Enterprise wikis and Internet wikis (of which Wikipedia and Wikitravel are examples) provide the same basic function - the ability to edit content in a web browser - but they differ in several significant ways:

1. Spaces

Internet wikis often have all content housed in one "place," so that any user can see the entirety of the site's content all together. Enterprise wikis allow for information to be organized in spaces (individual wikis that are part of the enterprise wiki) based on project, department, team, etc., and access to those spaces can be granted to specific users.

2. Security

Internet wikis are often open for anyone to read and edit, sometimes without even requiring one to login. Enterprise wikis are typically not open to the public or partially open, i.e. some spaces are open but others are not. To access an enterprise wiki, you have to login, and your account has to have permissions set so that you can access particular spaces. Permissions can also be set at the page level, so that a person might login, access a particular space, and have editing rights on some pages, but only viewing rights on others.

3. Integration

Enterprise wikis are designed to allow user account, group, and access information to be provisioned from authentication and authorization systems like LDAP and Active Directory, so that a person can login to the enterprise wiki with the same credentials that they use to access email, the company network, etc.

4. Typical Uses

Enterprise wikis are often used for:

• collaboratively building documentation
• creating and maintaining knowledge bases
• project management
• gathering tacit knowledge (knowledge not related to any specific project but essential to getting things done in an organization)
• meeting management, from agenda to minutes and action items.

Generally, an enterprise wiki will be used in a much wider variety of ways than an Internet wiki, because it is intended to support the wide-ranging needs of the people within an organization. Internet wikis tend to be used primarily for one main application, as is the case with Wikipedia.

5. Contribution Level

On public wikis, we often speak of the 90-9-1 Theory, which explains that 90% of users will "lurk" or simply browse pages, 9% will contribute occasionally, and 1% will contribute frequently, and account for most of the contributions to the wiki.

On an enterprise wiki, the contribution level is much higher based on the fact that people are contributing as part of the daily course of their work, as opposed to voluntarily contributing to a public, Internet wiki. This contribution isn't necessarily compulsory, as a top-down mandate will usually hinder more than help wiki adoption. Instead, it's the result of well-executed wiki adoption strategies that place the wiki at the center of the core activities of a team, such as meeting management, building a support knowledge base, or collaboratively writing documentation for a product.

If you're a registered member of Wikipatterns.com, you should have received an email in the last 24 hours regarding the first-ever Wikipatterns.com user survey.

Laurence Lock Lee, James Matheson, and I co-developed the survey to study the knowledge retrieval, sharing, and interaction patterns within the Wikipatterns.com community, and your perceived value from your use of the site.

Please complete the survey by this Friday, 6 June. We'll study and analyze the response data, and Laurence and I will present our conclusions at the International Forum on Enterprise 2.0 later this month in Varese, Italy.

We'll also blog our results and conclusions once they're ready, so that anyone who's interested can see what trends we discover. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Chris Kohlhardt of Gliffy presents in the Theatre

I organized the Wikipatterns.com Theatre in the Atlassian booth at Web 2.0 Expo last week, and I'm very happy to report that over the three days 254 people attended presentations on wiki adoption tips, best practices, and strategies.

To everyone who attended, a huge thank you!

I hope you came away with new ideas and inspiration for how to use a wiki to reduce email, improve meetings, better manage projects, create documentation, and build an organizational knowledge base that helps everyone be more efficient, productive, and happy. (Yes, you can have happier, more satisfied employees!)

To everyone who gave a presentation, a huge thank you!

If you'll be at Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco this week, you're invited to Wikipatterns Theatre Wednesday, April 23rd through Friday April 25th in the Atlassian booth, #535.

Presentations will be held every hour, on the hour during the open hours of the expo.

Presentations last about 5 minutes, with 5-10 minutes for Q&A afterward, and focus on wiki adoption and use topics. See the full schedule below for details.

FREE Book! At each session, we'll raffle off a copy of my recently published book, Wikipatterns: A Practical Guide for Improving Productivity and Collaboration in Your Organization.

Time	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
11:00 AM	What is an enterprise wiki? - Stewart Mader	3 Ways Wikis Can Help your Business - Stewart Mader	3 Ways Wikis Can Help your Business - Stewart Mader
12:00 PM	Jeffrey Walker	Manage Meetings with a Wiki - Stewart Mader	Blog. Wiki. What's the Difference? - Jon Silvers
1:00 PM	Beyond Text: What else can you do with a wiki?	Beyond Text: What else can you do with a wiki?	Beyond Text: What else can you do with a wiki?
2:00 PM	Instant diagrams in your wiki with Gliffy - Chris Kohlhardt	Manage Digital Workflow with a Wiki - Stewart Mader	Reduce Email with a Wiki - Stewart Mader
3:00 PM	Manage Digital Workflow with a Wiki - Stewart Mader	Reduce Email with a Wiki - Stewart Mader
4:00 PM		Instant diagrams in your wiki with Gliffy - Chris Kohlhardt
4:30 PM		Manage Meetings with a Wiki - Stewart Mader
5:00 PM		Jeffrey Walker
5:30 PM		The Future of Wikis - Adnan Chowdhury

Sandy Kemsley's third challenge to social media/enterprise 2.0 adoption in organizations:

Having people immerse themselves in the creation and/or consumption of blogs and wikis in the wild is essential to having them understand why this is important within their company.

This is the key difference between the new generation of tools like blogs & wikis, and traditional enterprise software like intranets and content management systems. The latter two cost so much that people can't play with them on their own and discover value that can be applied in their organizations.

Blogs and wikis, by contrast, can be set up for very low cost, or even free in some cases. That gives people a critical opportunity to get to know them, and like them as personal tools, before they fully bring them into organizations. When people become passionate about tools, and see them as an asset, that's good for growing adoption and improving how an organization works.