From WikiScribes
My Wiki Experience
I'm very aware of the nice features that tools such as Epic, WebWorks, RoboHelp, and FrameMaker (Structured and Unstructured) offer Technical Writers that document software and hardware products. However, I genuinely feel that wiki deserves writers' attention. Let me explain.
I developed a wiki for Untangle.com (check it out: http://wiki.untangle.com), and it was very rewarding. It's now starting to take off in the community. I also produced a TracWiki for YouSendIt.com's Technical Support organization. I've also worked with twiki and PmWiki. During my 3 years of using wiki as a publishing tool, I've discovered that there are numerous advantages that make wiki worth its minimal investment:
- Integrates so nicely with a corporate site and technical support documentation. I can link anywhere! I can now easily integrate with FAQs. Normally user documentation doesn't provide plugs for other products. With a wiki, I can link to marketing's product pitches without actually writing the plug in the user documentation. In other words, I can maintain the credibility of user documentation and still provide exposure to new products, potentially increasing sales.
- Enables me to push out content on demand and daily. I get to see feedback from customers and technical support engineers immediately, and all parties can use the information immediately. What better way to reduce support calls and save the company money!
- Gives internal technical support and customers access to the same information. Usually Technical Writers don't have time to support both Technical Support and Engineering. Wiki allows Technical Writers to meet both needs and eliminate the overhead of manuals/PDFs.
- Enables the community and the entire company to contribute content. There is no other solution that allows this type of collaboration. Although one still requires a moderator/technical editor, the availability of useful documentation expands as the community becomes more involved, and this collaboration helps small companies that have few writers.
- Prevents companies from losing valuable knowledge. If engineers and Technical Writers alike collaborate using wiki, knowledge isn't lost if employees leave the company. Also, Technical Writers often store valuable information in email instead of on a wiki—where everyone can access the information.
- Creates buzz about a product when a writer can link from a user forum to the answer in a wiki.
- Encourages Technical Support Engineers to write FAQs. Technical Support Engineers often only have a few minutes to write an FAQ between customer calls. A traditional website with a CMS is too burdensome and not light-weight enough for Technical Support Engineers.
