reluctance of using wiki

[Ntsoaki]

Dear all,

I have just been appointed as a Knowledge Manager at SAQA (South
African Qualification Authority).
My main responsibility is to design, develop and execute knowledge
management strategies that will enable CAS (Career Advice Services)
our unit to have access to high quality up-to-date information that is
easily accessible and will enhance our business success.

In light with that we have different tools such as Wiki, website and
other internal systems that we are using to facilitate that process.
However we are facing a challenging situation whereby our staff
members are reluctant to use Wiki or share information on it because
they believe it is difficult to navigate or to find information there.

I have been tasked to conduct a workshop/training for our staff member
to have a positive response towards Wiki so that they should be
willing and confidently use Wiki as our knowledge base. I am also new
on Wiki and currently familiarising myself with it hence I assigned
myself to wiki tutorials and the forums to get a better understanding
around the subject.

Any pointers on how to convince my colleagues that Wiki is they way to
go, I find it interesting and convenient for the purpose of our
project, the trick is how do I get my colleagues by the idea.

Thanks

Ntsoaki Kala

[kirby urner]

Hi Ntsoaki --

I suggest a lore-based approach, getting at skills through stories,

rather than leaving context to chance. [1]  Too many workshops

neglect lore and dive into technical details with no overview.

Stories / history actually help glue the details into memory 

structures with staying power, plus provides the individual with

more of a sense of where to jump in, at least potentially.

For example, what is the history of the Wiki, where does the

word come from etc.  I happen to know the inventor of WikiWiki,

Ward Cunningham.  You might, for your own purposes, tour

the first /original wiki.

http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiWikiWeb

Then there's Wikipedia and the controversies, and Wikileaks...

I think it's a good policy in workshops to openly address

"connotations" and create an environment in which people

feel safe enough to express their concerns, as well as 

confess their ignorance.

Finding successful / happening Wikis on the internet that

really appear to be doing a social service would be another

task to complete in advance of any Wiki Workshop.

Wikieducator is a great example of the latter I should 

think.

Oft times it's a matter of culture (office culture). Leading

by example becomes important, not just by one person

but a core group or team...

Kirby Urner

Portland, Oregon

http://wikieducator.org/User:KirbyUrner

[1] lore vs. skills as two axes of andragogy:

http://www.4dsolutions.net/presentations/p4t_notes.pdf (Fig. page 3)

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[Kathleen Zarubin]

Oh YES - I LOVE storytelling / (LORE!) ... and also .. ‘appreciative enquiry’ approach / strength based training. ...

 Another idea could be to set up some wikki pages with deliberate ‘not current ... not quite right ... information ... ‘ – Nothing too ‘drastic’ but just enough to whet their appetite.  Things like names spelt incorrectly … broken links to sites you know they can access  …  Aspects that you know people are passionate about just put in “blah blah blah”.  If you set it up towards things that are personal and trigger or capture their passion … They will not be able to help themselves to correct it … and once you start to Correct … it is a short step to Creation ..

 Of course be upfront with this.  It is not a trick ‘to get them in’ but rather like all learning / playing / making time to understand something and then embrace it … it is a REASON to do it.  (I also LOVE ‘Just in time’ Learning .. and live by that motto.)

 Another idea, like all team activities is ‘acknowledgement’.   I have just stumbled on this site (I have no affiliation / vested interest and if there is something better and more in keeping with the ethos & culture of this group – please let me know!) .. http://www.wooboard.com and maybe it is an Australian / western culture / anglo saxon .. thingy (sorry if my terminology is not correct) so maybe not appropriate  in all countries / cultures .. BUT I LOVE the idea of being ‘wooed’ and wooing’ … it also seems like a bit of fun … something … sometimes … in all our very important stuff we do … I feel like I, at least, forget to have (sometimes) ..

 

Whatever you do GOOD LUCK!  And thanks for sharing

Kathleen

[Wayne Mackintosh]

Dear Ntsoaki,

Congratulations on your new role as Knowledge Manager at SAQA -- I'm sure you are excited to tackle new opportunities and challenges.

Based on our experiences providing free training opportunities to thousands of educators worldwide, I have found that very often the reluctance to use wiki technology has less to do with learning how to use wikis, but more to do with the fears and uncertainties of collaborating in an open environment. So its important to focus on explaining the benefits of collaborative authoring and to illustrate the features in the wiki which provide an accurate history of every edit and how we can monitor progress on wiki pages.

Above all -- we are a community. If any editor has questions, they should not be shy to ask, We are here to help.

Wayne

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[Kathleen Zarubin]

I often wish I could ‘like’ a post to this group ... and this is  one of those times  

 

 

 

From: Wayne Mackintosh

Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2011 5:18 PM

To: wikied...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: [WikiEducator] reluctance of using wiki

 

[Wayne Mackintosh]

Thanks Kathleen -- you made our day!  I "like" your comment 2.

W

[gene loeb]

My personal opinion is that wiki is dificult to navigate but maybe that is me. See if there are any other programs.  IT4ALL and Nelli Duetsch, use WIZIQ for webinars and has good classes.

Try  VSEE, a nice program that like skype, allows persons to view and see each other, but is nicer and easy to use for participants (I have tried three persons) working together on a document,  ,making changes. Very easy and  enjoyable.

 

 Also, a good website which i get several times a week, has new and interesting things abpout computers and computing and data, called FREE GIZMOS   http://www.techsupportalert.com,

 

Go to the site to see what it has to offer.

 

Best wishes,

Gene

Gene Loeb, Ph.D.

[Balqis Thaahaveettil]

Dear Ntsoaki ,
You can launch some discussion classes on wiziq platform
which is very user friendly once you know the technical aspects.I
would also help you in learning the technical aspects of creating
online classes . I made such a class last month for many online
teachers who found wiki confusing and difficult to navigate .After the
class they can meet the teachers personally to help them guide through
wiki .I hope it may work well for you too as it worked well for me .
Best wishes
Balqis Thaahaveettil

[T&C aelaurencon]

Hi Kirby, 

The probleme you have to face is well known and the main obstacle for interactive and really efficient KM and KT. 

Who to motivate coworkers to use a Wiki.  From my experience (made in academic institutions, SME Cluster and local authorities here in Europe is: 

to set up a very user-friendly Wiki:  my favorite Wikis are 

Podio.com 

Cynapse.com

The other probleme is how to convince and convert the top management to participate and thus to activate this Social Workforce. 

Knowledge Sharing is just like a paradigm shift. By sharing their knowledge, many people are fearing to loose their little part of power and influence.

You can also test our open source platform for interactivity: http://echo.to  it's creative common. 

Best Regards from Berlin 

Dr.Angelica Laurençon 

2011/11/30 kirby urner <kirby...@gmail.com>

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more: w/ww.translate-communicate.eu/blog

[Sandhya Gunness]

HI Kathreen,
Me too "like" this discussion. I'm currently compiling a questionnaire to send to University of Mauritius academics to see whether (if at all) they are aware of OERs and using them and collaborating . I hope to be surprised, given that we've had many OER-related workshops..but nothing has taken off seriously enough, ..and yes will add the "appreciative enquiry" method for my classes
Thanks for that and the Wooboard too..Looks fun!
Sandhya

[Randy Fisher]

http://nz.wikieducator.org/Mauritius

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