What’s New and
Lessons LearnedDavid S. EngDavid S. Eng
Project Manager/ChairWiki and Blog Work Group
OEI/OIAA/IAD/ISBApril 14, 2010
2Tips and Advice
Agenda
• What’s New on Wiki, Blog, Web 2.0 Infrastructure, and
Support
• Use the BASIC approach to wiki/blog development
• Test your Ideas, Apps, and Retest on Roles Access
• Promote and sustain your wiki/blog
• Improved access through finer permission settings
3Tips and Advice
What’s New with Web 2.0 Infrastructure
• Successful Secured Web 2.0 LAMP Infrastructure
Implementation– 145 wikis and blogs deployed
– PhP and MySql accepted within EPA Technology Architecture
• All Web 2.0 Applications, Wiki and Blog must have Web Access
Manager, WAM
• Streamline the Wiki and Blog application process
• Intrawiki and Intrablog replaced Kestrel server environment to
separate internal wikis and blogs
• Leaving un-touched wikis and blogs behind
4Tips and Advice
What’s New with Wikis
• One EPA Wiki (Environmental Wiki) Internal Agency wiki for all to share and
collaborate on information (including “O” in ROT and Grape Jelly) from top 51st
topcs to ‘longtail’ and leverage a ‘flat’ with supporting discussion page. – Sub-workgroup – need your help to grow
– Internal wiki @ https://kestrel.rtpnc.epa.gov/wiki , example:
• Collaborate internally on Open Government Plan
• Start using One EPA Wiki
• More Extensions – more shared components at
https://wiki.epa.gov/envirocentral
• New Skin - Agency Wiki Look and Feel
• Working to integrate with EPA Professional Network
5Tips and Advice
What’s New with Blogs
• WordPress Multi-User installed
• Ten additional Blogs went live as Discussion Forums
– Topic oriented and ‘sunset date’
• New Greenversations Blog Organization w/Category Linked
Discussion Forums
• WordPress Upgrades allows dynamic widget and ease of use,
organization,
and administration
• More Plug-ins
6Tips and Advice
Web 2.0 Apps Live@Internet
Web 2.0 App Name Start date URL Link
Blogs
National Dialogue (Archived) 6/5/2008 https://nationaldialogue.epa.gov/ndblog/partners
Greenversations 4/22/2008 http://blog.epa.gov/blog
Open Government Blog 4/15/2010 http://blog.epa.gov/opengov
Discussion Forums
Acid Rain 4/20/2010 http://blog.epa.gov/acidrain
Healthy Waters 4/9/2010 http://blog.epa.gov/healthywaters
Open Government Plan Discussion Forum 4/7/2010 http://blog.epa.gov/opengovplan
Water Discussion Forum 3/16/2010 http://blog.epa.gov/waterforum
Rule Gateway 2/1/2010 http://blog.epa.gov/rulegateway
OSWER Discussion Forum 12/1/2009 http://blog.epa.gov/oswerforum
EPA’s Data Finder Forum 7/22/2009 http://blog.epa.gov/data
Metal Mining (Archived) 8/5/2009 http://blog.epa.gov/metalminingblog
Enforcement and Compliance National Priority (Archived) 8/26/2009 http://blog.epa.gov/enforcementnationalpriority
CWA Action Plan (Archived) 6/4/2009 http://blog.epa.gov/cwaactionplan
7Tips and Advice
Support and Communication
• New Wiki and Blog Technical Support -contact the
EPA Call Center at 1-866-411-4EPA (4372) or
[email protected] to start a ticket (tracked)
• Web Guide - Process for Setting Up Wikis and Blogs at EPA
• FAQs - https://wiki.epa.gov/envirocentral/FAQs Wiki
• Successful Practices for Web 2.0 Application
8Tips and Advice
Making Your App Work for Your Audience
Wiki and blog applications require collaboration among groups of interested
participants.
• need to inspire and work with your workgroup or community to
1. Organize,
2. Gather,
3. Establish,
4. Coordinate,
5. Plan for your site,
6. Encourage the greater community to participate, and
7. Market
• note that the hardest and most time-consuming part is to build and cultivate your
community, not to develop the site itself.
9Tips and Advice
Lessons Learned #1: BASIC -Plan for Your App Development
• Begin drafting/identifying your Plan, Objective, & Purpose
early
• Address your community (audience), business needs, and
requirements
• Start small, ‘but do it for real’ (establish and build on
success, gather feedback)
• Identify Web 2.0 technology/tools to address your needs
• Consider content is king
10Tips and Advice
Begin Drafting/Identifying Your Plan, Objective and Purpose Early
• Plan, Readiness, and Test
– Outreach – promotion (community)
– Deployment – ADC (not needed for standard Wiki or Blog)
– Maintenance – gardening & improvements
11Tips and Advice
Address Your Community, Business Needs, and Requirements
Listen to your community, readers, and partners
– Better editing capabilities
– Group protection
– Tutorial
– Control for customization
12Tips and Advice
Start Small, ‘But Do It For Real’
• Never experiment with the whole community
– It’s real the first time
– First impression is the lasting impression
– Start simple & small and grow with improvements
– Establish early successes, build on momentum
– Listen to feedback
– Respond to your commenter
13Tips and Advice
Identify Web 2.0 Technology/Tools To Address Your Needs
• To meet business needs, be open and explore the
multiple capabilities of Web 2.0 through reading,
discovering, learning, testing, and deploying
• Collaborate with others for best fits
on using Web 2.0 technologies as
tools for meeting and enhancing
your information needs.
14Tips and Advice
Consider Content Is King
• Grow with a maturing strategy on promotion and life cycle
• Freshness - constant content improvements with change
alert
• Submit timely content and provide clear direction through
one-source instructions
• Experiment with and learn to use Web 2.0 tools to
understand the capabilities/limitations
• Content needs to be in plain language
15Tips and Advice
#2: Test Before Deployment
• Test your Ideas, Apps, and Retest on Roles
Access
• Go in with no assumption,
• Plan, Test, Refine, and Retest for minimize
perception, myth, impact, and building false
hope with demonstrative results.
• (Recent Live Situation)
16Tips and Advice
#3: Promote and SustainYour Wiki/Blog
• Consider your message (start with one)
• Define objectives and goals
• Consider your audience (may be a different sub-group)
• Consider growth with variable topics
• Plan by section– Hierarchical page structure
– Categorize your content
• Apply and/or readjust your communication strategy
• Use Social Media Technologies to alert, discover, refresh, and
add contents and ideas.
17Tips and Advice
#4 Apply On-going Enhancements
• Look and feel – style
• Add rules of behavior
• Skins and templates
• Extensions or plug-ins
• Reflect – does this achieve my mission?
• Add disclaimer at top of each page
• Recognize your frequent contributors and collaborators
18Tips and Advice
Access Management
• Web Access Manager enables Web 2.0
applications better access with finer
permission settings through the EPA WAM
(single sign-on) on Apps that require
authentication, and registration process.
• Remote token access via VPN is
required with Intranet and Extranet
19Tips and Advice
Summary
• Use the BASIC approach to wiki/blog
development
• Promote and sustain your wiki/blog
• Improved access through finer permission
settings with WAM
20Tips and Advice
Contact:
David S. EngWeb 2.0 Projects Manager
Email : [email protected]: 202-566-1182
Dalroy WardChief, Information Services Branch
Email : [email protected]: 202-566-0381