Wikipedia is the best thing ever!

  By Tac Anderson | April 10, 2007 - 5:15 am | Comm

“Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world, can write anything they want about any subject. So you know you are getting the best possible information.” – Michael Scott

I am a huge fan of The Office. (Seasons 1-5 are the best, I think the show started heading downhill from there)

The above quote is from April 5th’s (2008) episode (from season 4). in a very tongue in cheek way, the writers of The Office are highlighting an ongoing social debate. There is constantly (and will continue to be) a debate over the validity and accuracy of information on Wikipedia. To me this is a non issue, for others it is THE issue.

For me what it has done is shown what is possible. People want to share knowledge. People want to collaborate. People will use New Media tools. And most importantly when I talk to clients about wiki’s it gives me an example of a technology that everyone is familiar with.

A wiki is a great piece of technology. How you use it is up to you. If anyone is using a wiki in their workplace please leave a comment here. If you have an example of wiki’s that you use when trying to explain them, other than Wikipedia leave that comment as well. Or if you have your favorite Office quote you can leave that here too.

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About Tac Anderson

Social media anthropologist. Communications strategist. Business model junkie. Chief blogger here at New Comm Biz.
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  • http://www.pinpointperformance.net/blog Justin Beller

    A wiki is the best piece of technology – provided it is used correctly.

    One way I can see wiki’s being used is to create a knowledge base for a large company. Right now, we have a Baby Boom workforce that is retiring. What they are doing is taking the legacy knowledge and experience of a company with them right out the door. Those new to the workforce – Gen X and Y – are pretty much left to figure it out on their own.

    If there were some way to get these people to “brain-dump” all they know into some sort of bucket, the financial health and overall performance of many companies will continue to prosper. Perhaps the wiki is the tool for the job.

    If you think about it, the wiki is the ultimate form of Web 2.0 media out there that can bridge the gap between generations. Now, in a situation such as the one I described, I wouldn’t be so concerned about the validity of business related or company specific content as I would the general content that is out there posted on Wikipedia by the average person.

    There’s an excellent book called Digital Literacy written by Paul Glister. The book is almost 10 years old and talks about how folks need to develop critical thinking skills when referencing and researching information on the web. The book is still relevant in today’s Web 2.0 world and I recommend folks pick it up and read it – especially in context to the accessibility (and editability – is that even a word?) to information we have through sites like Wikipedia.

    Before we freely accept what is posted, look at it with a critical eye.

  • http://www.pinpointperformance.net/blog Justin Beller

    A wiki is the best piece of technology – provided it is used correctly.

    One way I can see wiki’s being used is to create a knowledge base for a large company. Right now, we have a Baby Boom workforce that is retiring. What they are doing is taking the legacy knowledge and experience of a company with them right out the door. Those new to the workforce – Gen X and Y – are pretty much left to figure it out on their own.

    If there were some way to get these people to “brain-dump” all they know into some sort of bucket, the financial health and overall performance of many companies will continue to prosper. Perhaps the wiki is the tool for the job.

    If you think about it, the wiki is the ultimate form of Web 2.0 media out there that can bridge the gap between generations. Now, in a situation such as the one I described, I wouldn’t be so concerned about the validity of business related or company specific content as I would the general content that is out there posted on Wikipedia by the average person.

    There’s an excellent book called Digital Literacy written by Paul Glister. The book is almost 10 years old and talks about how folks need to develop critical thinking skills when referencing and researching information on the web. The book is still relevant in today’s Web 2.0 world and I recommend folks pick it up and read it – especially in context to the accessibility (and editability – is that even a word?) to information we have through sites like Wikipedia.

    Before we freely accept what is posted, look at it with a critical eye.

  • http://pinpointperformance.blogspot.com Justin Beller

    A wiki is the best piece of technology – provided it is used correctly.

    One way I can see wiki’s being used is to create a knowledge base for a large company. Right now, we have a Baby Boom workforce that is retiring. What they are doing is taking the legacy knowledge and experience of a company with them right out the door. Those new to the workforce – Gen X and Y – are pretty much left to figure it out on their own.

    If there were some way to get these people to “brain-dump� all they know into some sort of bucket, the financial health and overall performance of many companies will continue to prosper. Perhaps the wiki is the tool for the job.

    If you think about it, the wiki is the ultimate form of Web 2.0 media out there that can bridge the gap between generations. Now, in a situation such as the one I described, I wouldn’t be so concerned about the validity of business related or company specific content as I would the general content that is out there posted on Wikipedia by the average person.

    There’s an excellent book called Digital Literacy written by Paul Glister. The book is almost 10 years old and talks about how folks need to develop critical thinking skills when referencing and researching information on the web. The book is still relevant in today’s Web 2.0 world and I recommend folks pick it up and read it – especially in context to the accessibility (and editability – is that even a word?) to information we have through sites like Wikipedia.

    Before we freely accept what is posted, look at it with a critical eye.

  • http://www.newcommbiz.com Tac

    I couldn’t have said it better myself Justin.

  • http://www.newcommbiz.com Tac

    I couldn’t have said it better myself Justin.

  • http://www.newcommbiz.com Tac

    I couldn’t have said it better myself Justin.

  • http://mybusinessthoughts.blogspot.com Kevin Donaldon

    Like any search for information you should never just trust one source. Wikipedia maybe isn’t the final definitive source, but its definitely one of the best places to start looking.

    How have I used wikis? We use a wiki to help manage most of our software development. We follow agile development principals so a wiki allows us the greatest flexibility, with the lowest time to produce what is needed.
    Experimenting using a wiki to try and collaborate on a book.
    Have experimented using a wiki to allow a group of peers that get together to discuss business topics to capture notes etc for future reference (althought we ended up moving over to using google notebook)

  • http://mybusinessthoughts.blogspot.com Kevin Donaldon

    Like any search for information you should never just trust one source. Wikipedia maybe isn’t the final definitive source, but its definitely one of the best places to start looking.

    How have I used wikis? We use a wiki to help manage most of our software development. We follow agile development principals so a wiki allows us the greatest flexibility, with the lowest time to produce what is needed.
    Experimenting using a wiki to try and collaborate on a book.
    Have experimented using a wiki to allow a group of peers that get together to discuss business topics to capture notes etc for future reference (althought we ended up moving over to using google notebook)

  • http://mybusinessthoughts.blogspot.com Kevin Donaldon

    Like any search for information you should never just trust one source. Wikipedia maybe isn’t the final definitive source, but its definitely one of the best places to start looking.

    How have I used wikis? We use a wiki to help manage most of our software development. We follow agile development principals so a wiki allows us the greatest flexibility, with the lowest time to produce what is needed.
    Experimenting using a wiki to try and collaborate on a book.
    Have experimented using a wiki to allow a group of peers that get together to discuss business topics to capture notes etc for future reference (althought we ended up moving over to using google notebook)

  • http://www.newcommbiz.com Tac

    I think wiki’s are great. I think they will have to come further in UI. Right now I think they are a little geeky, they aren’t as easy as a text doc. This is the main thing I think will keep wiki’s from hitting mass acceptance.
    But overall they are extremely flexible and can be used for such a wide range of purposes that I think they are a perfect fit for company intranet.

  • http://www.newcommbiz.com Tac

    I think wiki’s are great. I think they will have to come further in UI. Right now I think they are a little geeky, they aren’t as easy as a text doc. This is the main thing I think will keep wiki’s from hitting mass acceptance.
    But overall they are extremely flexible and can be used for such a wide range of purposes that I think they are a perfect fit for company intranet.

  • http://gadjah.net irfan

    I love wiki because it’s a social encyclopedia, and always updated.

    If we wait for another encyclopedia, it will be updated in a year maybe, but using wiki i can found out everything as soon as possible.

    PS. I don’t read the last harry potter book, i only read the description in wiki, the day after the book launch and i satisfied :D

  • http://gadjah.net irfan

    I love wiki because it’s a social encyclopedia, and always updated.

    If we wait for another encyclopedia, it will be updated in a year maybe, but using wiki i can found out everything as soon as possible.

    PS. I don’t read the last harry potter book, i only read the description in wiki, the day after the book launch and i satisfied :D

  • http://gadjah.net irfan

    I love wiki because it’s a social encyclopedia, and always updated.

    If we wait for another encyclopedia, it will be updated in a year maybe, but using wiki i can found out everything as soon as possible.

    PS. I don’t read the last harry potter book, i only read the description in wiki, the day after the book launch and i satisfied :D

  • Greg

    “What is the ratio of Stanley nickels to Schrute bucks?” -Dwight Schrute

  • Greg

    “What is the ratio of Stanley nickels to Schrute bucks?” -Dwight Schrute

  • Greg

    “What is the ratio of Stanley nickels to Schrute bucks?” -Dwight Schrute

  • Glenn

    I use a wiki for keeping notes, addresses, ideas, pretty much anything that can be written down. I don’t use the ‘shared resource’ functions in this implementation (I know that’s the whole point) I just use it because it’s a convenient and familiar front end for the database.

    I’m using the wiki-on-a-stick version, and if I don’t load it down with too many pictures, it fits nicely on a 50 Mb business card cd, so I can carry it with me. It could go on a memory card, or somewhere on the web, too, but I like the low-tech bizcard cd.

  • Glenn

    I use a wiki for keeping notes, addresses, ideas, pretty much anything that can be written down. I don’t use the ‘shared resource’ functions in this implementation (I know that’s the whole point) I just use it because it’s a convenient and familiar front end for the database.

    I’m using the wiki-on-a-stick version, and if I don’t load it down with too many pictures, it fits nicely on a 50 Mb business card cd, so I can carry it with me. It could go on a memory card, or somewhere on the web, too, but I like the low-tech bizcard cd.

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  • Anonymous

    This is my first comment but I feel like I should have been making loads of comments now because I always like your stuff. Maybe comments are for more hit and miss blogs than your own. When you maintain a consistent level of high quality output I reckon people are less inclined to comment because they have come to expect it from you. Just a theory.

    Never really occurred to me to leave a comment on the designboom weblog.. i mean sure, i read you guys everyday, but the posts i find interesting i fave or bookmark or share the url to others, rather than clicking the comment link.

    It’s good to know your stand towards this comment thing going on. I’ve visited some design sites before that I find have repetitive comments from visitors, might be one of those you were pertaining to.

    I find I respect designboom more for the lack of comment obsession :)

    Antikeylogger

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    obama is a good person. he has a good political views on world deomcracy.

    Antikeylogger

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    i never left a comment on this blog.. maybe because the “comment” link is not so impressive eyecatching.. but thats what i like about this blog.
    Its nice and quite, no people leaving stupid comments or having bullshit discussions.
    its just a good blog to get your latest information in design/art world.
    keep it up

    Antikeylogger

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  • http://twitter.com/amylakhani Amy McD. Lakhani

    I work for a startup, and we all work from home. As geeky as it sounds, our wiki is our “office space.” It's where we store company policies, track development cycles, contribute ideas for future releases, and much more. It's tough to imagine being very productive without it!

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