Wiki Patterns
grow your wiki
EditMySpace
What is it?
MySpace is a pattern in which people are encouraged to post personal profile pages, MySpace-style. It's a good way for people to get started contributing to the wiki by posting contact information, a picture, a short biography, website URL, etc.
Usage
Create a template (see the Scaffold pattern) so that profile pages have a standard general organization and set of content. Then encourage current members of your group, employees, etc. to create profile pages, and make it standard practice for any new employee to create a profile, preferably during their first few days at work.
Consider including in the profile template placeholders, e.g.:
- Contact information: email, phone, IM - AIM, Yahoo, Google Talk, Skype, Twitter, etc.
- Blog and personal website URL
- Biography
- Encourage blogging on profile pages - can be a good way for people to get to know more about each other and build community in teams, as well as a good place to update progress on projects, get informal feedback via comments, and float ideas.
- Macro {incoming-links} could easily list all pages the user contributed to: e.g. all pages signed StewardMader
Example
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Stewart Mader Wiki Evangelist, Atlassian Software Systems  email: [stewart(at)atlassian.com] blog: Blog on Wiki Patterns |
Stewart Mader is Wiki Evangelist for Atlassian Software Systems, and a noted wiki/social software researcher, author, blogger and speaker. Before joining Atlassian, he worked with several universities and a number of other organizations to introduce wikis and grow wiki collaboration across departments, teams, and projects.
In 2007 he launched Wikipatterns.com, a community-built, wiki-based resource for people to share patterns and strategies for increasing wiki collaboration. He also publishes Blog on Wiki Patterns, which is his personal perspective on the uses and benefits of wiki collaboration.
In 2006, he published Using Wiki in Education, a book containing 10 wide-ranging case studies from teachers using the wiki to transform teaching and engage today's students. This is the first book to focus specifically on the wiki in education and be developed and published using a wiki, so it actively demonstrates the tool in action.
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Related Patterns
- Invitation - an invitation to use the wiki is a great precursor to the MySpace pattern, because it formally offers people the opportunity to learn to to use the wiki and start participating.
- Poker - the Poker pattern is a good next step after MySpace. Once individual content is posted, putting social content like the weekly poker schedule gets people regularly looking at the wiki.
- Scaffold - the scaffold pattern is especially useful for creating a standard general organization and set of content on profile pages.
- Magnet - since profile pages contain crucial information like employee contact details, pictures, and biographies, this contributes to the wiki becoming a magnet for an organization.
Further Reading
Adoption Patterns
Adoption Anti-Patterns
Wikipatterns.com is sponsored by Atlassian Software, creators of JIRA, Confluence, Bamboo and Crowd
Designed by Headshift Ltd
Is this not the HomePage practice that C2 wiki used, that MySpace so effectively captured?
Mark,
Essentially yes. It's the idea that if everyone has a page on the wiki about themselves, they'll feel more connected to the community and become proficient wiki editors by working on their personal pages.
Stewart
We have also referred to this pattern as http://usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?FrontLawn
. Ok, I figured out how to edit the page and get the WYSIWYG editor to work for me, so I've added the link above.
I refer to this pattern in developping the concept of PeopleWiki "Wiki Member Page". Now I split it into two distinct pages types
1/ User page which modification is restricted to the user himself and is used to make private choices, like voting for elections or choosing a course. The user can also regulate specific group access to these pages using the <protect> tag
2/ The user page is not used by the member to present himself, this is done through a "normal" wiki page, the WMP. The edition of this WMP is free
The <protect> tag sounds like an interesting idea. Is that something you've built as a MediaWiki extension Remi?
is it possible to download wiki software like this one?