This is the twenty-sixth installment in "33 Wikis," a close look at best practices in wiki-based collaboration. Each day -- for 33 days -- we look at one wiki and briefly describe what the wiki is for, why we like it, and what we all can learn from it. If you want to nominate a wiki, please let us know. On day 34 we will post a public wiki featuring info on all nominees.
What this wiki is for: Vyatta, an Eastwick client, aims to develop an open source alternative to commercial routing software (think Cisco, Juniper), and the Vyatta Community Wiki is the place where it is all happening. [For an excellent overview of the company and its mission, see Om Malik's feature in Business 2.0.] Note: four weeks after Vyatta flipped the switch on this community -- turning it into a public space -- membership grew by more than 2000%.
Why we like it: Yes, we are Vyatta's agency, but we believe this is a great example of how a wiki can be used for the purposes of organizing a motivated community. Like the Mozilla Developer Center, which we covered yesterday, the Vyatta Community Wiki began with a singular purpose, with a direct appeal to members of the community. It's this kind of focus and sense of purpose that can transform an ordinary collaborative project into a mission. FYI, Vyatta means "open" in sanskrit.
What we all can learn from it: As we said above, singularity of purpose may be the biggest takeaway for general audiences. But inside the technology world, it is yet another example of the wikis are so well suited to developer projects.
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