Pursuing the peak of excellence: Wiki as a knowledge base

ABSTRACT

The pursuit of excellent communication is a path not easily navigated. Challenges arise at every turn, and the greatest obstacle of all is ensuring availability and accuracy of information. Help Desk representatives are the first point of contact for customers placing technology requests and they must have a broad range of knowledge about services provided by the department. A large amount of time is spent in training staff members to achieve the desired level of expertise. At Valparaiso University these staff members are students, adding to the complexity of information sharing as these staff members are only employed for a few years before graduating and entering "the real world." Having a knowledge base is one way to reduce the amount of time needed to train staff members, as information is easily accessible. The Valparaiso University IT Help Desk has been on an ongoing journey to find a knowledge base and after investigating different solutions we have settled on a wiki. At SIGUCCS'07 we described the process of selecting our solution and our anticipated use of the wiki. By October 2008 we will have had over one year of using the wiki, including populating data, keeping it up-to-date, and training staff on its use. Come and look at the journey we have traveled thus far and explore with us the growing potential of this tool as the map of the terrain grows larger with each passing week.

REFERENCES

• 1: MediaWiki™ http://www.mediawiki.org

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.3 Group and Organization Interfaces
          Subjects: Collaborative computing

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.3 Group and Organization Interfaces
          Subjects: Web-based interaction; Computer-supported cooperative work

General Terms:
Documentation, Management, Standardization

Keywords:
Wiki, collaboration, communication, help desk, information, knowledge base, technical support, training