Oh Wiki You're So Fine...

Assignment I, Part III ~ It's a wiki dummy! No...no it's not. It's a dummy wiki.

GOAL

The goal of the wiki being developed is as a staff only hub for employees of the Cobb County Public Library System (CCPLS). The primary purpose of the wiki is to provide both full and part-time staff a single, comprehensive location to address and answer as many foreseeable staff questions and concerns one might have in the event their desired information (or a direct answer) is unavailable to them.

WIKIMATRIX

Upon using wikimatrix it is determined that the service Wetpaint will be a suitable program for creating the CCPLS wiki. Wetpaint is a free, hosted, WYSIWYG website building interface that offers the kind of barebones options required of the CCPLS wiki. Because this is an internal, staff only wiki controlled by a small team of administrators, such things as corporate branding, specific domains, commercial support and page history recovery are unimportant.

FOCUS

Primarily the wiki is being designed as an internal memo sheet, orientation resource, employee handbook, FAQ and newsletter all in one. It will be a one stop shop for library staff. The wiki will include such information as county policies for employees, library policies for employees and library policies for the public that staff are expected to know and relate to patrons. Also included in the wiki will be general information staff might need regular reminders on like the addresses and hours of operation among the different branches, an employee phone and email list for contacting certain staff in certain situations and an FAQ that answers as many common staff questions as possible. Staff would be sought for help with the FAQ. Further, the wiki would contain links to all internal and external documents a library uses like patron application sheets, damaged item forms, vacation request forms, public meeting room request sheets, mileage report sheets, etc. Much of the information in the wiki will necessarily duplicate information that is available to the public (ie. locations, hours and patron policies). This does not diminish the wisdom of having a specific destination for staff. Redundancy in this way can only help to improve a staff member’s knowledge and information recall.

PARTICULARS

Another facet of the wiki will be a more dynamic news and alerts bulletin. Staff can access this area of the wiki for information on activities and programs that are occurring, not just within the library system, but throughout the county they work for. Here staff will find information on new job opportunities, new hires, retirements, library board decisions, budget information, technological implementations, etc.

Necessarily, the wiki will not be accessible remotely and will only be available when working on the library’s private staff network. The ultimate goal is to create a defined series of links and pages, some static, some constantly updated (by a Library Director nominated team of administrators), that library staff will reflexively seek out if they have any question or need affirmation about any and every area of library business. What is the dress code? Consult the wiki. How many items can a patron circulate at one time? Consult the wiki. What are my benefits? Consult the wiki. Who do I call for a computer problem? Consult the wiki. The only thing the wiki will not be able to answer (or be immediately updated to answer) will be the web address of the wiki. Per this assignment, I too do not know the answer to that question.

WIKIMATRIX RESULTS

1. Page History: This is not required because the wiki will not be publically available or editable.

2. WISIWYG: This is preferred for ease of use.

3. Support: Commercial support is not needed as this is an internal wiki.

4. Interface Language; While library staff speak a combined 21 different languages they all speak English brilliantly. Therefore, no localization is necessary.

5. Hosting: The wiki does not require special controls or local plugins. Nor does the wiki object to outside advertising that pays for hosting. Hosting is preferred over housed.

6. Domain: No specific domain is needed. The link is the most important item, regardless of what that link is.

7. Branding: Wiki is an internal entity. Corporate branding is superfluous and not needed.

26 Wikis matched this criteria. Wetpaint was chosen for its ease of use, up front presentation, free hosting costs and malleability.