Wikis for Nonprofits:Could a Wiki Help Your Organization?

Julie Spriggs

You are asked to do more with less.

© Dave Belfer-Shevett (dbs@homeport.org)

Your mission is engaging, and exhausting.

The amount to do can be overwhelming. The amount to do can be overwhelming.

http://flickr.com/photos/zen/1121085610/

But you want to do it to make a greater impact.

Image courtesy: Kraus-Fitch Architects http://www.krausfitch.com/

A wiki can help.

Nils Peterson

Wikis are easy to use, often free, and allow collaboration, knowledge retention,

search, and real-time centralization of information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

Here is how a wiki works.

http://blip.tv/file/get/Leelefever-WikisInPlainEnglish801.wmv

A wiki is distinct from other commonly used communication and collaboration

tools.

Collaboration on complex documents and finding the right version of a document can be

difficult. Wikis can facilitate this.

Courtesy "Intellipedians"  US Intelligence Community

Ideas and plans are hidden in dispersed email inboxes.

Wikis allow groups to coordinate and centralize.

Copyright © 2008, Valdis Krebs http://orgnet.com/email.html

Whiteboard ideas get lost. Wikis help you retain, organize, and then find all those great

thoughts.

flickr.com/photos/lisamac/293093751

Project management systems can be complex and costly.

Wikis can be free, flexible, and easy to learn.

As well, wikis connect ideas, people, data

and build community.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community

You can use wikis for tasks critical to your organization.

example: COLLABORATIVE DOCUMENT CREATION – a report

http://scpsvisioning.wikispaces.com/Board+Presentation

example: COLLABORATIVE DOCUMENT CREATION – a report

example: COLLABORATIVE DOCUMENT CREATION – a report

example: COLLABORATIVE DOCUMENT CREATION – a report

example: COLLABORATIVE DOCUMENT CREATION – how to manual

Other topics: Website development (21) ; Innovation stuff (6); Technology (5); Documentation (7); Misc (6).

example: PROJECT MANAGEMENT – planning a conference

example: PROJECT MANAGEMENT – planning a conference

example: PROJECT MANAGEMENT – planning a conference

example: PROJECT MANAGEMENT – planning a conference

example: PROJECT MANAGEMENT – planning a conference

example: PROJECT MANAGEMENT – planning a conference

http://np2020.wikispaces.com/

example: PROJECT MANAGEMENT – planning a conference

http://np2020.wikispaces.com/Conference+Notes

http://np2020.wikispaces.com/Conference+Notes

example: PROJECT MANAGEMENT – an event

Most current view of page

History of page

example: PROJECT MANAGEMENT – an event

example: PROJECT MANAGEMENT – an event

Most current view of page

History of page

example: KNOWLEDGE BASE – organizational

example: KNOWLEDGE BASE – organizational

example: KNOWLEDGE BASE – organizational

example: KNOWLEDGE BASE – organizational

example: KNOWLEDGE BASE – intraorganizational for practitioners

Thoughtfarmer

example: KNOWLEDGE BASE – glossary

example: INTRANET - department

Home page

example: INTRANET - department

Calendar

example: INTRANET - department

Collaborative document creationMore annual report

example: INTRANET - department

Policies

example: INTRANET - department

Department content- Presentations

example: INTRANET- department

Content- Organization’s press releases

example: INTRANET - department

Organization archived content- Blog

example: INTRANET - department

Permissions

example: EXTRANET – organizing constituents

example: EXTRANET – organizing constituents

example: EXTRANET – disaster management

End of examples

To ensure your wiki thrives, create a platform for success.

Andreas Feininger

tip: Define the scope of the wiki and Structure itOffice of Disability Services Policies and Procedures Manual

DAWNSource “Structure, Populate, Review, Invite, Garden”: Michael Idinopulos in his blog: Transparent Office

tip: Scope: In-the-flow wikis may be adopted more readily.

In-the-flow wiki

Source: Michael Idinopulos in his blog: Transparent Office http://michaeli.typepad.com/my_weblog/page/2/

=Used during the daily flow of work to get work done For example: for project management, collaborative document creation, collaborative workspace

=Out of the daily flow of work= Capturing knowledge and insights that people collect in the course of their work.

Above-the-flow wiki

tip: Sometimes in addition to creating a structure of pages and links, you also need templates for pages.

tip: Seed it (Populate it) with content, Review it and discuss your adoption

strategy

Source “Structure, Populate, Review, Invite, Garden”: Michael Idinopulos in his blog: Transparent Office

tip: Seed it (Populate it) with content, Review it and discuss your adoption

strategy

1.

2.

Source “Structure, Populate, Review, Invite, Garden”: Michael Idinopulos in his blog: Transparent Office

tip: Invite others to read and start participating.

Source “Structure, Populate, Review, Invite, Garden”: Michael Idinopulos in his blog: Transparent Office

tip: Garden it…and find people for key roles

Champions

Gardeners

Wiki master

Page stewards

Notifications allow a community to monitor the wiki

You are asked to do more with less.

A wiki can help.

Source: SPRIG: “Structure, Populate, Review, Invite, Garden”: Michael Idinopulos in his blog: Transparent Office

What kind of wiki

might

you want to launch?

Thanks to: Mark Topping, Alex Wilkinson, Anand Sethupathy and others at NPower NY

Bloggers: Michael Idinopulos: Transparent Office; Bill Ives, Portals and KM; Beth Kanter1, Beth’s Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media; Michele Martin, The Bamboo Project, Ross Mayfield, Ross Mayfield’s Weblog; Laura Quinn, Idealware2.

Images: Dave Belfer-Shevett, Nils Peterson, Laura Fitch, Architect, Chris Rasmussen, Intellipedia, Valdis Krebs, Lisa Mac, Bluepudding, Wikipedia, flickr, Library of Congress, Colleen Lewis of Columbia ODS, wikispaces, Indiana NPower, Andreas Feininger

Screenshots and Interviews: Chris Condayan of American Society of Microbiology, Jon Stahl of ONE/Northwest, Tera Wozniak and Susan Morales-Barias of the Johnson Center, Julie Van Dore of Common Ground, Eric Skiff of clipmarks, Jeremy Wallace of picnet, Darren Gibbons of Thoughtfarmer, Brian Satterfield3, techsoup.org

Interviews: Cindy Rockwell of Customer Vision, Eric Frazer of Behavioral Health Intelligence, Jeremy Wallace of Picnet, Peter Campbell of Earth Justice, Hong Hunt of the San Francisco Goodwill, Andrew Houghton of VolunteerMatch, Richard Petty of Independent Living Research Utilization, Laurel of Atlassian, Kristine Molnar of Pbwiki, Anushka Ratnayake of kiva.org, Sanjay Patel, Edie Rabin, Joel Stern, Michael Ross of Aidmatrix, Frank Moore of the New York Academy of Medicine

1. One of Beth Kanter’s posts led me to the American Society of Microbiology wiki.2. Laura Quinn’s Idealware article led me to ONE/Northwest’s wiki.3. Brian Satterfield’s article on techsoup.org led me to the Johnson Center’s conference wiki.