Welcome to your community wiki! This page includes some suggestions to help you get your wiki up and running. The suggestions are designed for small communities with a single person that will head up the project. The general idea is to get things started off on the right foot without much effort, and then (with the help of the community) slowly grow the wiki into a more comprehensive resource.
If you represent a larger community and have several people who can work on the wiki from the start, you may want to view the Getting Started page instead of this one.
So, here are our suggestions:
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[edit] Announce the Wiki to your Community
The first step is to introduce the wiki to your existing community and ask for their involvement with it. You may want to use our Sample Introduction Email, although you'll need to customize it to your particular community. The main purpose of the email is to let members know what the wiki is, get them excited about the project, find out if they have any concerns, and ask for their help. It is also a way of determining who may be interested in helping you add content to the wiki (see next section)
[edit] Seed the Wiki with Content
One thing you don't want to do is send everyone to an empty Wiki. They will likely be turned off from the start if it is a completely barren wasteland. So, before you invite the community to see the new community wiki, make sure and create a few high quality pages on topics of general interest. You probably already know the hot topics, but you may want to get ideas, and even content, from others (e.g., see the Sample Introduction Email). Encourage other enthusiastic members to help you seed the wiki by creating new pages or improving the ones you've created. Instead of writing everything yourself, summarize or copy (with permission) what others have already written in the email list. Just make sure you don't include people's names where they don't want them included.
[edit] Learning to Use the Wiki
Before adding content you will have to learn how to use the wiki. There are many advanced features (all of which are described in the help pages), but you should start with the basics as described in the Wiki Guide and Help:Editing pages. A good way to start is to create an account and then put some content in your user page (see User:DerekHansen for an example). You will also play the role of Administrator, so you should be familiar with the administration features at some point. But remember, you only need to learn a piece at a time.
[edit] Deciding What to Include
What type of information should be included? The wiki is not meant to replace the email list conversation. Instead, it is meant to supplement it. The email list is a conversation, while the wiki is a collection of resources. The wiki includes summarized or distilled information of lasting value. The email list discussion is all about taking care of each other's immediate needs. The wiki content, on the other hand, is applicable to many people. So, whatever topics you create pages for, make sure that the content is applicable to many readers and in a summarized form. Remember, you also don't want to re-create the wheel. If there is another web page that covers a topic well, just link to the page and explain why you like it. In fact, some of your most useful wiki pages may include mostly links.
Once you've created the initial pages, make sure you edit the Main Page so that it links to each of your pages. That way visitors to the site will be able to browse through all of the pages.
[edit] Advanced Suggestion:
You may want to look at the Wiki Genres or Sample Main Page for ideas on topics that you may want to include, although they would need to be tailored to your specific community.
[edit] Promote the Wiki
The real benefit of a wiki over a standard website is that it can be a truly collaborative effort, rather than the work of an individual or small team. The idea is that your community will take ownership of the wiki and turn it into the type of resource that will be of most value to them. But, this generally requires some coaching on your part. Here are a few ideas of how to get others involved.
[edit] Initial Activities
- Email the community to let them know that the wiki is now public and ready for their participation. See Sample Roll Out Email for ideas.
- Link to the wiki from other highly rated webpages so that it will show up better in search results. If you have a community website already, make sure and link to the wiki from it.
- Put a link to the wiki in the email list footer.
[edit] Ongoing Activities
- Encourage community members to reference specific wiki pages in the ongoing conversation (e.g., on the email list). When specific pages are referenced in email messages, people are more likely to keep up on what pages are available. They are also more likely to improve those pages themselves. Here are some suggested ways to help this happen:
- Lead by example. When you are answering a question, include a reference to relevant wiki pages (if they exist). When new members post, let them know that exploring the wiki would be a good idea and point to a couple of relevant pages. When you create a new page or make a big change, announce it on the list and ask for others' contributions. When you are preparing a new wiki page, email the list and ask them for ideas on what should go in it. When you are worried about a discussion becoming contentious or off topic, link to a relevant wiki page to help offload the discussion.
- Treat the wiki as a supplement to the discussion, not a replacement. Many activities such as providing social support, helping identify problems, and tailoring information to an individual's specific needs are best done through the ongoing conversation. In these situations, linking to wiki pages is an easy way to provide additional resources that will allow the reader to explore more on their own. Community members should not simply send others to the wiki for answers. Instead, they should give a customized answer and then identify specific wiki pages that may be pertinent to them.
- Encourage community members to contribute to the wiki themselves. The wiki will best succeed if it is a community activity, rather than the work of an individual. Here are a few ideas on how to encourage widespread participation in the wiki.
- Identify specific ways that community members can help. Encourage list members to put the content from a particularly helpful message onto the wiki, or add it yourself and let them know so they can update or improve it. Single out individuals with specific expertise and ask them to contribute to a specific page. When a frequent question arises on the list ask for a volunteer to summarize the email discussion into a wiki page. Ask if members have ideas for new pages and if they do, ask for their help in creating them.
- Help members make at least one edit. After that, they will be much more likely to make more edits. Offer extra encouragement and help to them their first time. You may even suggest that all members make a simple edit just to get them started (e.g., add their name to an existing page).
- Give public praise of wiki contributions. This can be done in ongoing email discussions, as well as in the Wiki Digest.
- Emphasize that all contributions are welcome. Contributions to the wiki need not be perfect, since others will edit them.