While simply getting information into your Wiki is crucially important to your success (see Something is Better than Nothing), ensuring that things are developed and improved upon is just as critical. Having tons of Wiki pages that are in some stage of incompleteness can mean that you don't have 100% of the information you need to answer a key question or get something done.
If you see something that is lacking additional information or context that you can contribute to- add to it. Again, even if you do not know everything about the subject or topic, you probably know something that will help make the existing information more complete. It is rare to find one person that knows everything about a subject, but if you get 5 people with knowledge of a topic to collaborate on the same Wiki page or section, chances are you will end up with a treasure trove of information. The true strength of a Wiki comes from the total combined knowledge of every contributor.
We have found that this is also one of the best ways to get new users to become comfortable with the idea of using Wiki Software. Adding bits of knowledge to 10 wiki pages can be more valuable than creating a brand new Wiki page- and often, these bits of knowledge are exactly what people are looking for. One sentence could mean the difference between getting an answer in 5 minutes instead of the half hour to track someone down (who might not even have the right answer!).
As someone with a vested interest in making your Wiki as complete as possible, you should do everything you can to encourage the other users of your Wiki to help improve existing Wiki pages, as this can go a long way towards keeping information current, up to date and accurate.
If you see something that is lacking additional information or context that you can contribute to- add to it. Again, even if you do not know everything about the subject or topic, you probably know something that will help make the existing information more complete. It is rare to find one person that knows everything about a subject, but if you get 5 people with knowledge of a topic to collaborate on the same Wiki page or section, chances are you will end up with a treasure trove of information. The true strength of a Wiki comes from the total combined knowledge of every contributor.
We have found that this is also one of the best ways to get new users to become comfortable with the idea of using Wiki Software. Adding bits of knowledge to 10 wiki pages can be more valuable than creating a brand new Wiki page- and often, these bits of knowledge are exactly what people are looking for. One sentence could mean the difference between getting an answer in 5 minutes instead of the half hour to track someone down (who might not even have the right answer!).
As someone with a vested interest in making your Wiki as complete as possible, you should do everything you can to encourage the other users of your Wiki to help improve existing Wiki pages, as this can go a long way towards keeping information current, up to date and accurate.
