Plant Services - June 2008 - (Page 50)

WEB HUNTER Sharing what you know o doubt, you’ve already heard of a concept called Web 2.0, which refers to abandoning the familiar one-way street in which someone posts a static Web page for your viewing pleasure to a multilane highway that’s more sophisticated and interactive. With Web 2.0, users can become part of the page-development process. Under that definition, Web 2.0 is sometimes used in conjunction with the term social networking. This concept refers to the collaborative use of the Web among users who share a common interest in just about anything you can imagine. For example, imagine that some subset of the subscribers to this magazine has an obsessional-grade interest in the cutting-edge principles and practices of industrial maintenance and asset care. Given that there’s a limit to how effective one person can be in vacuuo, social networking can allow many of these maintenance professionals to more easily achieve the benefits of sharing the best practices of their common passion. Wikis are where wise workers write words of wisdom for the world N getting involved, point your trusty desk rodent at www. commoncraft.com and enter the phrase “wikis in plain English” in the search box at the upper right. This will bring you face to face with a charming, low-budget, four-minute video that explains how a wiki could be used for planning and executing one specific collaborative project, a camping trip for four friends. I think you’ll discover that the wiki concept is easier than you might think. Wikis for everyone Now you won’t need to return to your laptop to wiki yourself out of a jam. According to the online American Heritage Dictionary, a wiki is a collaborative Web site, the content of which can be edited by anyone who has access to it. Users don’t need to know anything about HTML because the wiki software does the conversions. The only formatting rules one needs are when using hyperlinks to connect pages, but the procedure is rather simple. Join me for a leap into that digital morass we call the Web in search of practical, zero-cost, noncommercial, registration-free wiki resources that hold promise for improving your maintenance organization. Remember, we search the Web so you don’t have to. Wiki, the movie Some people learn best through the written word; others find that images are a more effective tool for entertainment and self-instruction. If you’ve found that the descriptions in the previous Web citations don’t quite explain the wiki concept well enough for you to feel comfortable with 50 If the wiki concept is to function as intended, it needs more than one person with an interest in a topic that’s sufficiently broad, and those folks must choose to produce an enduring body of knowledge that provides them with some immediately recognizable and tangible benefit. It can be the perfect vehicle for a collaborative effort that renders real value. The trick to making it work, I think, is some critical number of active participants. Consider some of the interesting, active wikis that were unearthed during research for this column. Water sports are a popular summer pastime for many people having convenient access to a body of navigable water. Who wouldn’t want to be out there on a perfectly fine day, surrounded by friends, doing something enjoyable? The rising cost of gasoline, however, might put a damper on our ability to produce engine-induced wakes, leaving us with swimming, canoes, sailboats and kayaks. The latter category of vessel, incidentally, has a wiki called KayakWiki, originally launched by Nick Schade in 1997. Paddle you way over to http://en.kayakwiki.org to see an example of a long-lived, successful wiki. No doubt you’re aware of the runaway popularity of the seven Harry Potter books and the movies they’ve spawned. That demand for fantasy expressed by every age group has made the author, J.K. Rowling, quite wealthy. And, the resultant Pottermania has attracted the attention of quite a few people and organizations trying to cash in on the phenomenon. One example is RDR Books in Muskegon, Mich., that planned to publish the “Harry Potter Lexicon” until Rowling and Warner Brothers filed suit. So, while the book might be on hold for a while, the Harry Potter Wiki is alive and kicking. Waving your wand at http://harrypotter. June 2008 www.PLANTSERVICES.com http://www.commoncraft.com http://www.commoncraft.com http://en.kayakwiki.org http://harrypotterwikia.com http://www.PLANTSERVICES.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Plant Services - June 2008

Plant Services - June 2008 Contents From the Editor Letters The PS Files Up and Running Crisis Corner What Works Asset Manager Technology Toolbox Cover Story HVAC Coatings Motors Web Hunter In the Trenches Product Picks Classifieds Energy Expert

Plant Services - June 2008

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