funk~station

As Bastian pointed out earlier this week, we've used wikis extensively in the past. Wikis turned out to be the first collaborative tool that actually improved the way we work together. Not when we were spread around the globe, but when we were sitting altogether in one room. In fact we achieve best results when being in the same room and working together online and offline at the same time. Since wikis can be edited very fast and by multiple people at the same time, we keep online records of our face-to-face discussions in real-time and with minimal efforts. Wikis contain not only results but also reflect developments and progresses of our work sessions. Due to their associative structure, they’re capable of presenting topics that cannot be appropriately described in a linear way. Let’s say wikis present information more the way we’re thinking. Therefore it is easy to frequently switch between face-to-face discussions and collaborative online working, since the structures are similar.

Wikis can be used in a variety of ways. However it has turned out, that the benefit of a wiki is dependent on physical proximity. The more we communicated face-to-face the higher the benefit of the wiki was.

However wikis are still in its infancy. Their further development is something we look forward to. 'We claim to develop a Web-based product that will take emerging wiki technology to a new level', says a new Palo Alto start-up called JotSpot. They have just received $5.2 million venture capital from the valley to realize their mission. Unfortunately their 'quest to turn an open-source wiki into an application product.' (Article) is less agreeable.

When developing wikis, something one has to keep in mind is that wikis might be so useful, because they are so simple. Here are some very basic features we would like wikis to have:

• A truly WYSIWYG wiki (the separation between edit and view mode takes too much time and is impractical)
• Personalized views on the content of the wiki that enables a user to instantly see what has changed and what is new.
• Simple interfaces to other programs based on open standards (e.g. personalized RSS feeds)
• Easy integration of all type of files
• Visual counterpart to the sometimes complex associative structure of the wiki.
• Open source code