The Chief Surveyor-General presents: Wiki Style Documentation A striving for panoptic documentation.
-
Upload
christiana-grant -
Category
Documents
-
view
229 -
download
2
Transcript of The Chief Surveyor-General presents: Wiki Style Documentation A striving for panoptic documentation.
The Chief Surveyor-General presents:
Wiki Style Documentation
A striving for panoptic documentation
What is documentation?
• Define why we do things• Define how we do things• Define when we do things• Define where we do
things• Define what we need to
do to do things
• Documents answer questions
What is documentation at an SG’s Office?
• SG is an animal of law• All documentation
needs to thread back to law
• It is a public document
Documentation at the SG
• Act, Regulations, Ordinances
• Manuals of procedure• Circulars• “Random Notes”• As well as random
notes• Personal notes
Alternative forms of documentation
• Spoken word• Individual notes• Formal notes• Digital documents (eg
Word document)• Digital manuals (eg
software help systems)• Web pages• Wiki
What is knowledge management?
• the explicit and systematic management of vital knowledge - and its associated processes of creation, organization, diffusion, use and exploitation - in pursuit of business objectives
• "If only HP knew what it knows it would make three times more profit tomorrow" - Lew Platt, ex CEO Hewlett Packard
Why is knowledge management important
• Increased content• Shorter development times• Facilitates innovation• Manage intellectual capital (eg retirees)• Increased networking• Holistic view of organisation• Help solve wicked problems• Specific, but not exclusive, to Rural Development:
– High staff turn over– High cost of training
The wicked problem
What is a wiki
• Wiki means “fast” in Hawaiian• Developed by an American, Ward Cunningham during
1994-1995• Everybody knows Wikipedia or WikiLeaks?• Website based• Anybody can create and edit• Any number of interlinked web pages• Via a web browser
Dokuwiki
• Used for pilot study• Freeware• Written in PHP• Seemed simple enough
to get setup• Aimed at
documentation
The envisioned SG Wiki
• In the beginning…
Start capturing the current documentation
Make atomic from the start
Let more senior staff use and add to or amend
Documentation team
• Ratifies what has been amended• In consultation if necessary (as per previous
example)• Informal discussions, ad hoc meetings to feed info
to them– Eg PLS tea time discussions
• A team per SG office• Instead of a team, maybe a librarian
Staff to start using Wiki
• For example the diagram examination section
The envisioned SG Wiki
• Start sharing…• Advertise to interested parties• The land surveyor• The conveyancer• The academics• Allow them to create and edit too
And those damn circulars?
• Introducing RSS feeds
A “New” Datastructure
• How may this apply to GIS– GIS procedure– GIS operators notes– List of useful SQL statements– Etc
• Something different– What about data presentation
Our GIS Currently
With some attributes
But what if we got this
List of pro’s (cons not yet considered)
• Free-ish
• Neat
• Accessible
• Easily added to other applications
• Free
• General skill level
•Collaboration