Wikis evolve as collaboration tools

Wikis evolve as collaboration tools | InfoWorld | Test Center | January 05, 2007 | By Mike Heck

Socialtext Workspace 2.3
Traction TeamPage 3.7
Altassian Confluence 2.2.10
Near Time (Release 6837)

Wikis evolve as collaboration tools
Latest offerings get users swapping knowledge quickly

By Mike Heck

January 05, 2007

Content
management systems usually won’t work as collaboration tools. Although
a CMS does ease content creation, the resulting Web sites have rigid
navigation and formal publishing workflows. Wikis, on the other hand,
empower users to create new pages ad hoc as well as create links easily
within the content.

These relaxed
controls make Atlassian Confluence, Near-Time, Socialtext, and Traction
important enterprise applications that can streamline internal
processes through more efficient communications and knowledge sharing.

Although
all four of these packages espouse a wiki’s simple content creation and
editing, my testing demonstrated variations in remaining areas that
formed my evaluation criteria.

For
one, enterprises need strong access control to prevent unauthorized
changes. Products vary in the depth of e-mail and RSS notifications.
The way content is searched, tagged, and organized ranged widely, too.
For example, file uploads could be placed in one large area or
segmented into a more friendly hierarchy. Finally, I considered
scalability, integration with existing authentication systems, and open
standards or APIs to customize the solution.

Atlassian Confluence 2.2.10
Confluence has multiple personalities: a collaboration tool, intranet,
document repository, and project monitor. Throughout it all, however,
the system stays true to its wiki roots. Spaces hold pages that are
easily organized, can reference attachments, and turn into discussion
forums using comments. Moreover, everything is searchable — subject to
enterprise-grade security that extends permissioning to individual
pages.

Still,
Atlassian doesn’t try to make Confluence into a collaboration Swiss
Army Knife; although the software integrates with other systems through
provided Web services interfaces, you won’t find a spreadsheet or other
built-in applications. And that’s fine, in that it means you don’t have
to be a genius to use or administer this application. Further, more
than 100 plug-ins and Confluence’s internal component system (built on
the Spring Java framework) provide great extensibility.

The
only option I’d like is the capability to import user accounts from an
Active Directory or LDAP server; currently you have to create
individual user accounts and apply permissions.

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Just about everything in Confluence shows polish and attention to
detail. You can instantly create pages in the designated space and edit
with standard wiki markup code or a rich-text editor. Linking to other
pages is simple, and the system ensures links don’t break if you
reorganize pages into a different hierarchy. Further, categorizing
pages into logical parent and children groups is point-and-click
simple. Each page has a printable view and can be exported to PDF.

Besides
standard content pages, Confluence provides News pages (blogs). These
could hold time-sensitive content, such as announcements for your team
— while comments attached to these items help teams collaborate. A
great RSS Feed Builder let me create a feed from pages, news items,
comments, and attachments. What I liked most, though, was an RSS
function that enabled me to integrate external RSS feeds (such as
InfoWorld.com’s own blogs) directly into a Confluence news page.

Wikis
are often touted as an e-mail replacement. While that’s a viable use,
this solution recognizes the value in messages and serves as an e-mail
archive. Simply cc: messages to Confluence’s mailbox and content is
automatically indexed and becomes searchable. Similarly, attachments
are not just uploaded; they’re fully versioned, linkable, and
searchable.

Built-in search accuracy was very good, providing flexibility to search by space, type of content, or date.

There
are seven types of plug-ins — from macros (such as the one I used to
insert RSS feeds) and Java servlets to theme packs and event listeners
(which trigger events, such as sending an e-mail when a page is
updated).

I quickly controlled these
extensions from the Web administration console; there’s no messing with
configuration files. The same usability let me edit users, groups, and
permissions; alter the site’s look; and perform server maintenance,
including one-button backup and restore.

The
more I used Atlassian Confluence, the more I appreciated the thought
behind its design. It doesn’t go overboard with extraneous features,
yet still stuffs in an amazing amount of functionality — all surrounded
by a good-looking, friendly interface. This adds up to an enjoyable,
productive experience.

Near-Time
The self-service Near-Time lets team members share ideas and files
through a group Weblog (News). Users also contribute unstructured
knowledge by creating pages in traditional wiki fashion. All this
content is assembled within spaces that are public or private. In both
cases, podcasts and RSS feeds can be created to communicate with broad
audiences. Information is organized and discovered using categories and
tags, which also help refine searches. Last, Near-Time’s Event calendar
helps track activities.

As
a hosted product, Near-Time requires minimal setup time. I tested the
Power Plan option ($699.95 annually), which provides all possible
management controls, SSL data encryption, Roles and Permissions, and
1GB of file storage. Registering users by sending e-mail invitations is
a one-step process. Similarly, controlling what these users can see and
do within a space only requires checking off appropriate roles (such as
editor, author, commenter, or reader).

Accompanying
Near-Time functions follow this simple model. For example, a tab in the
clutter-free Web interface let me create pages, which included links,
images, and file attachments. Editing controls are among the most
complete I’ve encountered, with advanced options to insert Word
documents, draw tables, and insert anchor links. Creating and editing
News posts works identically. Further, I had no trouble sending e-mails
to my News and Pages addresses, which automatically created entries
from the content in messages.

The
system’s intelligence streamlines linking to other content. In the
editing toolbar I typed link text followed by a partial name of the
desired page or attachment. Near-Time then displayed the best matches
and I merely clicked the correct target content to construct a working
link. However, Near-Time sometimes had its own idea where links got
inserted within the page, placing them at random rather than where I
positioned my cursor.

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Near-Time doesn’t support a formal hierarchy for wiki and Weblog
entries. As an alternative, you create Categories and Tags, which are
applied to pages and articles. By filtering on these classifications
and metadata in the well-done search engine, I quickly found relevant
content. Further, searches (the ones you own and those of colleagues’)
can be saved and placed on the search page.

Files
are managed more traditionally, where you create main folders and
subfolders underneath. Document management functions are ample, with
the ability to replace, edit, check-in, and check-out documents. But I
would like versioning control (currently, when you check in an update,
the original file is overwritten).

Near-Time’s
main Dashboard consolidates what’s new in all your spaces, including
recent files, pages, and events. Between this display, RSS
subscriptions, and e-mail notifications it’s easy to stay informed
about colleagues’ activities.

Although
Near-Time is primarily a private collaboration tool, I exposed some
content to the public. This was simple, by changing a space’s access
settings. You can further restrict viewing to just content categorized
as public.

Near-Time generally
performed well in creating content, collaboration, and sharing
knowledge — all at a low price. It doesn’t have the granular
permissions, organizational capabilities, and extensibility of some
other products. But it’s nonetheless a smart choice because there’s no
need to learn wiki markup or jump through hoops to administer users and
spaces.

Socialtext Workspace 2.3
Socialtext was first with a commercial wiki product and has a strong
presence in Global 2000 corporations. It has the most deployment
options of the test products: hosted Professional and Personal
versions, an Enterprise appliance, and community-supported open source
software. I tested the Professional version, which lacks only a few
features found in the Enterprise version, such as integration with a
directory server.

On
the surface Socialtext seems pretty vanilla compared to other products.
Yet that simplicity is a main attraction of this product; most tasks
are accomplished with one or two clicks. Once inside Socialtext,
however, I discovered an assortment of wiki collaboration and Weblog
publishing functions.

The main
dashboard, like those of other products, provides a quick summary of
what’s new, specific pages that you’re watching for changes, and quick
navigation to all your authorized workspaces. New users will be up and
running in a few minutes.

Workspaces
are created using a simple form, and a single button-press builds pages
and switches to the edit mode. WYSIWYG editing eliminates knowing any
wiki markup; toolbar functions include basic text formatting, tables —
along with straightforward linking to other pages (free-form page
titles are links), external sites, and files. Moreover, I linked to
pages in other workspaces, which would be helpful when teams work on
projects that may not be within their usual workspace. Copying and
pasting from Word and Excel was problem-free.

I
liked Socialtext’s uncommon ability to compare revisions side-by-side
and to restore any previous version. For file management, this solution
let me upload documents and view versions. But there’s no way to build
a folder structure, which would be a big help in organizing a lot of
files.

To make finding information
easier, I assigned tags to build virtual categories. These markers,
along with advanced search of keyword or page title, helped me pinpoint
pages of interest.

The Weblog
element provides a customary listing of recent posts to the site, along
with a comment function that lets you attach files. Any wiki page or
Weblog is updatable by sending an e-mail. I also viewed categorized
pages as a Weblog, which is a nice way to filter content. Still,
Socialtext has a few distinctions, such as integrating with instant
messaging clients so you know when colleagues are online and can start
an IM conversation.

Administration
functions aren’t extensive, but should suffice for general needs. For
example, Workspace Privacy let me control who could see each workspace
(such as only invited users). But Socialtext wouldn’t let me drill down
into each user account and establish specific roles and permissions.

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The Enterprise edition adds useful capabilities, including digital
certificate support, backup to networked file storage, and the
capability of searching your wikis and Weblogs from an existing
enterprise search engine.

Socialtext
performs core wiki functions that you’d expect, making it faster than
collaborating using shared documents or e-mail. There are many
deployment options and versions, as well as features that aren’t at
first apparent. Although I’ve tested more sophisticated solutions,
Socialtext still has much to offer — especially if you don’t need a lot
of accessories.

Traction TeamPage 3.7
Much sets Traction TeamPage apart, starting with the company’s core
hypertext engine. This technology handles all the indexing,
cross-reference, and navigational elements of TeamPage, so you can
build extremely large enterprise wikis, yet quickly organize all the
content. Traction has excellent usability together with the best — and
most flexible — look and feel of the products tested. For instance,
different skins can simultaneously display different views of content
to employees, partners, and those using mobile devices.

The
system’s permission model is equally substantial, so each user sees
filtered lists of reports, open issues, or related articles or
interest. For search, you can select Traction’s own engine — or the
company bundles an OEM version of FAST (Fast Search and Transfer)
enterprise search.

I had TeamPage
running in under an hour on a Windows Server 2003 setup. There’s an
optional plug-in for authentication using Active Directory, LDAP, or
other systems simultaneously. Yet, even if you set up users manually,
the polished Web administration speeds the job – along with other
tasks, such as building sites. In the latter case, TeamPage’s default
Front Page (dashboard) and workspaces should be more than adequate for
most enterprises out-of-the-box.

Still,
project administrators can easily configure the Front Page and project
pages to display query-driven sections — along with changing pages to
match corporate branding. For instance, I created several groups
including project managers. Then, when a manager logs in, he or she
would see a list of status reports and meeting notes. Conversely, team
members’ main page displayed issues to address, questions requiring
answers, and articles of interest.

I
also liked the way TeamPage simplifies getting around. The navigation
pane provides one-click access to different projects, sections (such as
issues), and also let me sort by labels.

Another
high point is how truly easy and quick it is to publish content and
comments: Just click on an Add button and post using the Web-based
WYSIWYG editor (e-mail, RSS syndication, or an Instant Publisher client
are other content-creation options). File attachments are managed
through WebDAV (check-out, lock, check-in, version control). When I
hovered over a posting, an AJAX-style menu appeared that let me perform
all sorts of actions, from editing and commenting to adding labels.

Traction
3.7 added a Wikipedia-style display for spotting differences between
any two page versions. This really helps when a workgroup must edit and
review articles. Further, a rich-text comment form let me quickly
create threaded discussions on full articles or even specific
paragraphs.

Beyond the
system-generated filtered views, TeamPage has abundant ways that I used
to manage content personally. To begin, Traction’s unique Collector let
me group (bookmark) articles and comments for later recall or immediate
action. Further, I inserted widgets within the text of articles; these
objects create mashups of links and content from any Traction query,
and they show text and graphics from any external source (perhaps a
live weather report for any ZIP code). Traction ships with a live
widget that recognized the text pattern of a UPS

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tracking code and turned it into a live link. Enterprises can program
Traction to recognize, say, invoice numbers or a customer number and
link to a CRM system.

TeamPage’s
many communication conduits worked effortlessly. I exported entries or
content collections to Microsoft Word and PDF. RSS and Atom feeds are
standard. Moreover, TeamPage will notify users of new content or
comments through a Jabber instant message. An automated Executive
Summary e-mail digest keeps each user informed of new postings. Yet
what I found most useful was the Email Out function. It let me collect
articles; compose a message in Traction; create a distribution list
from Traction users, LDAP, or Active Directory; send the articles; and
post the message to Traction.

Traction’s journaling system, mirroring

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wiki and blog technology, turns out to be far more. Especially
appropriate with large projects, TeamPage provides information in the
necessary context for many audiences by providing exceptional security
and permissions.

After
reviewing these four products, they clearly fit in different strata.
All have the bedrock of usability and fast setup. What’s more, they
work like the Web, so groups can share information and collaborate
without much learning.

Socialtext,
then Near-Time, offer wiki collaboration, team Weblog publishing,
search, simple file management, and some personalization. Atlassian
Confluence moves up a layer with better content organization and
extensibility. Traction TeamPage clearly placed above the others with
its superior ease of use and query ability that presented each user
with just the knowledge they need.