Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Archiving Tips?

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

We have a 20-year-old wiki that contains all the information related to 
maintaining the buildings and grounds. It includes notes from members of the 
team, invoices, bids, descriptions, research, ideas, etc. There is a menu of 
headings and subheadings. The search is by keyword and it searches everything — 
tags, titles, text, etc.

When I set it up, I found advice for determining the headings and subheadings 
that was perfect for data that would be entered by a large number of people 
without requiring too much training. The advice was to set up only a few major 
categories — Common House, Basements, Grounds — and allow people to use 
headings and keywords that make sense to them when they make entries. Then a 
Wiki Minder can review things over time and gradually align headings. Once the 
menu exists, people will use the existing headings if they apply. 

Unless people work together every day, it is very hard to adopt a uniform 
system that covers so many topics — pest control, sprinkler heads, laundry room 
equipment, lawnmowers, storm sewer inspection, watering schedule, 
specifications for hoses, etc. One person might be making entries once or twice 
a year on one topic — mowing or sump pump replacement. And the person setting 
up the menu will go crazy making all the decisions about what to include.

The most important thing is that everyone who works on the buildings and 
grounds will feel comfortable enough to enter any information that might be 
helpful later. Particularly since the search will find anything, recording is 
more important than a precise cataloging system. 

Another tip from an office organizer is you don’t need a subheading until a 
heading has "more than 10-20 pieces of paper in one folder." We were still 
working with paper files so that was very helpful. The standard still works for 
Wikis — you don’t have to set up a menu with a subheading for each kind of 
paint used in the Common House. Until you have painted the common house many 
times over many years, one heading “Paint” will be more useful than a hierarchy 
of subheadings: kitchen, living room, guest rooms, etc. Or Sherwin Williams, 
Benjamin Moore, Home Depot, etc. Or blues, greens, browns, etc.

Starting with broader topics will be less intimidating and require much less 
time because you don’t have to make so many decisions to find the precise 
location for the information you have. 

When all the entries under paint begin taking time to peruse, the most useful 
subheadings will become clear and you can sort the stuff.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org