NOTE: The founders of StructuredWikis LLC moved on. The content on this site is for archival purposes only. Please contact the following companies:

Twiki, Inc. for wiki support, wiki solutions and services
-- Peter Thoeny
Evolved Media for content creation and publishing services
-- Dan Woods
The Penguin and The Python for Linux consulting and Python programming
Home of StructuredWikis LLC Home | About | Philosophy | Services | Partners | Contact
You are here: Home > Our Philosophy > Dan
stwikibanner.jpg

Dan Woods
Dan Woods: The Wiki Advocate

About

Recent posts:
Announcing the Mainstream Wiki Countdown
Wiki Enemies Quake in Fear: The Wiki Advocate has Arrived

Links:
Evolved Media
Peter's Corner

Dan Woods: The Wiki Advocate

Moving Wikis Forward, One Post at a Time

Announcing the Mainstream Wiki Countdown

Listen up Yahoo!, Google, MSN, AOL, and any other purveyor of mass marketing on-line environments. The Wiki Advocate has had enough!

We, meaning I, are sick and tired of the fact that somewhere in the depths of your product development and product marketing departments you all have someone dying to put wikis on your offerings. There is a lonely soul, perhaps a group of them, who has been sending Terry, or Larry, or Ray, or whatever bigshot is in charge reminders that putting wikis on your offerings would be a great idea.

Well where are the wikis? Why have WikiSpaces and the other consumer-oriented offerings beat you to the punch?

The Wiki Advocate does not know the answer to this question. He suspects that it has to do with money, but he is going to use all the powers of his exhaulted office to find out. Right now, spies are in each of the aforementioned organizations are secretly gathering information that will tell the story of why we have had to wait so long for wikis from this major players. If you know about this vital issue, please contact the Wiki Advocate through the email link below.

For my money, the lack of wikis on Google is the most shameful. It would be so easy to do, and so beneficial to all. And, as his widely known among wiki circles, Google itself is a huge user of wikis to run its business. The Goowiki is used to organize the Google's information and make it universally accessible and useful. So what about all of the rest of us? Get on with it!

While this blog post will likely strike fear into the hearts of executives all over Silicon Valley and in Redmond, the Wiki Advocate is not a nice guy. He is going to press his case to the limit. To further pressure these companies into doing the right thing and adding wikis to their offering, the Wiki Advocate is staring the Mainstream Wiki Countdown.

Today, 21 July 2007, is day 1. The world has lived 1 day too long without mainstream wikis.

Each day I will add to this count and report on it in my blog until the embarrassment and shame becomes overwhelming. Yes, it is a cruel tactic, but these are cruel times.

pencil 2006-07-21 | Permalink

Wiki Enemies Quake in Fear: The Wiki Advocate has Arrived

When Peter Thoeny and I started StructuredWikis, we knew we had an uphill battle to fight.

Sure, wikis were used by engineers and other knowledge nerds all over the world, but why has it taken so long for wikis to arrive in a more mainstream fashion?

For example, how come http://www.WikiSpaces.com had to come along and fill the void for an easy to use consumer wiki? Why are Yahoo! and Google and MSN so asleep at the wheel when it comes to adding wikis to their offerings. And what about SAP and Oracle? Why aren't wikis part of enterprise software products?

Well, the world of wikis is self-organizing and I have self-organized myself into a position as wiki advocate. I will fight to evangalize effective use of wikis and fight against those who just throw wikis at a problem.

My qualifications:

  • I have used wikis for 5 years as a CTO and to run the Evolved Media Network, at which I used wikis to write seven books.
  • Peter and I are writing Wikis for Dummies, which will come out later this year.
  • Peter and I have interviewed over 40 companies and studied how wikis are used successfully. Following Wikis for Dummies, we will write another book for advanced wiki practitioners.
  • I have the passion and sharp mind needed to navigate the treacherous waters of wiki-dom.

So, looking at myself, I decided I was qualified and accepted the job.

pencil 2006-07-20 | Permalink

bubble Feedback on this blog? Please send me an e-mail.

Copyright © 2006 StructuredWikis LLC