WIKI COLLABORATION WORKFLOW

This a diagram of a workflow using a wiki to guide users in accessing templates and posting their input. This is the kind of non-technical requirement that is fundamental to a successful wiki collaboration project. It is more about roles and expectations than technology.

The Wiki - Where It All Started

http://c2.com/cgi/wiki

This link takes you to the original Wiki started by Ward Cunningham. He was on a quest to engage his development group in discussions on patterns. He started with Hypercard (early Mac application that allowed hypertext linking). As the new technology of the WWW emerged, he saw where it could be just as powerful in its hyperlinking but also expanded into a much more open environment.

R&D Paper Deliverable Set A (aka Assignment 6)

STUDENT NAME: Dewey Thomas Huckabee; NSU Student #: N00676812
DATE: October 21, 2007

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. STATEMENT OF PRE-APPROVED TOPIC AND NUMBER 1
2. PROBLEM STATEMENT 1
3. OUTLINE OF PAPER 1
4. REFRENCE LIST 1

1. STATEMENT OF THE PRE-APPROVED TOPIC AND NUMBER

8 - The application of blogs and wikis in MIS operations. Discuss how they are being used and what future directions are indicated.

Title: Wikis and Blogs Emerge as Virtual Forums for MIS Collaboration

2. PROBLEM STATEMENT
As Management Information System (MIS) operating environments continue to evolve in complexity and in their widespread geographical dispersion, the need for a facile and functional collaboration environment grows greater. Further, many of the document management and knowledge management systems require extensive overhead and burdensome user constraints while still not offering the full range of collaboration demanded in today’s rapidly changing information services environments. Wikis and blogs can help meet these collaboration and reference center needs with rather modest systems investments. These web-based technologies dynamically capture changes as project and situational dialogues evolve. This capability, being minimally intrusive, is one of the most valuable benefits to rapidly changing situations or development projects (Raman, 2006). As with any powerful and beneficial technology, there is a downside. The unbridled democratic nature of the wiki and blog allow what Robert L. Glass (2007) calls everyman communication. Just because a blogger wants to express himself or has a hot-button issue, “Do I really care…” and “Do I really trust …” (p. 104) captured the visceral sense that many have with this new phenomenon.

3. OUTLINE OF PAPER

A. Turning the power of the Web’s information access and communication into collaboration
B. The benefits of Wikis and Blogs in comparison to other MIS management methods
C. There are requirements for effective Wiki and Blog use within MIS
D. Wiki and Blogs usage is not without problems and limitations
E. The future of Wikis and blogs is as much a philosophy as it is a technology

4. REFERENCE LIST:

Glass, R.L. (2007, September/October). What’s with this blog thing? IEE Software, 24.5, 103.

Raman, M. (2006, Fall). Wiki technology as a “free” collaborative tool within an organizational setting. Information Systems Management, 23.4, 59-65.

Research Topic Development Process

The following are the major milestones and expectations in the research project:

1. Identify and state a problem that captures the essence of the trouble in the problem environment.
2. Produce an outline that expresses the relevant structure of the R&D Paper and that stems from the problem.
3. Identify key references to support the problem and that demonstrate what other writers say about this being a problem.
4. Apply PERFECT APA style throughout.

This exercise represents a research proposal that the supervising professor will accept or reject along with suggestions for content and mechanical improvement.

Research Topics Under Consideration

The following topics are being surveyed to determine which would be the best for a full research topic considering Enterpise Information Systems enlightenment:

• 8 - The application of blogs and wikis in MIS operations. Discuss how they are being used and what future directions are indicated.
  
• 12 - The emergence of Agile Programming in the development of information systems.


• 15 - The applications of data mining in the literature of MIS, especially the more exotic ones that have been developed recently. For example, systems that search for meaning in customer complaints stored in full text documents using fuzzy, neural nets, or genetic algorithms.


• 18 - The implications for information systems managers of the rise of multimedia computing.
  
• 21 - Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) over the Internet: Who's responsibility is it? In-house? External Vendor? Explain how useful the term EAI is for organizations.
  

My current leanings are toward number 8 because of a keen interest in collaboration enabling technologies. Number 18 is also appealing with rise of media-rich knowledge capturing and sharing for organizations.