Email, IM, Wikis, and Blogs – Oh MY!

ARMA Bismarck/MandanSpring Seminar

Jesse WilkinsApril 10, 2008

Seminar Agenda

1. Active Email Management

2. Instant Records: Managing Your Instant Messaging

Lunch: “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!”

3. Digital Preservation

4. Blogs, Wikis, RSS, Oh MY!

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Active Email Management

Session 1

Agenda

• Email management drivers• Email management today• Email management technologies• Elements of an email policy

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EMAIL MANAGEMENT DRIVERS

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Email – defining the issue

• First email was sent in 1971• Today more email is sent every day

than the USPS delivers in a year– 11 billion emails a day in the US alone– More than 57 billion a day world-wide– NOT including spam

• 60% or more of business-critical information is stored within messaging systems

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Why are we sending so much email?

• It’s easy• It’s asynchronous• It’s convenient• It’s less formal• It’s ubiquitous and

platform-neutral• There’s a written record of

communication

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Business issues

• Email storage costs– Up to 200 GB email per month for

1,000-user company– Costs to add and manage storage– Costs to back up to tape– Costs to restore

• Productivity costs

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Business issues cont’d

• Email retrieval costs– It takes more than 11 hours to recover

an email more than 1 year old from an archive

– Typically have to restore the entire tape to a spare (!) server to find the desired message

– 29% of organizations would not be able to restore an email message

over 6 months old

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Legal issues

• Electronic discovery for a Fortune 500 company averages $750,000 per case

• 75% of demands for discovery are for email

• Courts want discovery in native format…

• …but may also require that it be provided in an accessible format

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Legal considerations for messages

• Messages are discoverable – whether they are records or not

• Message archives are discoverable, regardless of the format or storage medium

• The “deleted messages box” is discoverable

• Personal copies are discoverable

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When is an email a record?

• When statutorily defined• When it documents a business transaction• When it memorializes a business decision• When the attachment

is a record• When it is the only written

record of something

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EMAIL MANAGEMENT TODAY

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Email management defined

According to AIIM, The ECM Association, the essence of email management is that

“As the de facto standard for business communication, removing emails from the server and saving them to a repository isn't enough. Email must be classified, stored, and destroyed consistent with business standards-just as any other document or record.”

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Approaches to managing email today

Policy approaches to retention:

1.Do nothing

2.Let users manage their own email

3.Keep everything forever

4.Delete all messages older than X

5.Limit mailbox size to X

6.Declare and manage email as records

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Approaches to managing email today

Technology approaches to retention:

1. Outsource it!

2. Server-based rules

3. Client-based rules

4. Decentralized – employees do it • Messages on the server• Messages in .PST/.NSF files

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Email management is NOT:

• Saving all email messages forever• Saving all email messages in the

messaging application• Setting mailbox time limits• Setting mailbox size limits• Declaring “email” as a record

series – Or as simply “correspondence”

• Doing nothing

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General principles

• Email management is part of time management

• Email is a medium, not an action• Email should not be used for

everything• Email should be kept as long as

needed – and no longer

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Who captures the message?

• YOU have to capture an email:– You receive from outside the

organization– You send, either internally or to

someone outside the organization

• Designate someone to

capture messages sent to groups/lists

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Emails that are not captured

• Transitory messages that are not timely• Personal messages unrelated to business• “Me-too” messages• Messages already captured by someone else

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EMAIL MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGIES

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Messaging system

• Not built to store massive amounts of messages– And attachments– And manage as records

• Difficult to search across

inboxes– Discovery, auditing

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Print & file

• Common approach• Challenges:

– Loss of metadata– Attachments– Volume to print and to file– Authenticity (phishing)

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Backup tapes

• Backups store data, not files or messages

• Designed for “smoke & rubble scenario

• Multiple copies of data• Readability of older tapes

– Format, media, hardware

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Email management applications

• Move messages out of the messaging application

• Typically use a rules engine• May provide simple retention management• Single instance storage• Many different capabilities available

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Email management technologies

• Email archiving• Personal archive file management• Email encryption and digital signatures• Email compliance• Email discovery• Email security• Policy management

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ECRM solutions

• Most systems support email management• May run at server or client• Many support single-instance storage• May allow declaration, management of

messages as records• Varying support for attachment management,

metadata management

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ELEMENTS OF AN EMAIL POLICY

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Email policy principles

• Email belongs to the organization, not the individual

• Email is not a records series unto itself• Email management program must comply with

appropriate regulatory requirements• Policy has to be followed and enforced!

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Email policy elements

• Acceptable/appropriate usage• Personal usage• Access to external messaging systems• Effective email usage• Ownership of email• Retention and disposition• Legal issues

– Holds– Discovery and production

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Elements of an email policy

• Mobile and web-based email • Backups • Archival• Privacy• Security• Retention and disposition• Training• Audit and compliance

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Questions?

32

Conclusion

• We have to manage messaging technologies better

• Start with policies and procedures

• Technology can help

• Communicate, communicate, communicate

• Enforce the program

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Instant Records: Managing Your Instant Messaging

Session 2

Agenda

• Instant messaging today• How IM works• Approaches to managing IM• IM policies• Better IM through technology

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What is instant messaging?

• Communication between users in real time over the Internet

• Most often one-to-one; some clients support group chat

• Indicate presence and status• Send and receive messages• Manage contacts (“buddy lists”)

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The IM client

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Origins of instant messaging

• 1980s: BBSs allowed some person-to-person chat in real time

• Early 1990s: “On-line messages”• 1996: ICQ debuts• 1998: Introduction of enterprise IM

– Lotus Sametime

• 2000: Open source-based Jabber debuts

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Where is IM today?

• 12+ billion instant messages sent per day in the U.S.

• More than 46.5 billion per day worldwide by 2009

• 1.2 billion users worldwide by 2009• 96% of organizations use IM today• Up to 75% of usage is commercial clients

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Where is IM today?

• 34% of current traffic is business-related• Most IM networks support audio, video• Most IM networks support file transfer• Most IM networks are not interoperable

• Most IM networks are not managed

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The four stages of IM

• Unfamiliarity– “We don’t use IM – that’s for my kids!”

• Prohibition– “Use of IM is grounds for dismissal”

• Acceptance– “Don’t do evil”

• Optimization– Compliance, efficiency key goals

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IM issues 1 - informality

• IM sessions are casual and employ cryptic shorthand– IMHO, AFAIK, TTYL, LMAO

• IM sessions are free-flowing• User names not standard (and not under

organization’s control)– SilentSmurf, 2Hot2Handle (!)

• 31% of organizations have a policy regarding IM usage

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IM issues 2 - retention

• Sessions typically not saved on a central server– May require users to “turn on archiving”– Archives are retained on individual PCs– Archives often saved as plaintext or XML

• IM is still subject to retention requirements– According to content, not as own series

• 13% of organizations retain IM effectively

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Retention

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Retention cont’d

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IM issues 3 - functionality

• Threads stored by users/dates, not by subject– No subject line to index!

• Conference/group chat capabilities• File transfer capabilities

– Which may also bypass other filters such as email size limits and compliance filters

• Active URL transmission• Audio and video capabilities

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IM issue 4 - interoperability

• Commercial IM networks originally proprietary• More standardization today

– Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE)

– eXtensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP)

• Different applications use SIMPLE vs. XMPP

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APPROACHES TO MANAGING IM

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First step for handling IM

Prohibit it!

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Prohibition and technology

• Easy install• Can't block "server" URLS, IP addresses• Port-seeking behavior• Simulate TCP connection to IM service using

HTTP and polling• Web-based IM clients: MSN Web Messenger,

Yahoo Web Messenger, Google Talk, meebo, many others

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Web-based IM

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meebo

5204/10/23

Meebome on a blog

5304/10/23

Prohibition and culture

• Employees use it for legitimate reasons– Informal and real-time– Presencing– Email overload

• Customers want it!– See above

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Top 5 steps for handling IM

1. Update policies to address proper usage

2. Train users on the policies

3. Audit and review adherence to the policy and address gaps

4. Implement IM gateway or enterprise instant messaging

5. Export IM traffic to archival or records management application

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INSTANT MESSAGING POLICIES

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Acceptable usage policy

• Whether personal usage is allowed• How personal usage may be constrained• How business usage may be constrained• Commercial vs. enterprise IM• Disclaimers

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Proper “netiquette”

• Same as email, e.g.– No off-color jokes– No disparaging remarks– Proper business tone– Nothing that wouldn’t be appropriate for the front page

of the newspaper

• Proper naming, if using consumer IM

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Content restriction policy

• What is allowed to be transmitted?– Attachments– Sensitive information– URLs and hyperlinks

• To whom may it be transmitted?– Internal vs. external– Public IM vs. federated EIM– Certain groups or users

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Retention policy

• *That* it will be done

• How it will be done

• A note on wiretaps

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Training

• Contents of the policies– Proper usage– Content transmission– Archival

• How to identify potential records• IM ownership and privacy• Retention and archival• Security

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BETTER IM THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

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Enterprise IM options

• Gateways: – Provide retention and auditing capabilities for

commercial IM such as AIM, ICQ, YIM, MSN– May provide some interoperability – Audit usage, compliance with usage policies

• Enterprise instant messaging (EIM):– Everyone on the same (corporate) client– Tighter integration into directory services– Much more granular control over

functionality and usage

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Enterprise IM solutions

• Gateways:– Akonix L7– Symantec IMLogic– Facetime IMAuditor– CipherTrust IronIM

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Enterprise IM solutions

• EIM solutions:– IBM Lotus Sametime– Microsoft Live Communications Server– IMiN– JabberNow

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Minimal reqts for IM solutions

• Provide full-text search capability across all messages

• Audit content – Keyword/content-based– Context-based (users, time, etc.)

• Capture and store all messages • Export to controlled repository• Review/markup capability (e.g. for auditors)

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• Encryption of external communications• Route internal messaging inside firewall• Attachment blocking and notification

– Virus scanning of attachments if allowed– Storage of attachments if allowed

• URL blocking/filtering• Insert disclaimers into message stream

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Minimal reqts for IM solutions

• Federation– Commercial, enterprise

• Provide identity management– Integration with directory services/LDAP– Enforce corporate naming conventions

• Enforce communication restrictions– Ethical walls– External vs. internal communications

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Minimal reqts for IM solutions

Questions?

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Conclusions

• IM is a communications medium

• IM has to be managed according to content

• It is difficult to prohibit it for a number of reasons

• It can be managed with policies and procedures

• Technology can help

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LUNCH!

Digital Preservation

Session 3

Agenda

• The problem with digital information

• Approaches to digital preservation

• Strategies for long-term access

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THE PROBLEM WITH DIGITAL INFORMATION

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The problem with digital information

Digital documents last forever – or five years, whichever comes first.

--Jeff Rothenberg, RAND Corp.

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The problem with digital information

• Explosion of information• Documents and files are

increasingly “born digital”• Digital formats support more

complex information objects• Digital preservation does not just

happen – it must be actively pursued– And IT can’t do it alone

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Media• There are no archival-class

media for storing digital information– Media can be damaged,

scratched, stretched• And if there were –

it wouldn’t matter!

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Hardware compatibility

• Technical obsolescence– 8” floppy disks, laser video discs

• Generational changes– Floppy disks, CDs

• Non-standard formats– ZIP drives, LS-120

• Rapid rate of change

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Software compatibility

• Between applications– Microsoft Word, Corel WordPerfect

• Between platforms– Word, Word for Mac

• Between versions– Word 1.0, Word 2007

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Security and encryption

• Passwords can be lost• Some applications don’t play nicely with

encrypted or protected files• Some applications don’t

recognize security features -- and ignore them

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• Formal standards are agreed to by users, vendors, industry experts, and managed by standards organizations.– XML, PDF

• Ad hoc standards are controlled by vendors or smaller groups and are considered standards because they are in widespread use– Microsoft Word

• Standards protect the organization!

A note about standards

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APPROACHES TODIGITAL PRESERVATION

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Digital preservation strategies

• Analog storage• System archival• Emulation• Conversion• Migration• Each has its own strengths & weaknesses

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Analog storage

• Analog storage suffers from a number of issues:

• Search and retrieval issues• Storage requirements and

costs• Data loss, particularly

for rich media formats

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System archival

• Maintain copy of original hardware, software, operating system, and information objects

• Still run into issues with media and hardware lifespan

• Centralizes access to locations with older systems

• Increasing number of systems required to ensure access to everything

• Difficult to ensure everything is taken into account

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Emulation

• Virtual recreation of original environment• Does not require any conversion• Requires periodic refreshing of the emulation

environment• Still have issues around

media and, maybe,

hardware to read it

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Conversion

• Move from proprietary to standard– HTML to XML– Windows bitmap to JPEG or TIFF– Excel to ASCII text

• Can be labor-intensive• Often results in some loss of data

– Proprietary formatting– Rich objects, images, formulas, etc.

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Migration

• Digital media doesn’t last forever…• …and neither does the hardware• Media must be refreshed while it’s still readable• Very labor intensive• Often results in loss of some information

– Migration over generations often more reliable than migration through generations

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Migration cont’d

The Domesday Project

• Domesday book written in 1086• In 1986, BBC created interactive

presentation using LaserVision LV-ROM

• By 2002 the discs were unreadable

• Through significant effort and the use of migration and emulation, the Domesday presentation remains available

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STRATEGIES FORLONG-TERM ACCESS

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Recommendations – 5 years

• Capture information using no compression or lossless compression

• Use standard file and media formats• Select high-quality media that will last 5-10 years• Capture relevant metadata

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Recommendations – 50 years

• Capture information using no compression or lossless compression

• Capture information in standard formats or formal descriptions

• Select high-quality media and plan for migration• Capture relevant metadata• Do not use encryption or passwords on

individual documents

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Recommendations – 500 years

• Capture information in standard formats or formal descriptions

• Select high-quality media and plan for migration• Capture and embed relevant metadata• Consider converting to analog• Do not use encryption or passwords on the

individual documents

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Questions?

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Conclusions

• Digital preservation requires work• Ultimately a question of tradeoffs

– Cost to preserve– Cost of not preserving– Exactly what must be preserved

• Pursue multiple preservation strategies• Standards can help preservation efforts• TANSTAAMB

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Blogs, Wikis, and RSS, Oh MY!

Session 4

Agenda

• Blog This!

• Wiki-Wiki

• Really Simple RSS

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BLOG THIS!

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Blogs in Plain English

100 Source: Common Craft

What’s a blog?

• Started as online diaries• Today used more as lightweight CMS• Hides complexity of Web publishing• Generally arranged in chronological order, most

recent at top

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The ARMA blog

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Informata

103

Technorati

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Blogging basics

• Centralized - one person or group posts, others can only read the posts

• Comments and trackbacks• Easy to link to other pages• Easy to blog using toolbars• Important to keep current!

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Getting started

• Sign up for a free hosted service• Start posting• Keep posting!• Make it relevant if you want it to be read….• Consider commercial solutions

– More control over content– Finer-grained control over access, updates

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Blog Records Management

• If the CEO is blogging, is it a record?– Maybe…

• Most blogging systems support basic content management capabilities

• Review comments periodically– Or consider turning them off

• Track changes to postings, comments– Document reason for changes

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Blog solutions - hosted

• Wordpress• Typepad• Blogger• LiveJournal• Myspace.com• Blog.com• MSN Spaces• Yahoo 360°

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Blog solutions - internal

• Movable Type Enterprise• Traction Teampage• Blogtronix Enterprise• Sharepoint 2007• Drupal• Telligent Community Server• UserLand Manila and Radio UserLand

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WIKI-WIKI

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Wikis in Plain English

111 Source: Common Craft

The wiki basics

• Collaborative website• Organized as linked articles• Hides complexity of HTML from users• Easy to add articles• Easy to link articles• Easy to correct mistakes

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Wiki-Wiki

• Wikipedia: 2,100,000+ articles in English– More than 7 million in 250+ languages

• Wiktionary: 598,000+ definitions in English• WikiQuote: 13,400+ quotations

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Wikipedia

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Wikipedia RM article

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Wiki business cases

• Project management• Collaborative authoring and review• Knowledge management

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Wikis and RM

• Excellent for collaboration on records management policies, procedures, RRS, etc.

• Changes tracked automatically– Need to save logs of changes

• Periodically may need to review/clean up – “Spam” comments/articles– Outdated materials

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Change tracking

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Implementing a wiki

• Sign up for a free hosted service• Start writing• Invite others to write• Moderate…or not• Consider a commercial wiki

– MUCH more control over look & feel, access rights/security, content

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Wikis - hosted

• Atlassian Confluence Hosted• Central Desktop• Cyn.in (“bliki”)• EditMe• pbWiki• Socialtext• Wikia (uses MediaWiki)• Wikispaces• Zoho Wiki

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Wikis - internal

• Atlassian Confluence• MediaWiki• Sharepoint 2007• Socialtext Managed Service Appliance• TWiki

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REALLY SIMPLE RSS

122

Really Simple Syndication

• XML-based content syndication language• Makes it easy for users to find your content• Push instead of pull• Most blogs and wikis support RSS natively

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RSS in Plain English

124 Source: Common Craft

How RSS works

• Find a website with a feed• Subscribe to the feed using a reader• Reader polls the website periodically and

downloads updated feed items• Read the feeds in the reader!

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126

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The “river of news”

Single article

Google Reader on iGoogle

RSS in Outlook 2007

Feed readers

• Lots of them available • Many of them free• Google Reader• My Yahoo!• WizzRSS• Newsgator• Attensa• Many others….

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Questions?

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For more information

Jesse Wilkins

CDIA+, LIT, edp, ICP, ermm, ecmm, bpms

Access Sciences Corporation

jwilkins@accesssciences.com

http://www.accesssciences.com

Blog: http://informata.blogspot.com

(303) 574-1455 direct

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