[Paper Review] Knowledge management by wikis

Sander Spek|ArXiv.org|Feb 6, 2008

Wikis in Education and Collaboration4 references3 citations

TL;DR

This 2005 position paper argues that wikis are powerful tools for knowledge management due to their anarchistic, collaborative, connected, organic, self-healing, and trust-based characteristics. While wikis show strong potential for grassroots knowledge sharing, the paper identifies key organizational concerns—motivational, authoritarian, strategic, and effectiveness-related—that must be addressed through software enhancements and management policies for successful integration into professional environments.

ABSTRACT

Wikis provide a new way of collaboration and knowledge sharing. Wikis are software that allows users to work collectively on a web-based knowledge base. Wikis are characterised by a sense of anarchism, collaboration, connectivity, organic development and self-healing, and they rely on trust. We list several concerns about applying wikis in professional organisation. After these concerns are met, wikis can provide a progessive, new knowledge sharing and collaboration tool.

Motivation & Objective

• To examine why wikis, despite their success in grassroots online communities, are underutilized in professional organizations.
• To identify and analyze key concerns—motivational, authoritarian, strategic, and effectiveness-related—that hinder wiki adoption in corporate environments.
• To propose modifications to wiki software and organizational policies to enable wikis to become effective knowledge management tools in professional settings.
• To explore how wikis' inherent characteristics such as self-healing and organic growth can be leveraged while addressing risks like vandalism and lack of control.

Proposed method

• Analyzing the core characteristics of wikis: anarchistic structure, collaborative editing, networked (connected) content, organic growth, self-healing through community oversight, and trust-based operation.
• Comparing open-source wiki engines (e.g., MediaWiki, TWiki) with commercial tools (e.g., SocialText, JobSpot, Netomat) to assess their suitability for professional use.
• Evaluating organizational challenges such as departmental silos, top-down control needs, and resistance to decentralized content creation.
• Proposing solutions such as role-based access, structured data entry (e.g., forms in TWiki), and thematic initiatives (e.g., 'theme weeks') to guide organic growth.
• Applying Raymond’s 'Linus’s Law' ('Given enough eyes, all bugs are shallow') to argue that large communities can self-correct vandalism and errors.
• Recommending management involvement to align wiki use with strategic goals while preserving collaborative autonomy.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 Why are wikis effective in grassroots online communities but underutilized in professional organizations?
• RQ2 How do the core characteristics of wikis—such as anarchism, collaboration, and self-healing—impact their viability in controlled corporate environments?
• RQ3 What organizational concerns (motivational, authoritarian, strategic, effectiveness) prevent successful wiki adoption in professional settings?
• RQ4 To what extent can software enhancements and management policies mitigate the risks associated with open editing in wikis?
• RQ5 How can wikis be adapted to support structured knowledge management without losing their collaborative and organic nature?

Key findings

• Wikis are inherently anarchistic, collaborative, connected, organic, self-healing, and trust-based, enabling dynamic and resilient knowledge sharing.
• The self-healing property of wikis—where errors and vandalism are corrected by a large community—makes them robust despite open editing.
• Organizations face motivational challenges because wikis lack formal authority, which conflicts with traditional hierarchical delegation and status-based influence.
• Strategic concerns arise because wikis grow organically without top-down direction, making it difficult for organizations to align knowledge development with business goals.
• Departmental silos may limit cross-functional knowledge sharing, and wikis may inadvertently replicate these barriers unless actively managed to encourage interdepartmental collaboration.
• Software enhancements such as form-based data entry (e.g., in TWiki) and structured content models can improve wiki suitability for professional knowledge management.