Web2.0 technologies have so much to offer governments that it is a source of amazement that people in governments continue to ignore them. So I was very pleased when I came across this speech by Hywel Williams MP (Plaid Cymru) in which he told the House that he had set up something called “Wikideddfu”. Hywel’s vision was that he would create a sort of Wikipedia to discuss the legislation regarding the Welsh language. (deddfu = law making) On the face of it, this sounds like a great idea but when you check out the actual site, the reality is somewhat different.

I accessed the wiki at www.wikideddfu.com on 6^th May 2008. I found just a handful of pages that had been updated by only a handful of users with just a handful of edits (4) having taken place since the beginning of March. What’s worst is that, on the day I visited the site, there were more pages of spam (Viagra, gambling etc) than there of official content. What went wrong?

Public wikis need publicity and there’s no doubt that Hywel achieved that by announcing the project in the House of Commons. I also note that he bought some Google adwords which should also have generated some traffic to the site. The site counter says that the main page had been accessed11,522 times. So getting people to visit the site wasn’t really a problem.

Its once you’ve arrived at the site that the problems start. The main page is confusing and doesn’t give any clue to what the site is about. There’s an abstract shape on the right (a pair of blue net curtains caught in the wind?) and a search box on the left. Search boxes are great – but only when the user knows what he wants to search for. As the front page to this site it is totally inappropriate and leaves the user scratching his head wondering what to do next.

I’m fairly familiar with Media Wiki (the wiki engine that powers Wikideddfu) and so managed to work out that there were only two pages with any content. That content was written in far too academic a style (too much text, not enough synopsis or signposting) to make the casual browser want to pause and engage with the material.

In his speech Hywel said,

“As those who are familiar with Wikipedia will know, entries are generated by users and we trust people to correct any inaccuracies.”

Unfortunately this only works when you have a full and vibrant community of users who “patrol” the site and look for those inaccuracies to correct. In the case of Wikideddfu that community is lacking and it is no surprise that the site has fallen victim to spammers. At time of my visit there were three spam pages (therefore outnumbering the number of “real” pages) adverting Viagra, gambling and more. Given that this is a site in the public eye and one that represents Hywel Williams (if not the Welsh language) some thought should have been given to appointing a wiki master to patrol for spam and remove it as quickly as possible.

Wikideddfu is a great example of a “thrown” wiki. “Throwing a wiki” is a phrase only to be heard in esoteric circles right now but as the use of wikis grows I’m sure you’ll hear it more and more. Quite simply it refers to a wiki that has been implemented technically with no thought for its adoption/take up by users.

What can we learn from Wikideddfu? Here is checklist that seeks to learn from its mistakes:

• Is a wiki really the right tool? Could you achieve the same result by using something as simple as a Google group or similar?
• Make an adoption plan. What actions do you need to take to ensure that your wiki is taken up by users and achieves a critical mass as soon as possible.
• Appoint a wiki gardener. Every wiki benefits from some gardening but this is critically important with the weeds (spam) that a public wiki attracts.
• First time orientation – Think about the user’s experience when they reach the site for the first time. When they reach the site for the first time, what do they need to know?
• Don’t allow anonymous edits. It is an invitation to spam and makes your wiki gardeners job much more difficult.
• Put up some wiki trellis. Just as plants in the garden grow better when they’ve got a bit of trellis to climb up, so wikis grow better if you create some “framework” pages for other contributors to “hang” their contributions.
• Think budget – anyone can throw a wiki but in order to make it successful it needs to be properly resourced – and that costs.

It’s great to see someone in government picking up on new web technologies so full marks to Hywel Williams for thinking out of the box. But as a public facing wiki set up by someone in the public eye, it really should have been done better than this. I just hope other government workers don’t hold up this site as an example of why web2.0 doesn’t work.