Web2forDev wiki project

From Web2forDev

Contents 1 Draft message to the SC 2 Summary of the meeting/ exchange 2.1 General 2.2 Moderator/ facilitator - tasks 2.3 General recommandations for the wiki 2.4 Problems/ questions 2.5 Experiences with other wikis 2.6 Possible sections for the wiki 2.7 Tasks 2.8 General ideas 3 Notes from the conference/ email exchange

Draft message to the SC

Draft message to the SC

Dear all,

Some time has passed since the earth shaking event of the web2fordev conference. We have been talking a lot about the follow up, what next and how to continue after the conference. A small group of people (Nynke, Saskia, Karel, Cheekay, Anja) had the opportunity to discuss the further elaboration of the web2fordev wiki in the small skype conference. We are pleased to present you hereby the outcome of this meeting.

Context: The web2fordev wiki was put into place prior to the conference to facilitate the preparations of the conference: to generate input for the agenda of the open spaces and the 'Taster Day/Day 0'. Now after the conference, the aim is to explore if the wiki can meaningfully serve the web2fordev community. During the discussion it became clear that the most effective approach would be to implement the wiki in combination with the other three main web 2.0 tools which were launched for the web2fordev conference, namely the web2fordev Dgroup, the web2fordev blog and the web2fordev social bookmarking tag stream.

Below we explore how the four main web 2.0 online tools could be used to facilitate an online community on web2fordev.

Key issues:

1. Target group
2. Wiki+Blog+Dgroup+Tag stream = joint strategy
3. Restructuring the wiki
4. Responsibilities regarding services
5. Responsibilities regarding gardening/facilitation

1) Target group: In general the target group can be described as professionals and practitioners primarily in the development sector, interested in learning and sharing about web2fordev to apply it in their work. Specifically the initial groups to be targeted will be the web2fordev/ web2pourdev Dgroups participants and conference participants.

2) Wiki+Blog+Dgroup+Tag stream = joint strategy:The four tools can be implemented in a very supplementary way creating added value for all.

1. The Dgroup is clearly the platform where discussions and ‘conversations’ take place amongst a defined/known group of people.
2. The wiki could be used as an extension of the dgroup, where content from the discussions is aggregated and worked on further in depth by the dgroup members. Below the role and goals of the wiki are expanded on further.
3. The blog can remain the platform to reach further than, and pull in, people from beyond the “inner circle” of web2fordev aficionados. To feed discussions on web2fordev in the blogosphere and be a magnet for those interested.
4. The social bookmarking tag stream can continue to feed the community with resources on web2fordev and combined with a Google coop it could become a thematic custom search engine.

3) Restructuring the wiki: The wiki will need to be restructured. As it is now, it was focused on facilitating the conference. For a more long term approach, the structure needs to be adapted.

The wiki working group has identified some sections which would be logical to create in the wiki, and further development of the structure can best be fed by both organizers of the conference, as well as with the wider community itself over time. An example of how a wiki can be used in combination with a Dgroup is the km4dev wiki. [1]

The suggested structure is as follows:

1. Glossary of terms and tools (http://wiki.web2fordev.net/index.php/Additional_resources)
   As the page shows, this would be a section where terms used, and tools referred to are explained and links to examples are provided.
2. Space with topics for further elaboration, somewhat “managed” by wiki gardeners and community facilitators.
   The topics which can be identified now are the central ideas and discussions raised during the conference, and the two hands of web2fordev topics (http://wiki.web2fordev.net/index.php/Two_Hands_of_Web2forDev ).
3. Open spaces; to be elaborated by participants and organizers and discussions/topics raised in the Dgroup. For example the wiki can facilitate content collaboration if sub groups within the community want to focus on sub topics and develop content around them.
4. Possible other sections

• • Record key elements from Dgroups discussions – for future reference
  • Case studies - create & share useful examples for daily practice
  • Lessons learned
  • Matrix web2 !fordev! – tool specifications --> e.g. which tools are low-bandwidth friendly?, which tools have proven useful for development activities/organizations? why used? how used?
  • Web2forDev – elaborate definition
  • Who's who, web2fordev relevant profiles

4) Responsibilities regarding services Both the blog and wiki are hosted by two organizations within the Steering Committee. The question arises if these organizations can and/or will commit themselves to keep providing these services for a post conference community. For the wiki for example, security is an issue. Despite log-in requirements the wiki will sooner or later be a target for robots publishing spam and malicious scripts. There is a need for ongoing maintenance and upgrade. APC is happy to take this on for now but partners should be aware that these tasks exist and are necessary on ongoing basis.

5) Responsibilities regarding gardening/facilitation The Dgroup, Blog and wiki require some form of commitment of human resources. The tasks are in general terms, to facilitate/moderate the community (both in the blog and dgroup) and to “garden” the wiki.

• A facilitator in the Dgroup would not only administer the Dgroup, and facilitate the discussions, but also manage the link with the blog and wiki, guide people to contribute to both when and if it is appropriate.
• The wiki gardening task would be entail keeping the wiki content logical, restructuring content if necessary, and also providing a feedback loop to the Dgroup, when issues arise in the wiki which can contribute to the Dgroup discussions.
• A facilitator of the blog could also provide a feedback loop, issues raised in blog posts or comments, could be fed back into the Dgroup discussions. The blog facilitator could also actively invite individuals from the Dgroup to post to the blog on specific issues raised.
• Finally all three could refer to the tag stream, when appropriate. Inviting people to tag, alerting people to the option of searching through the resources tagged, keeping an eye on the people tagging, and exploring if these individuals are already part of the active community, if not inviting them to do so.

In terms of the dedicated time needed to fulfill these tasks, further research is necessary and is also dependent on the strategy chosen by the steering committee. The question arises if the organizers of the conference can commit human or financial resources to fulfill these tasks.

NEXT STEPS –

• Feedback from the SC to the suggested proposal
• Discuss relationship/task sharing wiki - Dgroups - blog –
• Identify interested moderators/facilitators
• Restructure the wiki
• Start feeding in content (from Dgroups, elaborating structure of the matrix, etc)
• Announce the wiki and the available resources to the audience (Dgroups, conference participants)

Thank you all in advance for any suggestions, comments, remarks!

If you would like to have more detailed information on the discussion please have a look to the wiki. There can find the summary of the skype conference. [2]

Best regards ...

Summary of the meeting/ exchange

General

• Participants of the web2fordev conference very diverse
• Web2forDev wiki: turn it into something different than initially intended
• Web2forDev wiki to:
  • aggregate resources
  • working together on different initiatives
• Target group: web2fordev/ web2pourdev Dgroups and conference participants list
• Define 2 or 3 moderators to trigger the specific target group to produce content
• Sections of the wiki have to be very clear: easy to navigate, find and interact
• Relationship wiki - Dgroups: any strategy should also include the other

Moderator/ facilitator - tasks

• Active role of facilitators: record, edit & relate to wiki in discussions
• Facilitators: to ask/trigger topics of concern to the large web2fordev target group
• Encourage people to add content, but also elaborate topics/ content him/herself

General recommandations for the wiki

• Asking people to do something for a specific purpose would probably work better
• If we want to encourage people to record negative opinions, it would have to be through critical lessons learned
• 2 different approaches to elaborate sections of the wiki:
  • what does the web2fordev group wants to pick up
  • what do the organisers want to be discussed/ elaborated
• Organisers need a list what we are interested in: things that we are interested in and start, get people from dgroups to rally around those topics
• More proactive role in following up on topics that were raised in the conference (e.g. through democracy walls)
• Leaving space for participants to create their own working topics within the wiki
• Look for content and resources to add to the wiki

Problems/ questions

• Understanding how the wiki will be used along with the dgroups and the blog - differentiation and cooperation?
• Storage (links, references) or active working space?
• User stories: wiki maybe not the best place
• Duplication with IT online --> collaborating: link resources together
• Will the dgroups be facilitated? if so, s/he will probably need such spaces as teh wiki, a place to put up resources, case studies
• blog: more for the outside world? if we have something to publish we could put it there
• might be easier for people to answer to Dgroups in the first step

Experiences with other wikis

• e.g. KM4Dev, list topics are pulled into wiki when suitable, discussion goes back-and-forth, moderators pull it out of the list and put in on the wiki
• wikis mainly to archive event itself - e.g. a series of workshops on GEM; using the wiki to archive events, have a different website where we pull more permanent information from wiki into an article or blog
• clustered around interest groups, interested in discussing a topic further or making an action plan for future activities - whole event was documented on the wiki, has been broken down into section according to how it was announced in the open space at the beginning of the event
• working together in conventional online ways, but recorded the work on the wiki; growing in 4 or 5 directions that were defined at the beginning; some died, some continued
• take back the tech campaign - used wiki as working space; had to prompt people through email to point them to the wiki, but lots of the discussion and work happened in the wiki

Possible sections for the wiki

• Content of the Dgroups discussions --> pages in wiki for future reference
• Evaluation--> Future directions - useful for daily practice?
• Lessons learned
• matrix --> web2fordev tools, specifications? why used? how used?
• web2fordev --> elaborate definition

Tasks

• wiki strategy email: karel to draft the first version --> comments and further elaboration through the wiki
• Email to the SC: send strategy Email to the SC --> get comments from SC in advance
• Criteria for the matrix: discuss criteria in web2fordev dgroups --> not technical specifications, but criteria that are realistic to development (experiences, tools) - 3 elements: criteria, matrix, filling of matrix
• meeting notes: Saskia to add notes into the wiki --> all to check the notes and add content where necessary
• do analysis: what is being shared so far on the dgroups?
• do analysis: questionnaire --> what could be useful for the wiki?

General ideas

• not yet engage the big dgroup, work on strategy and present to the SC
• Web2forDev Award – experience ACP with awards: good for gathering case studies, took a while for people to start nominating themselves
• Social bookmarking Web2forDev + other defined tags, e.g. web2fordev + training_materials --> Developing a shared vocabulary Discuss this in the dgroups
• get Christian to provide ideas on blog future and relationship to wiki/ Dgroups
• add headlines on wiki
• 1) the tools - 2)how to use (itrainonline) - 3)case studies  it might not be that difficult to get the info for what, why & how from the discussion, trigger discussion by controversial statements, not stop with the why, go further to the how; especially how in your development work

Notes from the conference/ email exchange

Notes from Web2forDev Wiki skype conference 18.10.2007 Participants: Anja Barth (CTA), Karel Novotny (APC), Cheekay Cinco (APC), Nynke Kruiderink (IICD), Saskia Harmsen (IICD)