.KEYWORD wiki
.FLYINGHEAD HANDHELD COLLABORATION
.TITLE Collaboration on small devices with Wiki
.OTHER
.SUMMARY Wiki, or rather the Wiki Wiki Web (Wiki being Hawaiian for "quick"), is a system that allows you and members of your team to collaborate over low bandwidth connections using simple, often text-based browsers. Wikis exist somewhere between news groups and Web pages and can be used for any number of collaborative systems. You can use Wiki as a basis for static or dynamic information, FAQs, discussions, project coordination, or brainstorming, all with free technology. Read this article and get Wikified!
.AUTHOR Mark Lawson
Getting people to work together on a project even when they’re physically separated is one of the challenges businesses face today. It’s also one of the cornerstones of knowledge management. Sadly, most of the Internet-based collaboration systems tend to lean toward high bandwidth, Java-enabled, ActiveX-embedded systems built to be used with Internet Explorer 5. People with Palm devices don’t have much more than minimalist email and news software. This software’s isn’t really sufficient for working with collaborative group projects.
However, it’s possible, with freely available Internet technology, to set up collaboration systems that not only work well on the Web but also allow small devices and limited bandwidth systems to take part. The technology is called Wiki, and this article shows you what it is and how to use it.
.H1 Introducing Wiki
Wiki, or rather the Wiki Wiki Web (Wiki being Hawaiian for "quick"), is the brainchild of Ward Cunningham. He created a system that allows you and members of your team to collaborate over low bandwidth connections using simple, often text-based browsers.
Wikis exist somewhere between news groups and Web pages and can be used for any number of collaborative systems. You can use Wiki as a basis for static or dynamic information, FAQs, discussions, project coordination, or brainstorming, all with free technology.
Ward’s model has been successfully cloned on many platforms in several different languages. And, since Wiki’s a philosophy as well as a technology, all the Wiki incarnations share the same general qualities, which fit rather well into the constraints imposed by a Palm device. Wiki’s qualities include:
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET A simple interface, so anyone with a browser can get involved.
.BULLET Page contents that can be changed by anyone in the user group.
.BULLET Pages that can be created on-the-fly simply by referring to them.
.BULLET Easy searching for information.
.END_LIST
The simple interface is rather clear, and most Wiki clones are almost completely text-based, so freeware browsers like PalmScape work really well. Text isn’t as much of a problem as it may seem and can be a real benefit — links to pictures and supporting documents can be added as references into the page, but aren’t imposed on the user. The result is that the "meat" of the information is highlighted and the pages tend to be concise, ideal for the small screen.
In-place collective editing is probably the issue with which people are most uncomfortable. The idea that someone can edit your text doesn’t fit into the publication model we’re so used to on the Web. However, if you think of your screen as a whiteboard, it doesn’t seem so alien. After all, if you and your colleagues are using a whiteboard to collaborate on a problem, then you share the board. Things are added, deleted, and modified, and what’s left is the essence of your collaboration.
Wiki simply takes the whiteboard a step further. Now you can create as many boards as you like at any time. Automating links to other pages, as well as Wiki’s automatic recognition of URLs, allow you to concentrate on your task. You mention the page (the mechanics are explained later in the article), and it gets linked in or created as necessary. This is especially useful on Palm devices, as it reduces the amount of pen entry and navigation you have to do.
.H1 Wiki philosophy
Wiki philosophy has been described in terms of a Japanese design aesthetic called wabi-sabi. Wabi-sabi cherishes that which is incomplete, impermanent, and imperfect, values that which is modest and humble, and sees beauty in the unconventional. Wabi-sabi also has links with the Zen Bhuddist philosophy of wu-wei, which is the concept of restraint or "not-doing."
.H1 Wiki on Palm devices
To use Wiki on a Palm device, you need a TCP/IP connection to the Internet and a simple Web browser. I used a 9600bps Option GSM modem on my Pilot IIIx with the free PalmScape browser. Alternatively, you can also use your PC and a browser if you don’t have a modem on your Palm device. Next, you need a Wiki to point to. There are plenty to choose from, but in case you’re uncertain about editing someone’s data, I’ve set up one you can experiment with called PilotWiki. The home page of PilotWiki is shown in Figure A, as it looks with the PalmScape browser.
.FIG A You can edit someone’s data, and have your data edited as well.
The links come in two flavors: ordinary underlined words and shorter, reference-style numbers, which are great for long URLs (as in the Pilot WebRing links). You can also see at the bottom of the page the links for editing this page, going to the index, searching for text, and viewing the pages that link to this one.
.H1 Creating a page on PilotWiki
Let’s begin by creating a new home page. This is done by first creating a reference to the new page in an existing page. As your home page doesn’t yet exist, it’ll be created when the existing page is saved. In this example, I’ve chosen the transcript page as our start point. If you select the edit link on the transcript page, a form should open. At the bottom of the form, add a line with your name in square brackets (I used PalmPower Demo as my name) and submit the form. You may have to refresh the transcript page, but you’ll see that your name now appears as a link. If you select that link, you’ll see that you have a new empty home page.
.PAGE
Now that you have a home page, you can start exploring the markup. This can vary between Wikis and depends on the implementation, so it’s worth exploring the handout or an equivalent page with the Wiki for the local conventions. On PilotWiki, it’s pretty simple:
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET Links to pages are in square brackets
.BULLET URLs in square brackets appear as enumerated references. Therefore, [http:\//www.dominopower.com] would appear as [1], the next URL as [2], etc.
.BULLET Bold text should be written in the form [B<space>text], as in [B bold text].
.BULLET Italic text should be written in the form [I<space>text] as in [I italic text].
.BULLET Horizontal lines should be written [-].
.END_LIST
Additional automatic behavior includes:
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET The first line of a page is used as the description in the index.
.BULLET Links to URLs are automatically recognized for sequences beginning "http:\//", "ftp:\//" and "mailto:".
.END_LIST
Armed with this information, I’ve marked up the PalmPower Demo page. Figure B shows the edit link to bring up the PalmScape input form.
.FIG B After marking up a Wiki page, you can see the edit link to bring up the PalmScape input form.
After you’ve submitted the input form, you can see how it looks in PalmScape, as shown in Figure C. With a page set-up like this, linking it to other pages is as simple as mentioning your name in the text. This is a great way to ‘sign’ your contribution.
.FIG C With a completed page set-up in PalmScape like this, linking your page to others is as simple as mentioning the name of your page in the text.
Your new page will appear in the index and is fully text-searchable using the Find option. You can use the Links option to find out which pages reference your page. Both of these utilities can be a great help as the Wiki grows!
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.H1 Conclusion
The whole Wiki system is as simple as it sounds — that’s its great strength. Perhaps now you’re starting to see the possibilities. Take a look at other public Wikis and you’ll get all sorts of new ideas. You may even be tempted to set up your very own Wiki.
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.H1 Product availability and resources
Our PilotWiki, which is based on Lotus Domino, can be found at http://www.emconnect.com/pilotwiki. Feel free to add pages!
Ward Cinningham’s pages and the font for all things Wiki are available at http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiWikiWeb.
The list of Wiki clones and software is at http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiWikiClones.
The Tcl’ers Wiki is also good. Check it out at http://mini.net/cgi-bin/wikit/11.html.
For more information and a great book on wabi-sabi, check out http://www.japanese-online.com/store/book/wabisabi.htm.
To read up on wu-wei, visit http://www.stillnessinmotion.net/html/wuwei.htm.
OKO Kazuho’s site, home of PalmScape, can be reached at http://palmscape.ilinx.co.jp/.
.H1 Bulk reprints
Bulk reprints of this article (in quantities of 100 or more) are available for a fee from Reprint Services, a ZATZ business partner. Contact them at reprints@zatz.com or by calling 1-800-217-7874.
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.BIO Mark Lawson is the Managing Director of EM Connect Ltd., a company that specializes in collaboration and distance learning solutions. He can be reached at markl@emconnect.com.
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?13@@.ee6dc83
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