[thelist] Knowledge base/Wiki/Shared Docs: Recommendations?

[Luther, Ron]

Francis Marion asked about Knowledge base/Wiki/Shared Docs:


Hi Francis!

>>I have the task of creating a system for managing information at my company. 

Excellent!  I wish more companies realized information was worth managing!  Or had a glimmer of a clue how much value could be squeezed out of that knowledge if they would put a bit of an investment into properly structuring it!

That said.  I'm not a big fan of knowledge base systems.  Mostly because the ones I run into feature poorly implemented 'full text' search on them so I can never find anything I'm looking for.  No relevance.  No algorithm.  It's the electronic equivalent of a junk drawer ... and I'm generally in a hurry.     ;-(     Organizing that clutter is a non-trivial task to do well.

I think wikis can be useful ... IF you can get people to use them.

I like forums for getting people involved.  Specifically, I like forums with an email subscription component - like evolt - because it's way too much bother to remember to log into the forum itself.  I think the 'instant notification' component adds a huge social networking impetus that drives usage ... once you hit that critical mass of contributors and consumers, naturally.

So I would favor a combination approach that paired a forum with a wiki.  I'd be willing to call that combination ... a KBS.

Cheers,
RonL.