I ask the question because recently I heard someone at Podcamp West complaining about having to register via the wiki rather than having a standard form where you enter information as prompted. The individual speaking received a few nods of agreement when they expressed their displeasure with having to edit a page that included everyone else’s information which they could also accidentally mess up.

While I don’t have a problem with a wiki as the information center for an event I also have to recognize that there are people entering the social media arena that are still figuring out what this stuff is all about. And rather than snicker at those who are still figuring it out, we should think about the next level of tools that make adoption a snap for people who are new to the space.

The PodCamp series of podcasting un-conferences, like the BarCamp series that came first, uses a service called PB Wiki as their center for registration, planning and information dissemination. PB Wiki is so named because you can create a site, “as easily as a peanut butter sandwich.” I believe that is true but managing the growth of these types of sites may not be so easy.

The open nature of the resulting sites can cause a bit of chaos once dozens of new people put their hands to the pages that are coming together. Some, like myself, take great care to make sure that formats are uniform with previous editors and that things like lists are numbered properly as they expand. Others are a bit more careless. And I think some people are just plain confused and may end up walking away for fear of messing things up.

So the question that comes to my mind is this one. Are wikis the ideal tool for planning a social event? The answer may be yes for a high level tech event like a BarCamp, but I think that podcasting events are attracting an audience that is passionate about content but not as knowledgeable on the technical side.

The wiki is a good tool for planners because it allows maximum flexibility in creating the pages you want. But for this same reason it can be a poor tool for scaling beyond the needs of a handful of users. In a recent blog post the folks at PBWiki acknowledge some of the things that educators want from the service. Most of the items in their list should apply to people running events where participants might not be veterans of wiki editing.

It seems to me that in this case the technology being used can get in the way of the effectiveness of planning an event. Some of the other PodCamp tools include blogs and podcasts, which are not easily integrated into typical Wiki apps. Looks like people have chosen WordPress.com as the service of choice to meet those needs. So now you have information spread across two websites. Plus the organizers usually perform planning using a Google Group. Good luck getting a social media newbie to engage across three sites with three different RSS feeds.

Recognizing the need for flexible page creation, simple user registration, blog/podcast functionality and information tracking one has to think that a new type of service is needed allow these grass roots types of events to be planned and organized under one roof. The service would also provide great flexibility on who could edit what content. On most wikis users can either edit a page or not. Not very flexible. A more ideal solution would allow admin users to edit a section of a page while allowing other users to edit another section, but only by entering a form designed by the planners of the site. Even then some moderation of submitted content should be an option.

Recent incidents on other wikis indicates the strong need for moderation features to protect site content from being harmed. Because before you can worry about organizing your information and giving the user a simple experience you have to make sure that your content is secure.

So its becoming clear to me that wikis as they stand at this point in time are inefficient tools for planning events. They lack the robustness of functionality required to cover the needs of event organizers. A new type of service is needed.

Services like Upcoming.org cover announcements and visitor tracking, but don’t address the planning or repeated news dissemination needs of events. The Google Groups Beta looks like a step in the right direction but seems to be missing the levels of access to prevent people from editing certain pages. Confabb only allows you to track and discuss conferences.

There is a lot of functionality to wrap into a single web application to crack this case, but I think the answer could be a lucrative one for the individual or group that can help to power the grass roots conferences of the future.

[tags]Social Media, Wiki, Conferences, PodCamp, Events, Planning, Organization[/tags]