Using a Wiki for Documentation and Collaborative Authoring

By Michael Angeles

Michael Angeles is an information specialist at Lucent Technologies. He
can be contacted via his home page and weblog at http://urlgreyhot.com

Published November 28, 2004

Introduction

Documentation may help to ensure efficiency, continuity and consistency in library operations. Library technical staff might consider the use of collaborative publishing software for documenting their internal processes and procedures. Wiki software for collaborative web publishing has emerged as one of the viable and inexpensive options to consider for maintaining group documentation. There are many inexpensive or free Wiki packages at our disposal and while they may not necessarily bend to meet our every requirement, with a little work can serve many of our needs.


A Good Fit

I had my first experience using a Wiki for project documentation when I participated in the formation of a professional association. The group was geographically dispersed, and after our first face-to-face meetings, it became clear that we needed a platform to supplement our email meetings and conference calls. We quickly set up a Wiki, and it became everything from the white board to . . .