Comments on: Of wikis, transparency and customer service http://walt.lishost.org/2008/05/of-wikis-transparency-and-customer-service/ The library voice of the radical middle Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:43:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: walt http://walt.lishost.org/2008/05/of-wikis-transparency-and-customer-service/#comment-32637 walt Tue, 06 May 2008 18:01:46 +0000 http://walt.lishost.org/?p=775#comment-32637 Chris, Thanks for your comment. You answered my question--and the lack of other answers on the order of "Of course everyone knows about MediaWiki's transparency" convinced me that the essay was worth writing. Transparency is an issue only if those running the wiki haven't paid attention to it. (When I was writing the article, one wiki had hundreds of pages that were supposedly restricted to readership by only a Chosen Few--but the restriction was apparently "security by obscurity," as All Pages and Categories both had links that yielded the fully-readable articles to someone with no relationship to the wiki. If you're storing confidential personnel issues in a wiki, then such transparency is an issue.) My essay does not suggest that wiki installers choose other software (I like MediaWiki, and I like the transparency) or that they take steps to make MediaWiki more opaque--but I believe it's worth describing the nature of the transparency. It's certainly not a bug, and I don't describe it as such. A shorter form of the essay is now in place at the PALINET Leadership Network, http://pln.palinet.org (specifically, it's <a href="http://pln.palinet.org/wiki/index.php/Transparency_and_MediaWiki" rel="nofollow"> here</a>). The longer form will appear in the next Cites & Insights. Chris,
Thanks for your comment.

You answered my question–and the lack of other answers on the order of “Of course everyone knows about MediaWiki’s transparency” convinced me that the essay was worth writing.

Transparency is an issue only if those running the wiki haven’t paid attention to it. (When I was writing the article, one wiki had hundreds of pages that were supposedly restricted to readership by only a Chosen Few–but the restriction was apparently “security by obscurity,” as All Pages and Categories both had links that yielded the fully-readable articles to someone with no relationship to the wiki. If you’re storing confidential personnel issues in a wiki, then such transparency is an issue.) My essay does not suggest that wiki installers choose other software (I like MediaWiki, and I like the transparency) or that they take steps to make MediaWiki more opaque–but I believe it’s worth describing the nature of the transparency. It’s certainly not a bug, and I don’t describe it as such.

A shorter form of the essay is now in place at the PALINET Leadership Network, http://pln.palinet.org
(specifically, it’s here).
The longer form will appear in the next Cites & Insights.

]]> By: Chris http://walt.lishost.org/2008/05/of-wikis-transparency-and-customer-service/#comment-32635 Chris Tue, 06 May 2008 16:04:41 +0000 http://walt.lishost.org/?p=775#comment-32635 Oops, orphaned some text there. My bad. -Chris Clouser Science Librarian Indiana University of Pennsylvania Oops, orphaned some text there. My bad.

-Chris Clouser
Science Librarian
Indiana University of Pennsylvania

]]> By: Chris http://walt.lishost.org/2008/05/of-wikis-transparency-and-customer-service/#comment-32634 Chris Tue, 06 May 2008 16:02:21 +0000 http://walt.lishost.org/?p=775#comment-32634 Walt, it's a tall order to ask if everybody knows about wiki transparency (the answer, of course, is "probably not"). I can say that the library administration here would likely not know much about the transparency issues - if you can call them issues, since transparency is usually a feature, not a bug. On the other hand, the technology leaders here in the library have a much better grasp of transparency issues, and so a lot of it <i>is</i> obvious. Still, I run a mediawiki installation and hadn't considered some of the emergent properties of the various Special Pages. I would think tha Walt, it’s a tall order to ask if everybody knows about wiki transparency (the answer, of course, is “probably not”). I can say that the library administration here would likely not know much about the transparency issues - if you can call them issues, since transparency is usually a feature, not a bug.

On the other hand, the technology leaders here in the library have a much better grasp of transparency issues, and so a lot of it is obvious. Still, I run a mediawiki installation and hadn’t considered some of the emergent properties of the various Special Pages.

I would think tha

]]> By: walt http://walt.lishost.org/2008/05/of-wikis-transparency-and-customer-service/#comment-32626 walt Mon, 05 May 2008 14:35:18 +0000 http://walt.lishost.org/?p=775#comment-32626 Abigail, I think it's true that we tend to hear more about what goes wrong with others--and, by the same token, we're reluctant to write up our own failures/problems. In the case of Hilton, my expectations were fairly high; that they were exceeded is a surprise. I have another, much more peculiar but definitely positive, story--but I'm waiting to see how it turns out. Abigail, I think it’s true that we tend to hear more about what goes wrong with others–and, by the same token, we’re reluctant to write up our own failures/problems. In the case of Hilton, my expectations were fairly high; that they were exceeded is a surprise.

I have another, much more peculiar but definitely positive, story–but I’m waiting to see how it turns out.

]]> By: Abigail http://walt.lishost.org/2008/05/of-wikis-transparency-and-customer-service/#comment-32622 Abigail Mon, 05 May 2008 00:27:44 +0000 http://walt.lishost.org/?p=775#comment-32622 It's nice to hear a story where customer service actually went right and it's lovely to hear that Hilton provided such excellent and straightforward customer service for you. You're right--we do hear misery stories all the time. It's good to know that there are some times when things do work the way we expect them to sometimes better :) It’s nice to hear a story where customer service actually went right and it’s lovely to hear that Hilton provided such excellent and straightforward customer service for you. You’re right–we do hear misery stories all the time. It’s good to know that there are some times when things do work the way we expect them to sometimes better :)

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