10 Questions You Must Ask Before Implementing a Wiki #10

Ask yourself and your team the following questions before you start to implement a wiki, and be truthful with the answers.

Think about the issue you are trying to solve, and then see how a wiki might be applied, but remember don’t just focus on the positive, think about the potential down sides too.

10. What sort of controls will I need, if any?
It can be argued that the first rule of wikis is that there isn’t any rules. It is true that wikis function best when they are driven by the community that uses them, but you need to think about a few basics of control before you start. Do you need logins, if so who will authorize those. Will you have some sort of initial structure? What about giving users a ‘sandbox’ area to learn the wiki in? Who can see, read and edit what pages? Who will monitor recent changes and do any necessary roll backs? What’s the philosophy for rolling back content, incorporating comments? You will find that these answers change and evolve along with the wiki, but it is good practice to at least set a baseline.