Chuck SMITH (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} amuzulo) wrote,@ 2007-03-21 16:42:00 |
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i3G Institute's wiki projects
When I tell people that I'm a social software researcher specializing in wikis, that often leads to the question, "What do you do, anyway?" Today I was writing about our current projects to a documentary producer who is making a film about wikis. I decided that it so clearly states what we're doing that I'd stick it in my blog as well. Oh yeah, i3G stands for Interdisziplinäres Institut für intelligente Geschäftsprozesse (Business Processes) and has a nice website (powered by JSPWiki) which I've partially translated to English.
=== WikiCreole ===
A big problem with wikis is that each engine uses its own wiki syntax, which makes it hard for someone to edit a wiki running under one system and then another running under another system. So, we have been working for over a year with wiki developers around the world to create a new "creole" wiki syntax, not to replace a wiki's native syntax, but to be used alongside it. This way visitors of a new wiki would be able to edit using the creole syntax without having to learn its native syntax, thus being more welcome to new visitors. Already in this experimental stage, 9 wiki engines have added support for this with 9 more planning to add support in the future (http://www.wikicreole.org/wiki/Engines
- an overview of the project
- the current stable spec
- people involved
- reasoning of specific elements
=== WikiWizard ===
One problem with a lot of document production today is that many users focus on the look rather than the content, because they use applications such as Microsoft Word to formulate their message. On the other end of the spectrum, wiki markup helps people focus on the content rather than presentation, but presents new difficulties for average computer users. An ideal approach would merge content-centered wiki markup with a visual feedback editor to give users the best of both worlds.
This is the approach we have taken developing WikiWizard. Beginning users can use its Word-like interface to produce formatted text, seeing the effects of their text as well as its code surrounding it (see the screencast demo linked below). Thus, if text is made bold using a double asterisk, the user will see the double asterisks around their text while seeing everything in bold. A side effect of this method is that beginning users will learn the wiki syntax naturally as they need it. On the other hand, it will not get in the way of advanced users, who will enjoy getting instant visual feedback as they just type their wiki syntax without using the special interface. It's a win-win situation for both beginning and advanced users.
Links:
- general overview
- screencast showing a demo of WikiWizard in action
- proceedings page from Wikimania
- paper covering the WYSIWiki principle
When I tell people that I'm a social software researcher specializing in wikis, that often leads to the question, "What do you do, anyway?" Today I was writing about our current projects to a documentary producer who is making a film about wikis. I decided that it so clearly states what we're doing that I'd stick it in my blog as well. Oh yeah, i3G stands for Interdisziplinäres Institut für intelligente Geschäftsprozesse (Business Processes) and has a nice website (powered by JSPWiki) which I've partially translated to English.
=== WikiCreole ===
A big problem with wikis is that each engine uses its own wiki syntax, which makes it hard for someone to edit a wiki running under one system and then another running under another system. So, we have been working for over a year with wiki developers around the world to create a new "creole" wiki syntax, not to replace a wiki's native syntax, but to be used alongside it. This way visitors of a new wiki would be able to edit using the creole syntax without having to learn its native syntax, thus being more welcome to new visitors. Already in this experimental stage, 9 wiki engines have added support for this with 9 more planning to add support in the future (http://www.wikicreole.org/wiki/Engines
- an overview of the project
- the current stable spec
- people involved
- reasoning of specific elements
=== WikiWizard ===
One problem with a lot of document production today is that many users focus on the look rather than the content, because they use applications such as Microsoft Word to formulate their message. On the other end of the spectrum, wiki markup helps people focus on the content rather than presentation, but presents new difficulties for average computer users. An ideal approach would merge content-centered wiki markup with a visual feedback editor to give users the best of both worlds.
This is the approach we have taken developing WikiWizard. Beginning users can use its Word-like interface to produce formatted text, seeing the effects of their text as well as its code surrounding it (see the screencast demo linked below). Thus, if text is made bold using a double asterisk, the user will see the double asterisks around their text while seeing everything in bold. A side effect of this method is that beginning users will learn the wiki syntax naturally as they need it. On the other hand, it will not get in the way of advanced users, who will enjoy getting instant visual feedback as they just type their wiki syntax without using the special interface. It's a win-win situation for both beginning and advanced users.
Links:
- general overview
- screencast showing a demo of WikiWizard in action
- proceedings page from Wikimania
- paper covering the WYSIWiki principle
