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The podcasts I record for I'd Rather Be Writing cover the latest trends in technical communication. I interview tech writing luminaries around the world as well as record STC presentations and other audio content. You can subscribe to podcast specific feeds using the subscription information below.
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Podcast: Embracing Wikis — Interview with Stewart Mader
May 10th, 2008 | Posted in Podcasts, Technical Writing, Wikis 9 Comments »
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Duration: 18 min.
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Stewart Mader was one of the coolest people I met at Doc Train West 2008. He is a person driven by his enthusiasm for wikis.
In this podcast, Stewart talks about the following:
- Advantages of using a wiki for your technical documentation
- Why lack of advanced styles in wikis isn’t a major problem
- The relentless focus on simplicity with wikis
- Choosing the right wiki among dozens of wiki engines
- Pitfalls with using an open source wiki (like Mediawiki) for your company
- Why your content (not your format) is the most important element of any wiki
- Techniques for growing wiki use and adoption in your organization
- Why customizing your wiki to look like a professional website isn’t that important
- Managing multiple spaces inside wikis, and integrating with Active Directory
- Why Stewart recommends Atlassian Confluence wikis
- The number one reason why wikis fail
Resources
- Stewart Mader’s blog
- Wikipatterns (Stewart’s book on wikis)
- The Wiki Matrix
- Atlassian Confluence wikis (enterprise wiki software)
- 21 Days of Wiki Adoption
Stewart’s PowerPoint on his Grow Your Wiki session is below.
Tags: Atlassian Confluence, Doc Train West 2008, Mediawiki, Stewart Mader, Wiki Matrix, WikiPatterns
use them in an organization, building communities around wikis, and why Stewart is so passionate about wikis. As a bonus, you also get a quick lesson in spectroscopy. Podcast Links Stewart Mader’s blog WikiPatterns Web site Using Wiki in EducationTom Johnson’s interview with Stewart MaderDocTrain West Confluence Enterprise Wiki Download Standard Podcasts
. Wherever folks are talking about wiki technology, you’ll find Mader, explaining how wikis work, how to get folks to use them, how to govern them, and how to use them to solve various real-world challenges. Mader was recentlyinterviewed by Tom Johnsonfor his popular TechWriterVoices podcast. And, his book, Wikipatterns: A Practical Guide to Improving Productivity and Collaboration in Your Organization is a must read for anyone serious about using wikis in the workplace.
Stewart Mader, David Holmes, and Alan Porter. This rather lengthy blog post asks the question “Do we really need structured document formats?” One of the things that usability should tackle is a problem a feature tries to solve for the user.
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[...] how to govern them, and how to use them to solve various real-world challenges. Mader was recently interviewed by Tom Johnson for his popular TechWriterVoices podcast. And, his book, Wikipatterns: A Practical Guide to [...]