{"id":381,"date":"2005-03-24T15:18:00","date_gmt":"2005-03-24T15:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eekim.com\/blog\/2005\/03\/kwikipurple-wiki-deep-thoughts\/"},"modified":"2005-03-24T15:18:00","modified_gmt":"2005-03-24T15:18:00","slug":"kwikipurple-wiki-deep-thoughts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eekim.com\/2005\/03\/kwikipurple-wiki-deep-thoughts\/","title":{"rendered":"Kwiki::Purple, Wiki Deep Thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>My ex-partner-in-crime, Chris Dent<\/a>, has been busy coding and expounding. Last month, he released<\/a> Kwiki::Purple<\/a>, a Purple Numbers<\/a> plugin for Kwiki. You can play with it on his test site<\/a>.    (IFZ)<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>This is fantastic news on a number of fronts. First, it’s further validation of our strategy to have the ideas<\/i> take over the world, not the code. As I’ve said from the beginning, the purpose of PurpleWiki<\/a> is to be a vehicle for ideas. Our goal was not for PurpleWiki<\/a> to become the<\/i> Wiki, but for other Wikis to steal our best ideas. There are now three Wikis with Purple Numbers<\/a> — Kwiki<\/a>, Zwiki<\/a>, and PurpleWiki<\/a> — with hopefully more to come.    (IG0)<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>Second, the fact that Chris was able to implement this as a Kwiki plugin makes Kwiki a more viable option for Blue Oxen Associates<\/a> as its Wiki platform of the future. This is a good thing for many reasons.    (IG1)<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>Chris has also been doing some expounding on Wikis. His entry, “Why Wiki?”<\/a>, is old hat for folks who know Chris, but it’s a nice, clean summary of his views for those who don’t. His framing of augmentation<\/i> versus automation<\/i> (discussed in much more detail in his paper, “The Computer As Tool: From Interaction to Augmentation”<\/a>) is powerful, and I’ve borrowed it in my own thinking and writing. I also liked this line<\/a>:    (IG2)<\/a><\/p>\n

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<\/a>Architecting these sorts of tools may not solve poverty and hunger, or alleviate suffering in the aftermath of a disaster<\/a>, but the tools can augment people actively doing that work. I happen to be good at making the tools go, so that’s where I look to fit myself into the puzzle.    (IG3)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/a>Chris’s thoughts on Wikis as an external cache<\/a> is another good piece. Two quick comments. First, viewing Wikis as an external cache reveals an important constraint. They are most valuable to folks who are already immersed in a conversation, because those folks already have some context that aids them in exploring the Wiki. For example, Wikis used for self-documenting events are not so good at involving those who did not participate, but they are extremely valuable for those who did. At the same time, they are better than nothing. If someone is motivated enough, they can use Wikis as a springboard for acquiring the context they need, and thus gain value that way. Think Out Loud<\/a> is good.    (IG4)<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>Second, Chris writes<\/a>:    (IG5)<\/a><\/p>\n

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<\/a>I’ve found that in order for outboard processing to work there’s several design and process guidelines that have to be reached. Here are some: interaction must be highly responsive<\/i>, noise in the interface must be minimized, structural mechanics and metaphors in content need to be consisent, names must have value, it must be there when you want it, when there is a shared brain its context is shared as well (e.g when some members of the company have a discussion about design it it is done in an archivable fashion).    (IG6)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/a>(Emphasis is mine.) It’s ironic that Chris cites highly responsive interaction as a requirement for collaboration on an asynchronous medium to work. I agree that this is an important pattern of effective collaboration, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s a requirement. There is an alternative mode, one that emphasizes deep thinking augmented by infrequent, but deep interactions. A big void in the collaborative space are tools that augment this mode of interaction. See my design notes on Abelard<\/a> for an example of what such a tool might look like.    (IG7)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My ex-partner-in-crime, Chris Dent, has been busy coding and expounding. Last month, he released Kwiki::Purple, a Purple Numbers plugin for Kwiki. You can play with it on his test site.    (IFZ) This is fantastic news on a number of fronts. First, it’s further validation of our strategy to have the ideas take over the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[43,216,315,1479,1491,1826],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4cTFX-69","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eekim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eekim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eekim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eekim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eekim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eekim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eekim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eekim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eekim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}