From the Affinity Groups: Recommendations for Wiki Solutions

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 09/28/2007 - 6:36am.

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With over 100 active groups and 5,000 users, NTEN's Affinity Groups platform is an incredible resource for those in the nonprofit tech community. There are a variety of discussions constantly taking place, ranging from the very basic and elementary aspects of technology in the nonprofit sector to the more sophisticated and technical.

A lively discussion recently occurred in the general NTEN Discuss Affinity Group about selecting wiki software. Some recommendations:

MediaWiki, the free and open-source software originally written for Wikipedia
PBwiki, the popular free, hosted wiki solution with an optional WYSIWYG editor
Confluence, the paid enterprise wiki created by Atlassian
PmWiki, another free and open-source wiki software
Wikispaces, a PBwiki-like hosted free wiki solution
Wikipedia also has a lengthy list of more wiki software

In addition to specific software, there were some general tips and considerations discussed:

Wikis are good for creating a knowledge base or encyclopedia
Wordpress or some other CMS might be better suited for a collaborative website project, or Google Apps or Zoho for simple collaboration
Since wikis are so "free form," a "gardener" or someone dedicated to guiding users and cleaning up may be necessary
A facilitator may also be useful
Sandboxes can be used for people to introduce themselves and get used to the wiki
Wikipatterns has some useful practices as well as some to avoid
An interesting examination of the "ten best wiki communities"
More general tips and a case study of wiki adoption