... h3. What is it?
[wikipatterns.com|http://wikipatterns.com] offers best practices to spur wiki adoption. While the examples are targeted at users of wikis in in corporate settings (that is, behind the firewall), much of the guidelines and tips are useful for wiki admins getting started here. Patterns are repeatable techniques that are essential to starting and growing your wiki space, such as:
* Identifying roles
* Coordinating people's activity
* Developing content
h3. Usage
The following patterns are recommended. Please visit [wikipatterns.com|http://wikipatterns.com] for in-depth explanations and examples.
*People Patterns*
[Champion|http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/Champion] --- Strong leadership is vital to wiki success, and the wiki champion is the passionate, knowledgeable, "go-to" person who develops content, trains others, and nurtures the wiki, addressing problems as they arise.
[wikiGnome|http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/WikiGnome] --- This person performs "fit and finish" edits such as cleaning up poorly written sentences and improving organization and flow of content (copy editing).
[Invitation|http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/Invitation...] --- Creating content is a tough task made easier with more participants. Inviting people to use your wiki is a good way to find contributors.
[Social Tagging|http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/Social+Tagging] --- User tags (known as labels in Confluence) offer everyone a simple way to classify and organize wiki content. Use them to manage each stage of your wiki's content lifecycle, too.
*People Anti-Patterns --- What to Avoid*
[ContributorForHire|http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/ContributorForHire] --- Developing a wiki takes time. Avoid the temptation of "quick fix" efforts to populate content using resources that may disappear quickly.
[Wikiphobia|http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/Wikiphobia] --- Wikis are new to many. Help dissuade the fear of the unknown and overcome resistance to wiki adoption.
*Adoption Patterns*
[Seed it with Content|http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/Seed+it+with+content] --- Avoid the "staring at a blank page" syndrome by reusing existing content to start your wiki.
[Scaffold|http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/Scaffold] --- Using templates with a defined structure speed wiki development by taking the guess-work out of organizing and labeling content.
[New Starter|http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/New+Starter] --- Welcoming new users and providing starting points on your wiki helps to spread adoption.
[Magnet|http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/Magnet] --- Carve a niche using your wiki that satisfies a need not available anywhere else and watch the world come to your doorstep\!
[Content Alert|http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/ContentAlert] --- Put the power of community to work by soliciting help to improve pages that are missing content, require editing, or need validation.
*Adoption Anti-Patterns --- What to Avoid*
[Empty Pages|http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/Empty+Pages] --- Orphaned pages with little or no content are a poor user experience. Learn how to spot and correct them using patterns like [Scaffold|http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/Scaffold] and [Champion|http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/Champion].
[Manager Lockdown|http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/Manager+Lockdown] --- Don't disenfranchise contributors through "command and control" behavior. Learn how to provide a safe and accessible environment that promotes participation.
[PageOwnership|http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/PageOwnership] --- Old habits are hard to break. Encourage reviewers to save time by editing the wiki themselves instead of relying on tools like email to provide feedback.
|