Introduction
Isaac Asimov, the science-fiction writer, envisioned
an encyclopedia of a future galaxy-spanning
civilization, containing all knowledge accumulated
by a society with trillions of people and thousands
of years of history. It would be called the ENCYCLOPEDIA
GALACTICA. The Galactic Empire was
crumbling, and Hari Seldon, a mathematician and
social historian predicted 30,000 years of anarchy,
unless something was done. To this end, he set
up a Foundation of encyclopedias to catalog all
human knowledge, thereby allowing civilization to
reemerge from anarchy in a scant 1,000 years.
As anyone who has read the Foundation series
knows, the Encyclopedia (the result) was secondary
to the process of creation. It was the creators (the
Encyclopedists) who would learn from the process
of creation and cataloging, and who would emerge
as the leaders of a new more democratic galactic
empire ruled by trade, law, and science. Thus it
was not the result (the book), but the process of
creation, the process of collaboration, distilling and
refining information, and the expertise that was
thereby achieved that led to the emergence of the
First Foundation.
WikiPedia - The New Encyclopedia Galactica
Wikipedia is the New Encyclopedia Galactica. Started
in 2001 (six years ago) it has over 1,631,867 articles.
And that is just the English language version.
Many of these articles are quite comprehensive as
well as peer-reviewed in the harshest possible way.
Anyone (and I mean anyone) can edit, change, correct,
any article. What better way to remove obvious
errors and omissions? Moreover, the changes
in each article are logged, and each change can
be the subject of discussion, before a consensus is
reached on how to correct the change.
Ground Rules
As in any open forum, there are some ground rules:
malicious and libelous language is periodically
removed; certain controversial articles are locked
for editing, leaving open the discussion pages to
resolve issues before a change is published; and
self-promoting articles that don't serve the mission
of public information are removed.
Lessons Drawn
The lesson to draw from Wikipedia is NOT that we
can build an encyclopedia or that the facts in that
particular encyclopedia are ALL "factually correct."
Many of the facts in Wikipedia are erroneous,
based on submissions by people who may have
a bias or an economic interest in presenting the
"facts" a certain way. The lesson to draw from Wikipedia
IS that a "community" of people can quickly
and efficiently reach a consensus on key facts and
processes by collaborating using a software tool or
set of tools called a "wiki." And that these collaborators,
in the process, like the encyclopedists
of the First Foundation, can be empowered to act
as a cohesive group with shared knowledge greater
than the sum of each member's individual knowledge
and experience.
Public Legal Wikis
Legal Encyclopedist
In the legal community, there have been attempts to
create encyclopedias of learning along the model of
Wikipedia. Wikilaw.org in fact uses Mediawiki, the
same software as Wikipedia and looks very similar.
Wikilaw is open to the general public as reviewers,
editors and authors. WEX is sponsored by the Legal
Information Institute at Cornell Law School. WEX,
open to the general public as an information source,
is authored and edited by "qualified experts" as
determined by the Legal Information Institute.
Public Service v. Private Benefit
This is not an article about a new source of free legal
research information. Legal wikis will not replace
LexisNexis®, Westlaw®, and Findlaw® as the
source of the most comprehensive, accurate, and
current legal information for lawyers.
The best information will not be contributed "for
free" as a public service. Yes, some lawyers will
use the public wikis to advertise their "expertise"
by contributing articles. However, most will hold
back and focus on their own "private benefit" which
means servicing their clients. Their "private benefit,"
however, does not preclude using wikis - rather
it is to the benefit of all lawyers to start wikis for
internal use.
There is substantial benefit for lawyers in a law firm,
practice groups, and legal teams to use wiki technology
to share knowledge with a team or group.
The rest of this article makes the case for internal
wikis as a key tool in the lawyer's arsenal.
Private Office Wikis
The Software
To create Wikipedia, a new type of software tool
was created, now dubbed the "wiki" - which is
Hawaiian for "fast." The wiki software enables an
authorized user to post articles to a database, and
to review and edit articles posted by others, using
a Web browser. The articles can be assigned to
multiple categories and can contain quick-links to
other articles within the wiki (and outside the wiki).
Moreover, each article can have threaded discussions
about the scope and content of the article that
supplement, annotate, and footnote the information
in the article itself. Most wiki software contains
automatic version control. Each "submitted" change
is archived and can be reviewed and/or restored at
any time.
Collaboration Tool
Wiki software is designed to be used by "anyone"
and requires no knowledge of programming to use.
All wikis have an interface that enables the users to
review an article, click edit, and make their changes.
You can even submit initial articles via email to some
wikis. This capability makes it ideal for collaboration.
Someone can write down an idea or an approach,
and others in the team can openly criticize the
"discussion" and then make changes to improve on
the idea. Any AUTHORIZED member of the team
can make these changes; anonymous users cannot
make changes. Other related articles can be linked.
Spin-off articles can be written to deal with ancillary
issues.
As a collaboration tool, it is critical not to let the wiki
get out of control. You need to define the team of
"authors" who can create and edit articles, and the
team of "reviewers" who can discuss articles and
make suggestions. The subject matter of the wiki
should be narrowly defined so you don't get
extraneous articles off topic. This will lead to the creation
of several wikis in an organization. A wiki can be
created for a project or case. Once the case is over,
the deal done, etc., the wiki can be archived. Below
are several potential applications of wiki technology
to different types of teams.
Litigation Wikis
In litigation, you can set up a wiki for each case.
Members of the legal team can post to it "theories
of the case" with links to supporting evidence;
deposition digests with links to transcripts and
witness summaries; legal research with links to
supporting legal cases; issue outlines with cross links
to evidence, transcripts, and research. Any
member of the team can change any one of these
writings as new facts are discovered, new case law
comes down, and new ideas emerge which change
the theory of the case. Rather, than all this work
product being locked in hundreds of separate Word
documents, databases, and paper files, every piece
of paper is one or two clicks away and all aspects
of the case are subject to constant peer review.
Administrative Wikis
A law firm, like any business, has procedure manuals,
training manuals, how-to-guides, and other
general information. What better place to put all this
material than on an internal Web site (or intranet)
and make it editable by authorized users as a wiki?
Forget the long meetings, or the two months it
takes to get an issue on the agenda of a partners
meeting. Lay out the guidelines in a wiki; let the
partners "discuss" the guidelines and even edit
the guidelines until everyone is happy; release the
guideline and provide everyone with a notification
and a link to the page. Then, the other members
of the firm, the staff, and associates can further
discuss the guidelines. Depending on how "democratic"
the law firm is, the suggestions at this stage
can be rolled into the guidelines.
Take for example something as simple as a phone
slip. A typical phone slip has a checkbox to "return
call." A secretary might suggest adding a line to
enter the "time to return call." Or an attorney may
want to know how "urgent" the message is and
want a priority code added to the form. There could
be a feature of the form that is not widely used, but
is important to some attorneys. In this case, the
wiki article on the phone slip could explain how that
particular aspect of the form should be used and
why it is important.
Departmental Wikis
When there are several attorneys practicing in a
single area of law, there is great value in building a
library of shared knowledge. In this case, departmental
wikis can make a department more productive,
since everyone has access to the collective
knowledge of the lawyers in the department. The
wiki can contain articles that talk critically about resources
on the Internet which would be of interest
to departmental members. For instance, the wiki of
a tax department could contain internal reviews of
recent tax rulings that could affect the firm's clients.
A corporate wiki could include an article laying out
the steps to form a Delaware corporation, include
the name of the CSC contact person used by
the firm and the rates they charge. A real estate
department checklist could include a checklist for
how to handle a closing, including the names of
title search companies used by the firm.
Wikis for Solos
Some say the term "wiki" derives from the term
"quicky." Wiki entries are quick: quick to post;
quick to edit; quick to link. Even a solo practitioner
with a paralegal or secretary can benefit from a
wiki. If you have ever made a checklist of steps to
be done at a closing, at a will execution, before a
probate proceeding, you can appreciate the benefit
of a wiki. Create the checklist in the wiki. The next
time you need to do one of these tasks, do a quick
search on the wiki and pull up the checklist. Review
it. If you find a step missing from the checklist,
make a quick change, and next time, you won't
forget that step. Want to give instructions to your
paralegal? Point him to the checklist article on the
wiki and hand him the file. If you are the progressive
type, tell him to edit the wiki article to include any
steps you may have missed. You have just increased
your firms productivity by 20% and avoided
a possible malpractice claim at the same time.
Technology Wikis
I will be the first to admit that technology can be
confusing. Not everyone takes out computer manuals
at night for bedtime reading. As a technology
consultant, I regularly put together simple step by-
step guides. These guides focus on the task to
be accomplished and the steps to get that goal. It
would be valuable to the office administrator to use
a wiki to explain how to use the technology purchased
by the firm. Each time a support call came
in, the office administrator could revise an existing
article or add a new article. Users would be kindly
directed to an article in a wiki for an explanation of
say, "how to create address labels" or "how to send
a Word document as a fax."
Source Code Wikis
Some firms have in-house technology departments
that create macros, databases, and custom software
for the firm. Here, they should take a tip from
Cisco, IBM, and my company, Basha Systems. Use
a wiki as a source code repository and for project
management. As the team encounters problems
and develops solutions, document those solutions,
including the actual code used, in the wiki. The
"secret" of software is that solutions developed in
one context can be reused in other contexts. The
wiki can contain code, links to applications, and
links to Web resources. The wiki can also contain
descriptions of active projects, tasks lists, and
status reports. The wiki brings together the team to
work toward solutions.
Next Steps
If I have been sufficiently convincing, you will
consider starting an office wiki. But, you might be
concerned that it will require too much technical
expertise, money, and support. You might think that
you need to set up a Web server, load the software,
and maintain it. But the opposite is true. Wikis are
cheap, and in some instances free. The best place
to start your research is, of course, a wiki - a Wikipedia
article titled How to Start a wiki.
When considering an office wiki, there are essentially
two options: Installed or Hosted.
Installed Wikis
An office wiki is intended for internal use. It is
meant to be a repository of "all relevant information"
which includes highly proprietary, confidential, and
privileged information. For that reason, it is best to
install the software yourself on your own server and
run it on an intranet. There is a range of software
ranging from "free open source" to "cheap" that
you can install.
The main benefit of self-hosting is security, privacy,
and confidentiality. Lawyers are bound by legal
ethics guidelines to keep attorney-client information
confidential. As a practical matter, lawyers would
also wish to keep their proprietary work product
private. By hosting your own wiki, the data in the
wiki will be secured according to the guidelines set
by your own network administrator. This security
will include regular backups, database maintenance,
etc.
Hosted Wikis
In a hosted wiki, the software is run on the "Host's
machine" and the information is stored in the
"Host's database." Depending on the hosting contract,
you can open the wiki to the general public,
or limit it to "friends and invitees." You can place
the information in a "core database" or in separate
"project-specific databases." You may, or may not
have the ability to make a backup copy of your wiki
data.
Some sites are advertiser supported, which means
that a search engine will be crawling through all
your postings and trying to find relevant advertisement
to display on your page. This is not to
denigrate all hosted solutions. Rather, you should
carefully review the "Terms of Use" and "Privacy
Policy" for the hosting company. The choice of a
hosted wiki should not be a wiki. Many sites have
a limited "free version" and then a "paid version."
Free Hosted Wikis
Free wiki accounts are available from:
- pbwiki
- Schtuff
- Seedwiki
- StikiPad
- wikiCities/wikia
- wikispaces
- xwiki
These sites are sometimes called "wiki Farms" and
many also offer fee-based accounts.
Hosted fee-based wikis include:
- CentralDesktop
- Netcipia
- SiteGround
- SocialText
Google recently acquired Jotspot.com, one of the
leading hosted wikis, but has yet to roll it out as an
offering.
Paid Hosted Wikis
The paid versions will be free of annoying advertisements
and will often have some of the security,
privacy, backup and download options you need.
By using a hosted account, the setup time will be
much quicker and team members will have the
added benefit of access to the office wiki from
outside the office. Further, such wikis can be used
for teams that may include several law firms and a
client collaborating on a case. As invitee privileges
can be assigned to review and edit depending on
that team members involvement in the case.
Who is the Smartest of Them All?
The original title of this article was: "Wiki Wiki on the
Web, Who Is the Smartest of Them All?" in reference
to the story of "Sleeping Beauty" where the
evil Queen inquired of her truth-telling mirror: "Who
is the fairest of them all?"
Like the mirror, a wiki keeps no secrets. Writing
on a wiki is public: whether it is open to the team,
to clients, or the general public. Such writing is
subject to the harshest public scrutiny and criticism.
For a wiki to succeed, it must be more than a
vehicle of vanity. The wiki must enable, encourage,
and reward criticism, evaluation, and reformulation
of ideas. Such criticism must be "positive" in the
sense that it leads to a correction. And such correction,
can and will itself be criticized.
Conclusion: A Final Word From Hari Seldon
If Hari Seldon, the fictional mathematician in the Foundation Series had access
to "wiki" software, his team of Encyclopedists might have brought the
end of anarchy in mere decades, rather than the
1,000 years it took in the novels of Isaac Asimov.
Wiki software has the potential to bring order to disorder,
unlock the information buried in the heads of
the attorneys, and bring together isolated islands of
data. Empowered by a "wiki," your legal team can
act with greater collective knowledge, better serving
your clients, and boosting your bottom line.
Click here to download the PDF of Wiki Wiki on Web
