The Wiki Way
From xoa
xoa is a wiki, just like Wikipedia. Anyone can edit, and this gives amazing flexibility and power to collect information.
To get into the Wiki Way of thinking, think about these ideas.
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Make a page as often as possible
When in doubt, create a new page. A wiki's value comes from having large sets of data to work with, and letting people interrelate the pages and information into a coherent whole.
- If it's worth writing in an email to more than one person, it's probably worth putting up in a page on the wiki.
- If you fix a bug, and want people to know about it so they don't run into it again, write up a quick page to describe it.
- Save the text of a cool article in a page, named after the article title, and including a link back to the source. See "Too busy to blog? Count your keystrokes" for an example.
- Use a page in the "Scratch:" (say, "Scratch:Alester") workspace as a virtual whiteboard to collaborate. If you find the results are worth saving, rename it to a more permanent name.
- Don't think a page has to be long to be worth while. Maybe it's only a line or two, but at least you're saving it.
Make page names as descriptive as possible
When thinking of subject lines for email, we tend to write down the quickest thing we can that gets across the point at the time we're writing it. We'll send an email with a subject like "Bug" or "Oracle problem", but in a month or a year, that's not very helpful for telling us what's in the mail.
The same applies to wiki pages. A page titled "Bug" or "Oracle problem" in a list of search results may not help someone searching for a specific nugget of information, but "Oracle problem: Intermedia indexes corrupted on large text files" is very helpful.
If you save a page and then come up with a better title, then go ahead and move the page to the new title. Bogey will automatically make a redirect to the new title.
Link freely
Linking between pages helps others who may not understand the context of the page. Linking in a wiki is as simple as putting the link in [[brackets]], such as:
- The last time we ran into this problem, it was on the [[Chicago Public Schools project]], and we had to...
which renders like this:
- The last time we ran into this problem, it was on the Chicago Public Schools project, and we had to...
If the text of your link would be awkward in a sentence, you can provide alternate text, like this:
- The last time we ran into this problem, it was on [[Chicago Public Schools project|CPS]], and we had to...
which looks like:
- The last time we ran into this problem, it was on CPS, and we had to...
Garden the wiki
A wiki grows over time, and needs to be cultivated. Sometimes you plant new seeds, and sometimes you have to remove old weeds. This is part of having a garden, and it's part of having a wiki, too.
- If a page has a typo, fix it.
- If a page is missing some information, add it.
- If we need a page and it doesn't exist, start it.
- If a page belongs in a certain category, categorize it.
Just as the development team doesn't have a concept of "your code" and "my code", so too should you not think of Bogey as having "your pages" and "my pages." If you see a place for improvement, Just Do It.
Use search regularly
The keyword searching on Bogey can find whatever it is you need. Rather than trying to rack your brain remembering an exact page name, search for something like it and click.
Note that the two buttons in the search box are different. The "Search" button presents a list of pages that match the keyword(s) in the box. The "Go" button does the same thing, unless there's an exact match of a page name, when you'll be taken to the page directly.
You can fix it later
Everything in a wiki is editable, and it keeps full revision history. It's not possible to screw up a page such that it can't be fixed, so feel free to make edits. You can rename pages, too, so don't worry if the name isn't exactly right.
Adopt an approach of making a first draft, and then saving it. Then, revise as you go. Remember Andy's 90% rule: "90% of everything that you do in a first draft is fine." The other 10% can get added or modified as necessary.
- "Nothing remotely interesting was ever done right the first time." -- Tom Peters
Assign categories freely
Categories make it easy to group pages so they can be easily found. Pages may be in as many categories as you want. See the Category List, also available in the sidebar, for a list of categories that already exist.
To add a page to the "Secret project" category, add this to the text of your page:
- [[Category:Secret project]]
Typically, categories are put in the bottom of the page, but that's not a requirement.
If a category doesn't fit your page, then make a new category. Like page names, the category can get changed if you need to.
Surf
There are links everywhere. Surf them to see what else exists on Bogey.
The best link to surf is the list of Categories at the bottom of each page. Click to see what other pages are in that category.
Also, note the "What links here" link in the toolbox on the left of each page. Other pages that link to the one you're reading may turn up other valuable pages.
Follow New Pages and Recent Changes
The New pages and Recent changes links in the sidebar give you a chronological view of activity on the wiki. You can see what's been added and what's been changed so you can keep up.
Read the page history
Every page has a History tab that shows you the complete edit history for the page. You can also get a display of the differences between different versions.
Provide a summary when possible
When you edit a page, fill in the Summary box to let people reading Recent changes what changed without having to load the page and check history.
