VILSC 2018
Scott Leslie
BC Libraries Cooperative

• Who are you?
• Do you currently wiki? If not - why not?
• Who am I?

• We're not a library.
• We have a lot of tech-savvy people on staff.
• We do open source as exclusively as possible
• We are super cost-aware, don't like to spend when we don't have to
  

• Easy collaborative document editing and creation but…
• Works just as well for the individual
• "More archival than email, less process that Word"
• Easy search and browse
• Improve transparency and help reduce silos
• Anticipate knowledge growth even before it happens
• For changeable info, likely the best approach (cf https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e138/f96aedcb18893a87bd22d95d3914db4d22ae.pdf)

• Open source, mature, lots of plugins - https://www.dokuwiki.org/plugins
• Document based, not database
• Git backed, which means key staff can have an offline version of the wiki on their laptops
• Ability to move pages and namespaces (means you don't have to get it perfect the first time)

• Access control - can control both visibility and edit-ablity; can include public sections (such as this page!)
• Re-skinning; the nav bars are actually wiki pages! https://wiki.libraries.coop/doku.php?id=sidebar
• Easily embed other content
  • calendars
  • list of google docs in a folder
• Can host structured data and offer alternative ways to use it? https://www.dokuwiki.org/plugin:data:list_of_employees

• If you already have one, with even a few people using it - don't kill it, build on it!
• Redesign can help + "a bit" of info architecture
• Wiki Gardening! together and separately
• Focus on "collaboration" not "publishing", folksonomy (+search) not taxonomy
• If a good exchange has happened elsewhere (IRC, email) suggest a wiki entry as a result
• Keep it as open as possible - we have public/private distinction, but after that try not to create too many internal groups

• Very small groups/locations - a binder may make a ton more sense
• Non-volatile information - may not be the best way to handle official policy docs you don't want edited

• slides at http://bit.ly/vislc2018-wikis
• scott.leslie@bc.libraries.coop / @sleslie on twitter