Finally a Wiki where Articles are Fully Managed Content
Wiki’s are one of the most mentioned Enterprise 2.0 tools. Most (dare I say all?) E20 vendors have one or incorporate one into their solution stack. However, if you look more closely, many of them simply roll in some open source wiki server and call it a day. While basic functionality for wikis is almost standard these days, the information architecture underpinning the wiki is often overlooked. What happens is that the “wiki-widget” proponents end up sacrificing information availability for information presentability. The “we’ve got a wiki too” crowd is so caught up in achieving buzz-word parity that the real benefits of a fully managed and integrated wiki solution are passed over. The result is a loose hodge-podge of stand alone “web 2.0″ widgets that have been lumped together with a common user interface thrown on top. The vendors call it good.
Portal vendors are some of the worst offenders here. The ease with which widgets are surfaced in a single common UI lends itself to lazy integration. In these kinds of environments the wiki widget may appear next to the JCR enabled content repository but there is NEVER ANY LINKAGE BETWEEN THE TWO!
Seriously, WTF??? If enterprise Wikis are the best place for enterprise knowledge bases, best practices and employee generated tips and tricks (AND THEY OFTEN ARE!), then what in the world is any enterprise information architect worth his or her pay grade doing being happy with throwing key corporate knowledge assets into its own walled off database silo? The answer is that most are happy with the loose “on the glass” integration provided by a portal or creative use of iFrames. This is a tragedy and a terrible mis / under use of corporate knowledge assets. Fortunately, Fishbowl Solutions has developed a fully ECM integrated wiki that combines all the latest wiki features with the power of Oracle Enterprise Content Management.
