, and all I get is a sheepish look. “Well, I meant to work on it, but, well… you know!”

This time was different, at least at first. I was so encouraged to get some feedback after the session that every single one of the participants had been working on at least one wiki to serve a particular purpose int heir library. WOW!

However, wikis seem to me to be one of those things that’s easy, fun, and exciting to get started, but that can be absolutely torturous to keep going. Especially since the collaborative nature of a wiki relies on a certain amount of buy in by others who may not be as charged with the enthusiasm you came into the project with.

And this is exactly the feedback I’m getting from several of the workshop participants now. They have a wiki going that seems like a great and efficient way to meet their particular goal. They got it set up, added initial content, and brought in the group. It was OK at first, but by now the effort has died. Now what?

This is why I like Wikipatterns. I can’t remember who suggested this site to me (thank you!, but I have found it a great source for tackling just this sort of a situation. By exploring the sort of behavioral patterns that have emerged around other wiki projects and taking a close look at how your situation may or may not resemble the patterns experienced by others, some real insight can be gained… and some problems addressed.

Maybe you thought you were taking on the role of the Wiki Champion… when everyone else thinks you’re really the Do It All or the Over Organizer. Maybe someone needs to Seed It With Content or combat a feeling of Page Ownership among your users in order to get the ball rolling. The folks contributing to this wiki have all been there and done that, and are willing to share and discuss ways to get past these sorts of roadblocks. Sure, they’re all generalizations and don’t apply to every situation. But I’ve found the patterns to be pretty spot on with the kinds of situations I’ve encountered.

And I find the patterns can apply to other projects as well, not just wikis. Who among us hasn’t dealt with someone who sounds suspiciously like their description of a Wiki Bully in other situations where people might need to be convinced to adopt a new way of doing things? Believe me, there’s a lot of bullies out there, not just when it comes to Wikis. And a lot of the time the first step towards dealing with it is to recognize the problem.

Anyway, Wiki patterns isn’t perfect by any means. But I definitely think it’s nice to see a resource out there for dealing with the hardest part of a collaborative project - the collaboration. Setting up the site is one thing. Getting the group to work together and create a sustainable project is quite anther.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 7th, 2007 at 9:03 pm and is filed under Social Networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.