Seven+Tips+to+Success+with+a+Corporate+Wiki

If after reading the benefits of integrating a wiki into your company, you're finally convinced about the merits of a wiki's value, here are some tips for success with a corporate wiki as identified by C.G. Lynch (category titles by Lynch, content paraphrased by me).

You can house the wiki on your own servers, use a hosting company, or have a combination of both. This depends largely on how your company is situated. If you're a small or a mid-sized company, you may want to consider looking into housing the wiki yourself as it's more likely to have a fixed amount of usage per month by a few employees. If you're a mid or large-sized company, a third party or hybrid wiki would be the best bet as content and users would be much greater.
 * 1. Picking a Model**

If you are unsure about integrating a wiki into your company's intranet see reasons why you should.

There are certain ethical and privacy issues you and your employees should take into account when using wikis. Wikis are meant to be community-owned and transparent, meaning everyone can participate in adding, shaping, and editing the information on the wiki. This is not always bad, as many contributors to Wikipedia are anonymous ([|Wikipedia]). However, this also means that information on the wiki can become suspect as more "hands are in the pot" and the identity of the editors are public. While this aspect of wikis is useful for appropriating credit, there must be a level of trust among the employees openly sharing the information.
 * 2. Ethics and Privacy**

You should also be aware of any system limitations within your company so you can not only integrate, but manage your wiki effectively.
 * 3. Limitations**

Make sure you give the users time to become acclimated with the wiki. It may take them a while to get used to a system. No matter which wiki style you select, vendors should help with support issues.
 * 4. Support**

If you're working on a project and need fast, continuous updates to changes, using notifications can help keep up with your wiki page.
 * 5. Tracking Changes**

Strong searchable capabilities will ensure success with your wiki. Available search parameters will vary with the software you use to implement your wiki. Tagging, for example, will enhance your wiki's search-ability.
 * 6. Success**

Use everything the wiki has to offer, including multilingual support and attachments.
 * 7. Extra Features**

For basic information on who benefits from Wikis, go to Technical Writers and Wikis for Documentation

Sources: Lynch, C.G.. //[|Seven Tips to Success with a Corporate Wiki.]// PC World, 28 Dec. 2008. Web. 5 Nov. 2011. "[|Wikipedia: About.]" Wikipedia, 6 Nov. 2011. Web. 9 Nov. 2011