Communicate and Collaborate Wikis Social Media Certificate Program Communicate and Collaborate Wikis Communicate and Collaborate Through Blogs and Wikis Saturday, September 29, 2012 Social Media Certificate http://www.shu.edu/academics/setonworldwide/certificate-in-social-media.cfm Session II - Communicate and Collaborate Through Blogs and Wikis A blog can be the anchor for your social media strategy, while wikis, on the other hand, provide project teams with a highly flexible medium for internal collaboration. This workshop will cover adding and editing entries as well as including media on a WordPress site. We will discuss customization and adding widgets along with integrating Twitter and Facebook. With regard to wikis, we will look at a few of the most common platforms and brainstorm ideas on maximizing wiki potential in an organization or business. By the conclusion of this session you will be able to fully integrate blogs and wiki's into your social media toolbox. Heidi Trotta Instructional Designer Heidi Trotta, Instructional Designer

Advantages and Disadvantages Cloud Based or Hosted Wiki Platforms Presentation Outline: Wikis - What are they? Advantages and Disadvantages Cloud Based or Hosted Wiki Platforms Let’s Do It – Best Restaurants in Northern New Jersey Agenda for today

Wikis – What are they? Simple website Allows users to add and edit content easily Especially suited for constructive collaborative authoring Records each individual change Can be reverted back to previous state Often offers a discussion board Can be private or public Named after the “Wiki Wiki” line of the “Chance RT-52” bus line at the Honolulu International Airport. The name is based on the Hawaiian term “wiki” meaning “quick”, “fast” or “to hasten”.. Wiki’s – What are they? A type of website that allows users to add and edit content easily Especially suited for constructive collaborative authoring Records each individual change that occurs over time Can be reverted back to it’s previous state Often offers a discussion board Some wikis are private, others public Named after the “Wiki Wiki” line of the “Chance RT-52” bus line at the Honolulu International Airport. The name is based on the Hawaiian term “wiki” meaning “quick”, “fast” or “to hasten”.. http://www.seedwiki.com/wiki/american_gothic_literature/american_gothic_literature?wpid=249177

Why Wikis for Business? Why wikis for business? Anyone who's worked on even one team project in an enterprise can tell you what a nightmare document management can be. E-mails follow divergent paths. Spreadsheets and Word documents get passed around, and nobody's quite sure who has the most recent version. The admin who's been taking meeting notes and storing them on her hard drive goes on vacation. Marketing strategies change, but nobody remembers to ask the Web folks to update the company intranet.

Some Business Examples …

Platform Choices Platform Choices – decide if you want a cloud wiki (might be free) or installed on your own server … note companies using Twiki! Pick a platform that has been around for a long time … internet based companies can come and go … PbWorks – Web Based Twiki - Enterprise SocialText - Enterprise Media Wiki - Enterprise

Consider a wiki if … Consider a wiki if: Need to work collaboratively on documentation – usually computer platform independent Want to manage meeting notes and team agendas Need a Project management tool that is cheap (it can be free), accessible through any web browser. Want documents in one universally accessible location where shared documents can be easily view and revised by a dispersed team (either large or small)

A wiki might NOT be right for you if … A wiki might not be right for your organization if: You need to use complex file formats. Some wiki platforms can support only text or HTML files. Consider using a PHP/SQL-based wiki platform that can handle robust file types. Not great on special formatting, charts and graphs … best for straight text although they have gotten much better is the last few years. You don't have a staff member who can take responsibility for its use. You will need somebody who can establish conventions for naming pages and maintaining links (establishing the structure). The collaborative format isn't appropriate for your group or workplace. Peer review is not always the best solution for content management. You're looking for an exchange of views. Wikis are NOT the best tool for airing opinions or carrying on conversations. If that's your primary goal, use a blog instead. A wiki might NOT be right for you if …

One we are going to use today … Pbworks … here is a sample … (content is out-of-date but it is still a nice example) http://heiditrotta.pbworks.com http://heiditrotta.pbworks.com

Here is the wiki for the class … http://socialmediacertificateshu.pbworks.com http://socialmediacertificateshu.pbworks.com

Resources http://www.sitepoint.com/how-to-choose-the-right-wiki/ http://www.sitepoint.com/use-a-wiki-for-business/ http://www.masternewmedia.org/best-wiki-tools-and-services/#ixzz265yTV6le

Heidi Trotta heidi.trotta@shu.edu 973-275-2882/ Resources