Wikis in enterprise settings: a survey

Abstract

The wiki technology is increasingly being used in corporate environments to facilitate a broad range of tasks. This survey examines the use of wikis on a variety of organisational tasks that include the codification of explicit and tacit organisational knowledge and the formulation of corporate communities of practice, as well as more specific processes such as the collaborative information systems development, the interactions of the enterprise with third parties, management activities and organisational response in crisis situations. For each one of the aforementioned corporate functions, the study examines the findings of related research literature to highlight the advantages and concerns raised by the wiki usage and to identify specific solutions addressing them. Finally, based on the above findings, the study discusses various aspects of the wiki usage in the enterprise and identifies trends and future research directions on the field.

Keywords:

• enterprise wikis
• corporate wikis
• organisational knowledge
• wiki research

Acknowledgements

This work was partially carried out during the tenure of an ERCIM “Alain Bensoussan” Fellowship Programme, at the Centre de Recherche Public Henri Tudor, Luxembourg. The authors would also wish to thank Dr. Younes Djaghoul for his valuable remarks.