Wikis in the workplace

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Permalink Reply by Richard Holloway on December 15, 2009 at 1:25pm

DokuWiki is pretty good because It saves the data in text files.
This makes it much easier to get to the content when you are logged onto a server without a browser. Also text files are portable so you can back them up to a usb key for offline use which is harder to do with a database.

There is even an OpenOffice plugin to edit DokuWiki pages for those not familiar with wiki syntax.

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Permalink Reply by Matt Simmons on December 15, 2009 at 2:43pm

I have a mediawiki install that I put up a couple years back. Everyone has gradually warmed up to the idea, and now there are hundreds of documents on it. The client services people have a template that they use for their clients, and it works really well.

The only thing I wish I could do was generate pages on the fly (I'm sure I can, I just don't know how) and get a better search function.

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Permalink Reply by Matt Simmons on January 8, 2010 at 8:10pm

I recently got a lot more use out of my wiki. I found out how to write extensions. It's incredibly easy:

http://www.standalone-sysadmin.com/blog/2009/12/extending-mediawiki...

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Permalink Reply by John McGrath on December 15, 2009 at 5:53pm

I have been trying out KnowledgeTree (http://knowledgetree.com) document management system, and it seems pretty good so far.

It installs on both Windows and Linux, has a web interface, security (Users, Groups, and Units), and allows you to upload documents to the application. It has a MySQL database for keeping track of documents, and allows all sorts of Metadata. It even has a Tag Cloud, so that you can keyword search for documents.

I have really just started with it, but it is easy to work with, and installation is a breeze.

I used a wiki (still use it for informational purposes) and used mediawiki. Its seemed to work OK if you have documents that a small number of people will use, and know where to find it. I'd recommend it if you have a small scope in mind.

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Permalink Reply by Wesley "Nonapeptide" on December 15, 2009 at 10:10pm

I used Zoho's online Office Wiki for a private IT Wiki for my current job for about two years now. It's great, I'm never going to use anything except a wiki for documentation. My next gig, however, will probably use Confluence as the wiki since it has way more features and is also $10 for 10 user licenses and 1 year of support. Can't beat that with drumsticks!

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Permalink Reply by Gareth Marlow on December 16, 2009 at 12:39pm

We have a mediawiki install which is used by some of the software development teams, but less so by administrative teams or, indeed, the IT guys. At the moment, they tend to use network shares more. We're a Microsoft shop and we're pushing SharePoint at the moment, stepping it up in the New Year. But we're also deploying System Center Operations Manager and most of our team knowledge is going to end up in there which provides great context for the information - right next to the monitoring for the relevant systems.

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Permalink Reply by Will Enestvedt on December 16, 2009 at 1:59pm

I set up a wiki using DokuWiki a year or more ago. I use it a lot, as do the DBAs & sysadmin who work for/with me. And our developers know about it too, though I can't really track their use. (We also have an "official" repository, Documentum, as well as Project Workspaces in EPM Server where other documents are supposed to go. Yes, there is some duplication of effort here.)

The DokuWiki software is dead easy to use, and I like that fact that, once a page is created, I can use a shell script to update it.

Interestingly, I set up a blog for the same people to use and there has been less uptake on it, despite gee-whiz features like a calendar, tags, etc.. Over on the wiki, however, I have seen page creation and gotten requests for new features (e.g., text coloring), which demonstrate actual use and enthusiasm. :7)

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Permalink Reply by Graycat on January 8, 2010 at 7:44pm

Well it's been a few weeks since our first foray into wiki's at work and it's certainly been interesting.

I started off dead set on having MediaWiki as our system but after a few days of playing with it I decided it might not be what I was after so carried on testing others with DokuWiki. To be honest after a few goes installing and configuring it in various ways I found it simply does what we want straight out of the tin. Well not quite everything but certainly a lot closer than MediaWiki so I think we'll be running with this one for the time being.

Next step - propagate it with information and let the Grand Fromage (aka my boss) have a look at it. Hopefully my team will be well on the way to finishing that by the time I get back to work next week so fingers crossed.

Cheers for the suggestions et al.

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Permalink Reply by Graycat on February 12, 2010 at 2:45pm

Update:

After using Dokuwiki for about a month or so now I can honestly say I'm loving it!

For documentation and general information holding / sharing a wiki is a great way to go. With the search provider bolting in to FF + IE then you don't even need to open the site to start looking for information that used to take ages to locate.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Kroon on January 18, 2010 at 11:11am

I've used MediaWiki personally, but we use TikiWiki where I work. Tiki is nice because of a large amount of plug-ins and extra features like forums, chat rooms, and integrating SQL queries into pages.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Woodward on January 18, 2010 at 11:11pm

I'm using community MindTouch in a CentOS 5 VM running locally on my notebook. It is quick and simple to use, wysiwyg, uses local or AD authentication and works well for all my documentation. I'd like some of the features of the commercial version but then it starts to cost a bit just for my little application.
We use Sharepoint at the office for documentation and helpdesk but it is a dog to use.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Stoklosa on January 20, 2010 at 6:05pm

we've been using the free community version of deki wiki.. great if you need to give different groups access to portions of the wiki. integrates with AD. Easy to use.

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