Many of us wiki users, being so proud that we are doing our part to realize the vision of so-called Web x.0, easily fall into the habit of trying to be arbiters of how wiki should be used. As new wiki adopters (a category that really includes every wiki user) seek ways to extract value from the wiki medium, we are seeing more and more phrases like “the goal of wiki is …”, or “wiki is intended to be used like …”, or “the right way to use wiki is …” However, the truth is that wiki is simply a tool, the best use of which is determined by the user.
The best use for any tool is determined first by what the user wants or needs to create; for instance if you want to create chicken soup, you probably wouldn’t want to stir your pot with a hammer, although you could do so effectively. But even in the case where the proper tool is used, there is merit in considering whether or not the tool is returning enough value. For example, if you indeed used a spoon to stir your chicken soup, but you never considered that the same spoon could be used to scoop out food, or that it could be used to stir vegetable soup as well, then you are missing out on some opportunities.
Unfortunately, the seemingly silly example above is precisely what we are doing with wiki when we try to define its “proper use”. Using wiki simply as a modernized version of the encyclopedia is like a business only using Word as a modernized version of the hand written letter or typewriter. Certainly if a business only used Word to write text letters there would be a significant value returned over using typewriters and handwriting, but in no way would the returned value approach the level of the software’s potential. Unquestionably the ability to create simple and sophisticated tables, surveys, and forms or the ability to add pictures and charts greatly increases the ROI of Word.
Applying creative structures to wiki multiplies it ROI in the same way that different front-ends for the same database can transform a collection of records into distinct and specialized systems like a billing system, an accounting system, or an inventory tracking system. So we already know from experience that a different perspective, on even the same data, can return vastly different experiences and value returns. And what is an encyclopedia really? An encyclopedia, no matter if it is paper or electronic, is essentially a database of subject specific entries.
In summary, if one’s desired outcome is simply to develop a robust and community updatable content repository, then it is clear that the best use of wiki is simply to follow the encyclopedic model of for example, a Wikipedia. But for businesses concerned with efficiency and profitability, this type of wiki use is an inadequate application of wiki capability.
