Wiki Gnomes

November 10th, 2007
by Jeremy Thomas

gnome.jpgMost people who read this blog are probably familiar with Wiki Patterns - “…a toolbox of patterns & anti-patterns, and a guide to the stages of wiki adoption”. One pattern I find intriguing is that of the Wiki Gnome. A Wiki Gnome is somebody who’s detail oriented and makes cosmetic changes to wiki pages, improves information flow, fixes punctuation etc.

We use Confluence for sharing project information, and it’s amusing to see wiki patterns in action. My project is based in Australia and is staffed with Australians. Yet the other day I noticed an edit to one of our pages by somebody based in Washington D.C. A wiki gnome.

The change was minor, but it made me realize that my project’s activities are visible to and grab the attention of a wider audience across my company. After all, wiki gnomes have to read wiki content before they decide to modify it. So perhaps the presence of wiki gnomes is an indicator that an enterprise wiki is accomplishing its task - diffusing knowledge and connecting people.

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Tagged With enterprise 2.0, australia, wiki

2 Responses to “Wiki Gnomes”

  1. Vincent McBurney Says:
    November 12th, 2007 at 9:08 am

    Washington D.C. Maybe it was the president! I’ve always wondered what he did in his spare time.

  2. Jeremy Thomas Says:
    November 12th, 2007 at 10:47 am

    Yeah, George and I are mates. We had lunch when he came to Australia a few months ago.

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