Submissions/wiki for Everyone: Culture and Features at wikiHow

This is an accepted submission for Wikimania 2012.

Submission no.

96

Title of the submission

Culture and Features at wikiHow

Type of submission (workshop, tutorial, panel, presentation)

Presentation

Author of the submission

Jack Herrick

E-mail address

jack "at" wikiHow.com

Username

JackHerrick

Country of origin

USA

Affiliation, if any (organization, company etc.)

Founder of wikiHow

Personal homepage or blog
Abstract (at least 300 words to describe your proposal)

wikiHow is a wiki with the goal of building the world's highest quality how-to manual. wikiHow is read by over 36 million people a month and is ranked in the top 200 websites by Quantcast. wikiHow is not part of the Wikimedia Foundation nor is it a venture-financed company.

While the size of the wikiHow editor community is small when compared to Wikipedia, the community is still very active, passionate and effective. This community thrives with a unique culture and uses a distinct set of software features not found on other wikis. Visitors from other communities are surprised to see that the wikiHow community is relatively gender balanced and takes pride in its friendliness. Some of these culture differences stem from the unique set of software features in place at wikiHow. This talk will describe some of the features at wikiHow and how they have influenced the culture of the community and, in addition, how the wikiHow culture has influenced the creation of software features. Success and even the embarrassing failure case studies will be shared, with the hope that other wiki enthusiasts will learn lessons for their own projects. The talk will conclude with ideas and a wish list for future wiki innovations that might take collaborative editing to the next level.


Track

This is probably best in WikiCulture and Community; Research, Analysis, and Education -- it could also go in Software.


Length of presentation/talk

25 minutes. Could shrink to 18-20 minutes if requested.

Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?

Yes

Slides or further information (optional)

An example of a page on wikiHow that isn't found on other wikis...(yet) http://www.wikihow.com/Special:CommunityDashboard

Special request as to time of presentations

Scheduling would work best if I delivered this on Friday. Please not on Sunday.


Interested attendees

If you are interested in attending this session, please sign with your username below. This will help reviewers to decide which sessions are of high interest. Sign with four tildes. (~~~).

  1. User:WikiHowKrystle
  2. Bokehmon (talk) 18:21, 16 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Ttrimm (talk)
  4. JordanB (talk) 18:45, 16 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  5. Khluvr621 (talk) 18:53, 16 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  6. Wester Eric (talk) 02:36, 17 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  7. Dvortygirl (talk) 17:01, 17 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  8. Mdotley (talk) 05:09, 18 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  9. the wub "?!"
  10. SarahStierch (talk) 23:24, 24 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  11. Psychology (talk) 17:06, 27 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  12. --Lilaroja (talk) 05:16, 5 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  13. Sohmc (talk) 14:40, 2 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  14. Shujenchang (talk) 12:34, 3 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  15. Nataev (talk) 18:54, 12 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]