TiddlyWiki Interview Questions

[Jeremy Ruston]

I'm interested in drawing up a collection of interviews with people
who use TiddlyWiki. Trying to keep things simple, I was thinking about
a series of, say, 12 questions that people would be able to answer
over email.

I was hoping to tap into the groups collective intelligence to figure
out some questions that would prompt interesting replies. For
instance, for many people it seems that there is a distinct
"discovery" moment when TiddlyWiki explodes in their brain. It would
be cool to get some different perspectives on that.

Here are the questions I've come up with so far:

- How many TiddlyWikis have you created? How many do you use regularly?
- How did you first discover TiddlyWiki?
- How has the TiddlyWiki community helped you?
- How have you been able to contribute back to the TiddlyWiki community?
- How many other people have you introduced to TiddlyWiki? How many of
them have gone on to use it regularly?
- What is the most annoying thing about using TiddlyWiki?
- Which plugins do you rely on the most?
- What do you think of the name TiddlyWiki and the term "tiddler"?

I'm guessing that the art of email interviews is to try to phrase the
questions to discourage simple yes/no answers; I'm not sure I've done
that very well,

Best wishes

Jeremy

--
Jeremy Ruston
mailto:jer...@osmosoft.com
http://www.tiddlywiki.com

[twgrp]

It seems you are asking for help to *formulate* good questions. To
help you, it would be easier if you first defined the purpose more.
What actually is it you're wondering (you do mention one "for
instance"-example)? Maybe mentioning how it will be used will make it
clearer?

:-)

[Robert Pollard]

Jeremy

Here are a couple of possible questions:

• What was it about TiddlyWiki that captured your interest?
• Which aspects of TiddlyWiki do you find most valuable?
• What is the most challenging thing about using TiddlyWiki? (instead of annoying)

HTH

Robert

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[Bob Paige]

I have one main TW that I use on a regular basis and I was drawn to TW because I could provide a good user experience for the consumers of the information I publish via my TW.

In that vein, you might consider questions like:

- who is the target audience for your TW(s)

- what features of TW made it suitable for your target audience(s)

- how has TW saved time for you (as information producer) and your target audience (as consumers)

Just my opinion, but too often we, as programmer-types, focus on the tools instead of the end-users that actually have to use the stuff we churn out. I'd say focus your questions on two broad areas: 

1) how does TW provide a way to make information easily consumable, and 

2) how does TW provide a way to make information easily producible/publishable.

 

-- 

Bobman

[Anthony Muscio]

I am very supportive of this approach to collect information.

I do however see that each individual (at least the first 20-30) could contribute to the questions from there own individual perspective.

Ideal
A dynamic survey where TW enthusiasts could answer and propose questions (then return to answer newer questions) would be a great way to build this. in time the survey will stabilize and then you can use it as the source for a more widely distributed survey.

I can host a lime survey if you want.

My question suggestions;
* Do you create new tiddlywiki's to contain special features
* Do you keep adding new features to existing tiddlywiki's
* Have you trained novice users in TiddlyWikis Use ?

*if yes have you been successful, somewhat successful, failed

* How big is your largest TiddlyWiki MB/#Tiddlers)
* are there plugins you always add to your tiddlywiki's that should be in the default (or core) ? please list with exact source/name eg; http://www.TiddlyTools.com/#GotoPlugin
* are there tidlywiki  flavors you always use eg
Standard From tiddlywiki.com
MPTW From mptw.tiddlyspot.com
mGSD GTD system based on MPTW.
d³ (new version) GTD system from dcubed.ca
tbGTD (English) GTD system by Tobias Beer
tbGTD (Deutsch) GTD system by Tobias Beer
etc..

Regards Tony

Anthony Muscio
LaSourceProjects.org Open Source Sustainability Projects
LaSource.com.au Sustainable Products and Business
SerendipityIdeas.com IT hints and Tips and Website hosting
Like personal Web 2.0 ? see www.tiddlywiki.com

[Jeremy Ruston]

Many thanks for the suggestions.

On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 5:34 PM, twgrp <matia...@gmail.com> wrote:
> It seems you are asking for help to *formulate* good questions. To
> help you, it would be easier if you first defined the purpose more.
> What actually is it you're wondering (you do mention one "for
> instance"-example)? Maybe mentioning how it will be used will make it
> clearer?

I'd like to publish the interviews as part of a larger mission of
doing a better job of showcasing TiddlyWiki. Something like:

http://expressionengine.com/showcase/interviews/
http://37signals.com/customers

It seems that TiddlyWiki is hard for some people to get their heads
around. I'm hoping that by exploring how people who have done so think
about TiddlyWiki we might be able to make it easier for others to
understand what's going on. Furthermore, because TiddlyWiki is general
purpose it is not always obvious how it can be used until you see how
it is being used by others.

It would fun to do this as a meme on TiddlySpace, where we agree on
using the same questions as kick-off titles in each of our spaces.
Then people could browse through lots of answers to "What is
TiddlyWiki for?". But initially I was thinking of emailing directly
some of the users I know from the general community and from within
BT, because not everyone with an interesting story to tell is (yet) on
TiddlySpace.

I've summarised the suggestions so far here:

http://jermolene.tiddlyspace.com/#%5B%5BTiddlyWiki%20Interview%20Questions%5D%5D

Best wishes

Jeremy

[Alex Hough]

here is a suggestion:

How might you use TW in the future?

A:ex

[Måns]

Hi Jeremy

> It would fun to do this as a meme on TiddlySpace, where we agree on using the same questions as kick-off titles in each of our spaces.

> Then people could browse through lots of answers to "What is TiddlyWiki for?". http://jermolene.tiddlyspace.com/#%5B%5BTiddlyWiki%20Interview%20Ques...
Please create a dedicated space meant for inclusion. 1 tiddler pr
question, woud be nice :-)

>But initially I was thinking of emailing directly some of the users I know from the general community and from within BT, because not everyone with an interesting story to tell is (yet) on TiddlySpace.

Great idea - I'd love also to read userstories from people like: Eric
Shulman, BidiX, Morris Gray, Wolfgang, Simon Baird, Paolo Soares and
several more... People who has contributed so much programming and
soul to the TW-project...
Of course I would try to answer the questionnaire myself even if it's
less interesting - I think it woud be a great ressource - please go
on!!
Cheers Måns Mårtensson

[twgrp]

On Oct 20, 12:30 pm, Jeremy Ruston <jeremy.rus...@gmail.com> wrote:
> It seems that TiddlyWiki is hard for some people to get their heads
> around. I'm hoping that by exploring how people who have done so think
> about TiddlyWiki we might be able to make it easier for others to
> understand what's going on. Furthermore, because TiddlyWiki is general
> purpose it is not always obvious how it can be used until you see how
> it is being used by others.

I would think there is a difference in
1) creating interest about TW and
2) have them "get their heads around it".
...and I'd say the distinction is particularly crucial for TW because
it, as you mention, is so general. I think people typically don't
bother to begin to climb the TW threshold (i.e #2 above) unless it
appears intersting and *relevant* to them.

For this reason I think it is key to showcase things that people can
identify with, and I would therefore suggest using this as a starting
point for (thus leading) questions to be used in such a showcase.
Perhaps:

* In which way is TW your personal wikipeida?
* Which every day projects do you use TW for?
* For what tasks do you prefer TW when there are other alternatives,
and why?
* What was your first TW "about"? Why did you create a second one?
* What makes using TW fun?
* What makes using TW valuable?
* Who ought to use TW?

...etc, provoking answers from us that people hopefully feel are
relevant and of value.

:-)

[Handoko Suwono]

Nice points Matias, great!

When targeting novice users in a TW showcase, the following might be
appropriate,
* What will be your first TW "about"?

Handoko -