PDF or HTML? « Content Here. Alex Manchester, from Step Two Designs has a very useful article on when to publish Intranet content in PDF format rather than HTML. I agree with Alex's point that PDF is suboptimal for most content because of several limitations (most of them around the additional overhead in editing and reading the document) but still has its place: like for documents that are distributed for printing.
Too often PDF serves as a crutch for users with limited web content management tools and skills. For many, it is easier to save a MS Word document as a PDF and upload it than to work with HTML (either through a CMS or using an HTML editor). The real cost of using PDF occurs after the content is published when users have to wait for Acrobat to load only to find that the document is not what they are looking for and when the document needs to be updated but the original Word document has been lost. Video: How to Build & Revise Documentation Using a Wiki. Using Spreadsheets to Collaborate can be a Mistake.
Content Management Connection Using Spreadsheets to Collaborate can be a Mistake May 1, 2009 By Jason Rothbart Leave a Comment Most of us use spreadsheets to track information that involves no math or calculations. The spreadsheet becomes a glorified table to hold and update information. Spread sheets are good for making calculations, they aren’t good and tracking who made what change and whenSpread sheets are files and are not built to make version tracking easySpread sheets need to be sent back and forth using email or downloaded changed and then uploaded I’m not bagging on all spreadsheets because I use them all the time. The alternative is using wiki pages instead. There is only one version and no file to worry aboutAll changes are tracked and can be backed out with one clickNo software required – all you need is a browserUpdates and notifications are automatic Tagged: Spreadsheets, wiki Link to original post About Jason Rothbart Share this: Like this: Like Loading...
Toronto Wiki Tuesday (18th not 11th) at Epicure Cafe (Tuesday, M. ThoughtFarmer- a Canadian Enterprise 2.0. I sat down recently for lunch with Darren Gibbons and Gordon Ross of OpenRoad Communications , a small Vancouver firm focusing on the design and implementation of corporate intranets and internal communications strategy. As part of their work with clients over the past several years and their experiences in designing and adapting intranets, they developed a hybrid wiki, blog and CMS platform called ThoughtFarmer. ThoughtFarmer has gained some significant clients over the past year or so, including (National Endowment for the Sciences, Technology and Arts – the largest single endowment devoted exclusively to supporting talent, innovation and creativity in the UK), (the globally renowned industrial design firm) and most recently .
I’ve known about ThoughtFarmer since its early days, and wrote up a descriptive entry in the recent book " ", published by the ARK Group (UK). I ran through the following 4 questions with Darren and Gordon in a question-and-answer interview format. Qumana. Wikis versus Knowledge Management: Enterp. Now you can say that this is apples and oranges and there is certainly some truth to this thought. However, many of the people who implemented knowledge management are now looking to implement wikis. What can they learn from their past experiences and what should they unlearn? I recently read, Stewart Mader’s excellent book, Wikipatterns . You can find a good general review of the book in this blog, see wikipatterns – The First Enterprise 2.0 Playbook by Jevon MacDonald .
Parts of Stewart’s book took me back ten or more years ago to promoting knowledge management best practices. I found it interesting to reflect on the differences and similarities between a top down system that required bottom up support and participation (aka KM) and a system that requires bottom up support and participation and offers a bottom up structure (aka wiki). Now you might say that a wiki is a tool and KM is an approach. Wikipatterns Comments – Part One – Wiki Uses vs KM. Wikis: 'From Each According to His Knowledge' Wikis: 'From Each According to His Knowledge' February 2008 (vol. 41 no. 2) pp. 34-41 Wikis offer tremendous potential to capture knowledge from large groups of people, making tacit, hidden content explicit and widely available.
They also efficiently connect those with information to those seeking it. 1. Index Terms: wikis, knowledge management, artificial intelligence Citation: Enterprise Wiki Success Story from Janssen-Cilag. Here is another cross post from my FASTForward look at enterprise success stories. Janssen-Cilag is an Australian pharmaceutical subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. It was using a static HTML site for an intranet. Called InfoDownUnder, it was originally developed in 2001. Some content was out of date and there was no search capability. Trust in the system was low and demand for change was high. Nathan Wallace, in the CIO at Janssen-Cilag was progessive in his vision and suggested the organization implement a wiki as their intranet.
After a successful pilot, Nathan obtained approval to replace the existing intranet with a wiki. Nathan wrote, “our contributions per month has continued to grow since launch. He went on to add, “Business information that was previously scattered in email (e.g. It is great to see these Enterprise 2.0 success stories continue to accumulate.