IBM has made available a free guide to using wikis in government, written by Government 2.0 expert Dr Ines Mergel.

In the paper, Dr. Mergel describes the managerial, cultural, behavioral, and technological issues that public managers face in starting and maintaining Wikis.

Se also examines nine public sector organizations that found Wikis to be valuable additions to their current workplace tools in reaching out to both employees and citizens.

Dr. Mergel observes that Wikis “are on the one hand relatively easy to create. On the other hand, maintaining collaboratively produced content while sustaining the quality and quantity of contributions over time is a formidable task for public managers.”

Her paper describes five challenges managers face, and provides a checklist of best practices that public managers and Wiki administrators can use to improve chances for success.

This report is a “deep dive” into one online tool that can be used to engage employees and the public. A separate new report by the IBM Center, Using Online Tools to Engage - and be Engaged by - The Public, by Matt Leighninger, provides a broader context of the various online tools available today, showing how and when Wikis can play a role in broader engagement efforts.

Ines Mergel is an Assistant Professor of Public Administration at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and The Information Studies School (ischool) at Syracuse University. She was previously a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Program of Networked Governance and the National Center for Digital Government.

Dr Mergel’s report is available for download HERE.