If you work for the Federal Government or work with the Federal Government in any capacity, you’ve probably heard more and more references to wikis. It therefore seemed timely to write a blog entry on what wikis are and why government departments are launching them.

A wiki is simply a web site that allows anyone to enter information without having to know a web programming language.  Most offer a simple interface, with features similar to MS Word, to create and format a page, and a discussion area for people to put in there comments.

The reasons that governments and many private sector organizations are interested in wikis include:

1) It is more efficient than email.  

If you’ve ever been part of an email string that has been sent out to a number of people for feedback, you’ll quickly understand this point.  Email is an effective media for consulting with one or with a very small number of people, however managing feedback becomes cumbersome if many people are consulted with. 

A wiki however, allows information like an agenda, a report, a briefing or a policy document to be posted in one place (the wiki).  It also enables many people to provide comments directly in the document or in the discussion area, if the document has been locked for changes. The advantage of this model is that all changes and comments are posted in one place for everyone to see and no one is forced to consolidate a number of changes and communicate them back to the group.

2) It facilitates knowledge management.

A wiki enables everyone within a department to easily share their knowledge and insight. It acts as a repository of knowledge and is captured in a format that makes knowledge building and sharing easier than traditional methods. This is particularly critical within government today because the baby-boomer generation is beginning to leave the workforce and with them goes valuable experience and knowledge. 

3) It is platform neutral.

Departments and agencies that work with other departments or stakeholders know that there can be issues exchanging documents if different software versions or operating systems are used (such as Lotus, Microsoft or Mac).  The web, however, is platform neutral, meaning that it uses a standard programming format that renders a document (on a wiki page) similarly regardless of the platform.  Therefore, placing information on a wiki rather than in a MS Word document can reduce compatibility issues.

4) It automatically captures all changes and allows change comparisons.

Wikis offer basic document-management features such as revision history and version comparison.   This allows users to track the changes that have been made to a document and revert back to previous versions or compare changes as required.

If you are interested in trying a wiki, the most popular public one is www.wikipedia.com; or, if you are working within the Government of Canada you’ll be able to access www.gcpedia.gc.ca.