WhyWeUseWiki

Today on National Public Radio there was a "news item" about wiki's being a hot new thing or something very much like that. Perhaps the reasons we don't use Power Point are intertwined with the reasons we do use a wiki.

A wiki encourages participation and self-expression. (Power Point ... well, you know).

So, here you are on a wiki, Maybe it is one of many you participate in. What do you think? Does this say as much about our community as what we don't use?

- BeckyWinant 2003.07.21

I think what someone chooses to do, or be, or pursue says a lot more about who they are than what they don't do. The world is a big place, full of a great many things. Most stuff in the world, you'll never encounter. Most things you could try, you'll never do. Simple numbers say that what you choose to do is way more selective than what you don't.

-- JimBullock, 2003.07.21 (I chose to post that.)

Hmmm. Sometimes what we choose not to do is a choice to do something else. The two can be interrelated. People who choose not to be in the armed forces are choosing to be pacifists or some variation of whatever chosing not to invest time in war means to them. - Becky

Here's my great idea for today. (That is, it's an idea that Microsoft is sure to come up with or buy before long, now that wikis are the great new thing.) A powerpoint based wiki! Every page will be a powerpoint slide show (with backgrounds, fonts, etc. chosen by the AYE hosts so everything is sure to be standarized). Isn't that exactly what the world is crying out for? Don't think so? Wait until MS starts publicizing it. - JerryWeinberg 2003.07.22

I hear the sound of tongue firmly in cheek, but such a thing has been done. There are ways (on some other Wikis) to turn a single page into a sequence of presentation pages, with larger fonts and a background image. It's a surprisingly quick way to put together a simple presentation. --DaveSmith 2003.07.22

Cool. Any way to take all my random writings on various web-based fora and turn them into a book? I'm sure it would be a best-seller, and maybe I could retire. --DaveLiebreich 2003.07.22

Jerry,

I think the only standardization Microsoft cares about is you buying their software and only their software. Colors, fonts, etc are only features to sell the product to a broad audience. (No broad jokes, okay?)

Your idea about AYE standardization suggests an interesting session at AYE, however. Think of it. How far can one stretch "following orders"? Where do we break down and thrown the pens and snow cards around the room? (Hey, isn't this part of Change Shop?)

- BeckyWinant 2003.07.22

There is need for caution in exploring how far people will go in following orders. See this on the infamous Milgram experiments.
In the aftermath of these experiments, professional societies mainly in academia introduced codes of conduct and conventions for the treatment of human subjects into their practices. It seems kind of strange that folks studying how humans work wouldn't have immediately thought of how to take care of the humans they were experimenting on. Kind of tells you the point of view these folks were coming from.
The policies have some teeth - most grant giving organizations and universities require that experiments they sponsor comply with the codes of conduct. Violating the practices can get someone effectively blacklisted from funding and academic employment. Even so, questionable experiments still happens sometimes. Some pretty disturbing studies carried out at Harvard are described in: Harvard and the Unabomber: The Education of an American Terrorist, for example.
Such codes of conduct aren't part of the business ecosystem, although maybe they ought to be. At any rate, playing with how far people will go in following orders is big magic. I'd be real careful with that one. -- JimBullock, 2003.07.23

Sounds like we could have a session on "How to Be Maliciously Compliant without being Fired." - JerryWeinberg 2003.07.22

Reminds me of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, where Calvin's dad explains how they figure out how much weight a bridge can support. My guess is that I would find the most valuable lessons not from the result of discussing the subject, but from observing the session itself. --DaveLiebreich 2003.07.23

That would be wonderful. I could use that one.<g> -- JimBullock

Don't some cultures (I believe Australia is one) have an interesting form of protest called "work to rule". That is they follow the rule book explicitly and never take any action which is not covered by a rule. The result is quite similar to a work stoppage. I believe that the Australian Airport staff are famous for this (did I read this in some Demarco and Lister book? I believe I saw it in some SW development process book, but I do not remember which)

KenEstes 2003.07.23

"Work to Rule" was used by U.S. Air Traffic Controllers during their labor disputes a few decades ago. The sad/funny thing is that it's an indirect attack on the sheer volume of regulation they're supposed to be working under. Follow all the rules, and things grind to a halt. --DaveSmith 2003.07.23

Methodology deja vu. Follow the rules and forget what your real goal is. I wonder HowManyRulesAreTooMany -BeckyWinant 2003.07.23

Work to Rule is very popular with some Canadian unions. The Post Office and Transit come to mind. Bus drivers will refuse to drive a bus if anyone is standing in the aisle. This both slows down the bus and increases the number of buses required, as everyone must have a seat.

SherryHeinze 2003.07.23

Fascinating work on the evolution of Wiki documents, here:

The images are a bit hard to make out on screen.

-- JimBullock, 2003.08.24

Updated: Monday, August 25, 2003