Attending Wikimania 2008 Conference in Alexandria, Egypt was an awesome experience in many ways. Not only did we get a chance to meet many Wiki Enthusiasts from around the world, we also learned a lot from the talk sessions.
MarkDilley did a lightning talk session on the Universal Wiki Edit button and we talked to ~250 people individually about it - the response was quite enthusiastic.
During Ahmed Tantawy’s “Open culture and the Internet in the Middle East.” we learned how statistics show that employees are the best source of innovation for organizations and companies. In fact, more new ideas come from the employees than the R&D / Consultants or Management departments. Wikis prove to be a great resource in organizing this and facilitating the flow of ideas.
A session on Edit Conflicts mentioned the use of FAQs to resolve disputes - articles on AboutUs.org can also greatly benefit from it.
Jimmy Wales and Angela Beesley did an excellent session on Wikis: Beyond Encyclopedias - which we were very excited to be mentioned in and it included the very interesting information that they have learned ‘how to build wiki communities about anything’. Two years ago, they were haphazard about it, and if it worked, it worked. Now they know what resources will bring what results. We look forward to talking to them more about that.
We also heard lots of comments about AboutUs, mostly positive, from the wiki community present there. One participant pointed out that we should give more focus to growing our active community, as community helps make wiki’s reliable. We couldn’t agree more! Another interesting criticism came from a privacy advocate who held that “Privacy = Right not to be disturbed” - an interesting, possibly privileged take on privacy in the internet age. Most folks really thought that what AboutUs was doing was pretty interesting.
Quick thoughts
These were also excellent sessions:
- In a lighting session we learned of the ease of using SVG in text editor from Terence Yuen
- The Video Editing company Kaltura has ruby API plugin… hmmm - who’s interested in video editing on AboutUs.org? … maybe someone who is making tutorials or guides?
- We met Noam Cohen who writes cool tech pieces for the NYT - often about wiki.
Back in February, I posted that AboutUs pagecount tops 11 million*. At the time, our statistics page was broken so there was nothing to link to. Now it’s fixed, sort of. We still don’t have a way to filter out stubs, personal pages or meta pages. Here’s what it says:
AboutUs statistics
There are 12,003,158 total pages in the database. This includes “talk” pages, pages about AboutUs, minimal “stub” pages and redirects.
898,859 files have been uploaded.
There have been a total of 15,914,871 page edits since AboutUs was setup. That comes to 1.33 average edits per page.
User statistics
There are 221,278 registered users, of which 79 (or 0.04%) have Sysops rights.
So there you have it, 12 million! 
As you probably know, the bread and butter of AboutUs is information about websites and domain names. Everyone can edit or add an overview of the website, its contact information, related domains, categories, logo, and so on.
But oftentimes we have knowledge or experience of website that would lend itself more fittingly to something along the lines of a review. That’s where AboutUs’ InfluenceUs feature comes in. The idea here is to leave constructive feedback for a website by posting a comment on their AboutUs page aimed at helping them improve (e.g. influencing them). By explaining what you are delighted or frustrated about it gives the website valuable information on how their operation is being received and how it can improve, and they can even address an InfluenceUs post by replying to it. Also, because these comments are in the public domain they give visitors to the website’s AboutUs page another eye into the website based on this person’s experience.
Try it out by clicking the InfluenceUs button at the top of a domain page on AboutUs. For more information see our page on using InfluenceUs.
In June I was excited about the then new Recent Contributors box on AboutUs.org. Now it’s the new Page Views feature that has me jumping up and down.
The premise is pretty simple. Pages on AboutUs now show the number of times that particular page has been viewed since the page was created. (You can check this by viewing the page’s history, and it will be sometime between AboutUs’ launch in June 2006 and today’s date.)
Look for the Page Views count in the box to the right of just about every page on AboutUs.org. Currently the number is updated on a semi-regular basis and will hopefully be live soon.
Whether a particular page has been viewed more than you expected or less than you would hope, editing the page to make it prettier and have better content is a great way to attract more viewers and to get them to stay awhile.
This month’s WikiWednesday may (or may not) include the following topics, in it’s usual informal wiki format:
5:30pm - 8:30pm
* OregonHealthConsensus
* Wikimania
* UniversalEditButton
It would be lovely to see you there - rsvp though Facebook - if you have an account.
Also, announcing WikiMeetups.com - an awesome website idea from a friend of AboutUs
Michelle Murrain asks via a tweet:
I want to know why it is that domain registrar logins seem to be one of the most easily lost pieces of information in nonprofits. Ack!
Actually I think the problem is more pervasive than logins. Our work at AboutUs puts us in touch with lots of people who lose their domain names all the time. When I mean lose, I mean zip zero, don’t have a chance of getting it back.
Early on one of the ways that I saw people using AboutUs was to educate themselves about digital realties of virtual properties. Currently the best example of this is for people to simply note on a domain page at AboutUs that their site has moved. So, if anyone is looking for them by domain name and they land on AboutUs, they are easily found.
What also happens is that because people are not aware that they don’t “own” the digital property, they are merely leasing it and upon non-payment, you lose that property. There are tragic examples, such as the hospitalized burn victim losing their established non-profit website of 5 years. More commonly websites are lost by people who just aren’t aware of the tenuous nature of domain properties - they can be bought, lost and sold.. So there are many rants about cybersquatters taking their domain… it is usually all perfectly legal.
One thing that any organization needs to do is think in terms of properties. How often do you hear about a non-profit being evicted for non-payment? Never. Someone in the organization must have the responsibility of thinking about digital property like this, so it doesn’t get lost.
Sometimes even prestigious institutions lose.
So do yourself a favor, keep track of you digital properties, else you will have a headache and allow someone else to make a few pennies off of your traffic.
The other day the Customer Support phone rang and I picked it up. It was a client in New York City, he asked for Ayesha. I informed him that Ayesha wasn’t available, but could I take a message. He mentioned she was working on his article and sent him an email request for feedback. He really needed to speak with her because there was too much to put into an email. He seemed shocked, maybe even upset when I told him it’s not always easy to schedule phone number with her in the States because she’s in Pakistan. I wasn’t really able to read the reason for his reaction, but surmised maybe he was surprised that this “American” company had writers overseas. Further I surmised maybe he just wanted to talk with someone living in a nearby time zone. I wasn’t sure, so I asked him if we could talk.
I spent nearly 40 minutes on the phone, going through the wiki page for his comments and taking lots of notes for things we’d change. I also asked him about his personal history and how he got into the business (the website said online since 1999, but it turns out it’s a family business that his father has been in for 50 years!) Great stuff.
I also talked to him about how we don’t consider our office in Pakistan to be an “outsource” situation, that we have an office in Lahore with full-time employees, with all benefits including health and stock options. He seemed impressed by that and the kicker for him turning around his reaction was when I told him that I spent time there in January. He got more interested and wanted to know how it was over there.
When I told this story to my partner, she said that globalization is a fact of life in business these days and that the way we’re doing it at AboutUs is different than many (most?) other companies, and is a point to be proud of and promote.
A few other points: Both the development team and the Customer Service team are split between Pakistan and the US, with the majority in Pakistan in both teams. This means we’re an “around the clock” company, making us that much more efficient.
IBM uses wikis and has a WikiCentral as an internal MySpace.
The United Nations is starting one to help staff in 80 countries share information.
16 U.S. intelligence agencies use a top-secret wiki called Intellipedia.
How are you using wiki to further your business, organization or ideas
How can you use AboutUs?
Newsweek: Power In Numbers: How wiki software is reforming bloated bureaucracies and changing the face of communication.
Let’s chat, mingle, and wiki together.
One of this month’s topics may easily include the recent “Universal Edit Button” (http://UniversalEditButton.org) or the upcoming Wikimania event!
and we imagine the rest will self organize - itself.
at the AboutUs office, 107 SE Washington #520 5:30-8:30
