Wiki Patterns
grow your wiki
EditSeed it with content
What is it?
The Seed it with content pattern relies on using some amount of preexisting content to seed the wiki. In this case that content could come from a book (all legal/IP permissions in place of course).
Considerations:
- Not all types of seed content will work in wikis. Works of fiction - an interesting experiment in the evolving storyline - would probably have a very small audience and little to no utility. Kind of like wiki-art.
- Reference manuals and how-to guides would be great for wiki conversion. Let the audience for the original book keep it up to date... Instead of the value of the book starting to decay the day after it's published, it (its wiki based progeny) would increase in value over time.
- How do you restructure the seed content to best facilitate wiki based interaction models?
- ...
Usage
The pattern would consist of a combination of content conversion and initial community building steps. After that, on-going governance methods should map well to existing patterns for in progress wikis.
Example
- Intranet: convert a procedural handbook created by employees into an intranet-based wiki.
- Internet: convert a for-sale ebook into a wiki. See this slashdot comment...
- Author a book entirely on a wiki, and sell access to the wiki to contribute, and a one-click PDF download (created on the fly in seconds), has the most up-to-date content. Example: Using Wiki in Education
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Related Patterns
- Magnet - Seed it with content is like the Magnet pattern in that you are now providing not just read, but edit/commenting access too, in one exclusive location.
- Scaffold - Seed it with content is like Scaffold in that some important considerations about how to convert the content into the wiki will determine the initial structure of the content. There will be some initial structure that frames the content scope (topical relationships between the different seeded pages - i.e., like a table of contents)
- others?
Further Reading
Adoption Patterns
Adoption Anti-Patterns
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I'm moving this from the page into a comment to spur discussion:
Other possible names for this pattern?: (what name best conveys the intent of this pattern?
I think something to do with "seeding" the wiki might be a better name. Thoughts?
Of the names listed, I think "seeded" comes closest to capturing the pattern, and is a term I've been using for a while in describing how this pattern works while working on a pilot project focused on creating success with this pattern in my org.
"Future Proof..." is interesting, but also connotates round tripping of wiki content back into the context of a book. I've been saying that once you convert a book into a wiki *its not a book* anymore, its a wiki. I think is important to declare that to the community so that you don't hinder wiki style collaboration patterns by scaring away some people who would not be so apt to contribute if they felt they were working within the more rigid structure of a book.
There is a hybrid pattern that is closely related to this.... where you convert a whole book into a wiki, but only open part of it up to full community ownership and modification... as if you bolt on a wiki community to extend an existing book, without allowing that community alter the overall structure, or foundation content, that appeared in the seed book.
There is an example of this... Wikinomics (the book)
has also become Wikinomics (the wiki)
, where the book is converted to a wiki, but the wiki community is only writing the "unwritten chapter", instead of being allow to evolve the entire book.
Does this hybrid deserve its own pattern definition page?
Stewart - looks like you are doing a hybrid seeded model here too: http://www.wikiineducation.com/display/ikiw/Home
..." $19 - get access to all chapters, ability to download
in PDF, and ability to edit Chapter 10..._"
How is it going with that model? Are you getting a lot of participation from people willing to donate content to chapter 10?
When communicating with clients I like to use the term 'seed' the wiki with content but often get the Uh? response (possibly because I work in the agriculture/environmental management sector where the word seed has another meaning). Another term that I like to use is 'populate' the wiki which seems to be well accepted and understood.