"4. Encourage Participation. New users can be reluctant to create new content from scratch. Starting out, these users tend to be more comfortable working within targeted pages specifically soliciting input. (“Add your contact information here…”). Consider setting up a “sandbox” page designed for practice edits only and remind users that version history is maintained, so their edits can always be reversed if needed."
I've seen this reluctance to create content so often, and it still baffles me. What's so hard about creating content? Why do so many writers prefer to work from somebody else's original material? Is it fear of committing your own original thoughts to print? Is it a lack of understanding that whatever you churn out, you'll want to change anyway once you begin the re-writes?
I think that one of the biggest hurdles that collaborative start-ups like Near-Time face is a natural reluctance of people to quickly embrace the blank space of a Wiki. It's funny how emptiness can be so intimidating, isn't it?
wow, I have the exact opposite problem. My team will not edit a page. They will only start pages from scratch. I have to constantly remind them that all of their revisions are saved and they cannot break anything.
Posted by: Hashim | June 3, 2006 8:29 AM | Permalink to Comment