Wiki Wednesdays are a series of events that were started by Socialtext . They run in about 10 countries but are just starting to get some regular slots in London and are now organised by the community. If, like me, you are unsure of what a wiki actually is, a good explanation can be found here . Basically it is a self perpetuating collaboration tool or social networking site where content is updated and added by the users. Think Wikipedia - http://www.wikipedia.org/

The last Wiki Wednesday event was very good, according to Matt in our Emerging Business team. An interesting mix of people from technical leads of large organisations or innovative new businesses, to start-up companies providing Wiki Solutions and some subject specialists. A full attendee list can be found here.  

There were around 30 attendees, half of whom presented. There were some very positive remarks about Microsoft as well as a few snipes! Simon Revel from Pfizers presented a comparison on the Wiki capabilities within MOSS 2007 vs Wikimedia; the synopsis was honest and actually quite positive, there were some obvious shortfalls in our technology but this functionality was probably never included with the intention of it being a market leader.

Some points Matt picked up on were:

  • If you have SharePoint in your organisation this is a great way to begin using Wiki's
  • The RSS functionality is restrictive
  • Useful being able to apply user restrictions and rights
  • Ability to delete Wiki's was met with confusion
  • Wiki's are attached to individuals, losing the whole emphasis of Wiki's being used to share info across the whole organisation

You can see Simon Revel's slides here.

Another interesting point raised was that a plug-in for Outlook would be really useful and a great way to get people to use and realise the potential of Wiki's - having a tab to initiate a space and allow content to be shared and worked upon. There is an interesting discussion to be had around the different types of collaboration tools available within our technology and where they fit together (shared spaces, SharePoint sites, Groove, Wiki's etc)

Wiki's can be a useful tool within the enterprise organisation and a technology that more and more people are using. You can get a comprehensive round up of the event here as well as an interesting mindmap of the presentations and comments made.

Everyone agreed it was a great show of faith for MS to be involved and that our continued involvement would be welcomed. Matt suggested it'd be great to have a SharePoint Specialist or Wiki enthusiast at the next event to hopefully offer some insight into the decisions made around the functionality included in the MOSS 2007 Wiki and where we see this technology being used in the future along with our intentions for supporting Wiki's.

The next Wiki Wednesday is being hosted by Conchango on Wednesday :-) the 6th June. Details including how to register can be found here.

Thanks to Matt for reporting back.