On 14/11/07 2:53 AM, "Christopher Fahey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:

> I also think this is a great idea. Wasn't there already an IA Wiki?
> Seems to be dead now.
>  http://www.iawiki.org/

Comatose, not dead - the server blew up. I'm relocating it to a new service,
and taking the opportunity to examine migrating to an updated platform.
There have been huge advances in wiki software in the 7 years the IAwiki
lived.

> Seeing as I never used it, either, there must have been something
> wrong with it. What was it? Too little promotion? Not enough
> participation? Bad IA? As I recall it was loaded up with content at
> the beginning and rarely updated.

It started with only a dozen or so pages, and before the server blew up it
had over a thousand pages. It was a quiet success, content wise.

My diagnosis for the low uptake by the IA community:
1. introduced at a time when few knew what a wiki was,
2. lots of IAs had a hard time reconciling the idea of something so
unstructured with the idea of IA,
3. lots of IA discussion and thought leadership was poured into a
new-fangled and blossoming technology called "blogging"

> One problem is that our community might not be big enough to reliably
> and continually generate rich content. Wikipedia's top 500
> contributors write 50% of their content, but only comprise a tiny
> fraction of their audience. In our world, that means we'll need to
> rely on only maybe a dozen people to maintain a healthy Wiki. The IA
> Wiki model, then, would need to attract participation at a much
> higher level, I think.

The participation model is similar to what happens with mailing lists - lots
of lurkers, a few active participants. However, for all the active
participants on this mailing list, you can't assume they'll update a wiki ..
only maybe 10% of those will.

> The concept, again, seems great. Maybe it really just needs the
> rubric of an org like IxDA to work.

It also needs a cultural context: non-ownership of ideas (vs. the egoism of
blogging), and documenting (vs discussion eg. mailing list participation).

e.

________________________________________________________________
*Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah*
February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA
Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/

________________________________________________________________
Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines
List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help

Reply via email to