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Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 1MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Virtual teams: Wikis and othercollaboration tools
Valentin Todorov
(in collaboration with Diman Todorov, Cardiff University, UK)
MSIS 2009 (Oslo, 18-20 May 2009)
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 2MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Outline
• Introduction: what is Wiki; Web 2.0; technical aspects• Comparison with similar technologies• Purpose, strengths and limits of wikis• Example scenarios• Wiki engines• Information retrieval in wikis• Summary and conclusions
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 3MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
What is a Wiki
• “The simplest online database that could possibly work.”
--Ward Cunningham
• “A wiki is a collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone with access to contribute or modify content, using a simplified mark-up language.”
--Wikipedia
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 4MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
What is a Wiki
• A piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content
• Any Web browser can be used. • Wiki supports hyperlinks • Has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and
cross-links between internal pages on the fly.• Wiki is considered a Web 2.0 technology
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 5MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
What is Web 2.0
• Web 2.0 is a term often applied to a perceived ongoing transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of websites to a full-fledged computing platform serving web applications to end users. Ultimately Web 2.0 services are expected to replace desktop computing
applications for many purposes.
--Wikipedia
• Web 1.0 was all about connecting people. It was an interactive space, and I think Web 2.0 is of course a piece of jargon, nobody even knows what it means. If Web 2.0 for you is blogs and wikis, then that is people to people. But that was what the Web was supposed to be all along.
-- Tim Berners-Lee
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 6MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
What is Web 2.0
• Prominent examples for Web 2.0 applications:– flickr– facebook– del.ico.us.
• A commonly accepted set of characteristics of Web 2.0:– participatory– decentralized– linked– emergent
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 7MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Are you Web 2.0 compliant?
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 8MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Are you Web 2.0 compliant?
http://web2.0validator.com/
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 9MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Technically speaking …
• Special mark-up language
• Simple, but poses a significant entry barrier
• WYSIWYG content entry – wiki toolbar
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 10MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Technically speaking…(2)
• Highly dynamic content: how to ensure quality of this content?
– A complete revision history– Subscribe for notifications– Major and minor changes– Subscribe to an RSS feed
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 11MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Technically speaking…(3)
• Revision history example
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 12MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Technically speaking…(4)
• There are the following two categories of Wikis:
– Wiki services or Wiki farms• Free or fee based
– Self-hosted Wiki+ A variety of OS software+ Maximum control over the access and security+ Fulfilment of specific requirements- Necessity of own server- Necessity of technical and network experience- Longer start up time
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 13MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Technically speaking…(5)
• How to choose a Wiki?
– How many users– Are separate groups necessary– Is interaction between groups necessary– How secure should be the pages– Public or private pages– How skilled are the participants– How important is the layout
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 14MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Other technologies: mailing lists • Emails are sent to a designated email address• Mailing list refers to four things:
1. A list of email addresses, 2. Subscribers: the people receiving mail at those addresses, 3. Publications (e-mail messages) sent to those addresses4. Reflector, which is a single e-mail address
• The receiver is a software which broadcasts received mails to all subscribers
• Two types of lists: announcement list (or newsletter)and discussion list
• Mailing lists are private (unlike Wikis)• Archived mailing lists provide functionality (like
searching, indexing) to achieve tasks similar to the ones accomplished with Wikis
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 15MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Other technologies: web forums
• Modern form of newsgroups• Users can change their own content
after it has been posted• Archival of communication threads is
intrinsic• Forums are more communication
centric (unlike Wikis which are document centric)
• Wikis provide better support for authoring, retrieval and interrelation of documents
From www.selfhtml.org
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 16MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Other technologies: blogs
• The content is organised in reverse chronological order• One or few authors• Specific subject, personal information or combination of
both• An interactive comments section right below the article• The comments can be written anonymously• A good tradeoff between the strict access control in
traditional content management systems and the liberal approach in wikis
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 17MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Other technologies: blogs - Example
• Blog About Statshttp://blogstats.wordpress.com/
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 18MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Other technologies: blogs - Example
Tag cloud
Today
Searching
Recent posts
Recent comments
RSS
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 19MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Other technologies: CMS
• CMS and Wiki have same features and functionalities, but different emphasis
• Wiki is more open to authorship• In Wiki the support for authorisation and authentication is
less sophisticated• Wikis implement elaborate interpersonal conflict resolution
mechanisms• Free open source vs. expensive proprietary solution
(exceptions like Joomla)• http://www.cmsmatrix.com
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 20MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Other technologies: MS SharePoint
• Used to build Intranet and Extranet portals and team sites• Maturity in terms of user interface, database design,
workflow and communication features• Two platforms:
– Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) - free with Windows 2003 Server
– Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS)• Strong when type specific documents are conserned
(Word, Excel, PowerPoint)• SharePoint 2007 includes a wiki (low profile)• Not necessary to compare SharePoint to Wiki but rather to
other CMS
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 21MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Other technologies: MS Lotus Notes
• Two products– Louts Domino Server– Lotus Notes
• Good interoperability with DB2, JSP and XML but poor third party support
• Some integration possible between Notes and wikis• Preferred for hosting large reference documents or more
formal documents within Intranet
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 22MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Wiki best practices
• A large user base is needed• Work best when the organization structure is flat• Willingness to share information – worry for not receiving
credit• Conduct guidelines – the five pillars of Wikipedia• When introducing wikis often expectations are too high• Although simple wikis need introduction – tutorial or
workshop• Wikis are never finished – this needs to be made clear
from the beginning• Some content should be present at the time of introduction
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 23MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Example scenarios: Overview
• Building collaboratively a knowledge base (METIS wiki, R wiki, Ubuntu wiki)
• Collaborative software development• Education, teaching, training• Collaborative authoring (MSIS task force on software
sharing, UNIDO INDSTAT 2 documentation)• Intranet (UNIDO Intranet)
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 24MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Example scenarios: METIS Wiki
• To help experts in statistical agencies develop metadata management systems and processes.
• Enterprise wiki Confluence hosted by UNECE• Content is structured around Case study entries• The case studies follow a predefined template with six
topics• Only authorised users can enter and edit content• Easy upload from an Word document• The complete case study document in PDF format is
provided too
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 25MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Example scenarios: METIS Wiki (2)
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 26MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Example scenarios: R Wiki
• R is “a system for statistical computation and graphics. It provides, among other things, a programming language, high-level graphics, interfaces to other languages and debugging facilities.”
-- R-core development team• An (unfriendly) R-Help mailing list• R Wiki launched in 2006• Uses DokuWiki engine (targeted to software
documentation); R-specific extensions• Distinguish between
– large guides and books and – short tips
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 27MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Example scenarios: R Wiki (2)
• Statistics:– 2800 pages– 460 pages with probably legitimate content (h2 titles)– 650 registered users
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 28MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Example scenarios: Ubuntu Wiki
• Ubuntuusers: http://www.ubuntuusers.de• A portal (in German) – provides everything necessary
about Ubuntu and its derivatives• Single entry point to:
– Web forum – ask questions– Wiki – read (and/or write) guides and explanations– Blog – publishes news from Ubuntuusers
• Clean structure build on a small number of top level categories: download, installation, drivers, security, programming and so on.
• This structure can be further extended
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 29MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Example scenarios: Collaborative software development
• A small team of software developers working on a midrange project
• A Wiki is included in the development process• The Wiki is not a part of the developed project• Wiki is used to
– Share know-how about third party products– Collect information about competing products– Store meeting minutes– To-do lists
• Wiki is inappropriate for technical documentation of the source code (too informal)
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 30MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Example scenarios: UNIDO SDMX pilot project
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 31MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Example scenarios: Collaborative authoring
• A small team of up to 10 members (possibly distributed geographically and organizationally) with the task of creating one or more documents
• Real time or asynchronously• Software tools and technologies:
– Supported file formats– Text chat or conferencing– Tracking changes and revisions– RSS feeds and email updates– Private and public sessions– Real time co editing– Possibility for adding comments– Spell checker
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 32MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Example: MSIS Task force on software sharing
• Cross-organizational workgroup with 10 members• No face-to-face meeting was envisaged• Evolution
– a) conventional mail exchange– b) web forum– c) wiki hosted by ISTAT
• Some initial structure was offered, which turned out to be sufficient
• Real time (teleconferences) and asynchronous editing• Advantages
– free– simple– no problems with the organizational “borders”
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 33MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Example scenarios: Intranet
• Quick and uncomplicated collecting of information• Google, Nokia, Motorola• Why (top ten reasons - from TWiki blog)?
– Slowing of the e-mail flood – Up-to-date– Open structure – Powerful tools– Flexibility– Operability– Transparency– Security– Low resource demand– Cost savings
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 34MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Example scenarios: UNIDO Intranet
• Launched in 2006 as a successor of the previous conventional HTML site
• Mediawiki with many optional modules• Statistics:
– 20000 pages– 8000 pages with probably legitimate content– 650 registered users – 200 users actively contribute content
• Semantic MediaWiki (SMW) – experimental installation
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 35MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Example scenarios: UNIDO Intranet
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 36MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Wiki engines
• Wiki engine is the software enabling the wiki services• An overwhelming list (by programming language and by
name) is provided at http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiEngines
• A TopTen list (what criteria?) can be found at : http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?TopTenWikiEngines– MediaWiki, MoinWiki, TikiWiki, DokuWiki
• Help for choosing and comparing: http://www.wikimatrix.org/
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 37MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Information retrieval and structure in Wiki
• Common critique: hard to find information if unfamiliar with a specific wiki
• Structuring the wiki– Useful structures are created by the user– A particular structure can be created, suggested or enforced– Structuring elements such as
• Namespaces• Subpages • Categories• Different types of links• Keywords search• Templates• Skins
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 38MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Semantic Wikis • Follow the idea of semantic web as envisioned by Tim
Berners LeeEnrich the WWW with machine processable information• A Semantic Wiki extends a Wiki by adding Metadata in the
form of semantic annotations to the Wiki-pages• Semantic technologies: RDF, OWL,Topic Maps, or
Conceptual Graphs• Semantic navigation:
– in traditional Wiki - follow a link,– in semantic Wiki - additional information on the relation the link
describes.
• Semantic search: e.g. SPARQL queries
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 39MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Semantic Wikis :Example
<ask format="table" sort="end date" >
[[end date:=>{{CURRENTYEAR}}-{CURRENTMONTH}}-{{CURRENTDAY}}]]
[[title:=*|Name]]
[[has location city::*|City]]
[[has location country::*|Country]]
[[Start date:=*]]
[[End date:=*]]
</ask>
• From http://semanticweb.org/wiki/Upcoming_events• Query:
– List all upcoming events (title, city, country, start and end date), sorted by end date
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 40MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Semantic Wikis :Example
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 41MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
Summary
• Simple and inexpensive (if not completely free)• Ideal scenario: a small group of people working intensively
on related material• Intranet for a moderately sized company or organization
– How well does it scale?– How does it mach the organization culture?
• Although Wikis hold much potential, the norms for their use are still emergent
• Design guidelines needed
Virtual teams: Wikis and other collaboration tools
18.05.2009 42MSIS 2009, Oslo: Valentin Todorov
References• B. Leuf and W. Cunningham. The Wiki Way: Collaboration and
Sharing on the Internet, Addison-Wesley Professional, 2001• B. Huettner, M. K. Brown, and C. James-Tanny. Managing Virtual
Teams: Getting the Most from Wikis, Blogs, and Other Collaborative Tools. Wordware Publishing, 2007.
• M. Krötzsch, D. Vrandecic, and M. Völkel. Wikipedia and the semantic web - the missing links. In: Proceedings of Wikimania 2005 - The First International Wikimedia Conference. Wikimedia Foundation, 2005.
• D. Frongia and C. Vaccari. Introduzione al Web 2.0 per la Statistica, Contributi ISTAT, 4, 2008.
• J. A. West and M. L. West. Using Wikis for Online Collaboration. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., San Francisco, 2009