U.S. DEPARTMENT of STATE

Diplopedia:Wiki Culture in the U.S. Department of State

Presented at Wikimania 2008Office of eDiplomacy • U.S. Department of StateJuly 19, 2008

U.S. DEPARTMENT of STATE

A State Department primer

Basic roles Make and execute

foreign policy Provide consular and

passport services Manage official U.S.

presence abroad

57,000+ employees worldwide46,000 unclassified network users

Africa (47)

Europe (77)

International Organizations

(7)

Western Hemisphere

(49)

Near EastSouth Asia

(36)

East Asia& Pacific (43)

… plus 30 Geographic, Policy and Management Bureaus and Independent Offices

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Legacies

18th Century business model – highly autonomous business units (embassies and bureaus)

Mid-20th Century official communications system (telegraphic cables)

Cold War security (need to know)

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U.S. DEPARTMENT of STATE

1,800,000 cable messages a year

1,500,000,000 e-mail messages a year

500,000 printed volumes in the foreign affairs collection

1,000 public and internal web sites (give or take a few)

A knowledge and information factory

U.S. DEPARTMENT of STATE

Office of eDiplomacy

Created in 2002 as a task force, became a regular office in 2003Promotes knowledge sharingMajor projects include: Classified Web publishing from diplomatic

posts Enterprise search Community blogs Diplopedia wiki

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Authorship within the Department

Documents are already created by multiple authorsMultiple editors change, or at least approve, documents Roles in cable drafting are defined by the Foreign Affairs Handbook

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“Classic” media: the diplomatic cable

Cable (old) Cable (new)

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Social media and the State DepartmentSocial media are useful in State

Department for several objectives…

Knowledge managementCollaborationExpertise locationSharing informationReaching new audiences

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The Diplopedia plan

Open it up to all State employees, but no anonymityOversee, but don’t overkillMake sure everything is informative and not ephemeral

Wikis are two-thirds planning, and the rest is a leap in the dark.

Napoleon Bonaparte

U.S. DEPARTMENT of STATE

How it has developed

Slow start for first several months, then interest grewIntegrated with enterprise searchAcceptance increased as Diplopedia grew in size and quality, and wikis seemed less scaryNo article is locked down (yet)No edit wars (yet)Hard to argue with success

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Things we weren’t expecting

Mobile readingBiographiesTrivia contestsInteragency interest

U.S. DEPARTMENT of STATE

Diplopedia statistical snapshot

1,000 registered editors4,400+ articles650,000+ page views

Total Articles

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Total Page Views

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May-07 Jun-07 Jul-07 Aug-07 Sep-07 Oct-07 Nov-07 Dec-07 Jan-08 Feb-08 Mar-08 Apr-08 May-08 Jun-08 Jul-08

Total Users

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May-07 Jun-07 Jul-07 Aug-07 Sep-07 Oct-07 Nov-07 Dec-07 Jan-08 Feb-08 Mar-08 Apr-08 May-08 Jun-08 Jul-08

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Ingredients for success

Cultural changeMarketing & trainingGovernanceGardening

U.S. DEPARTMENT of STATE

Cultural change

Room for collaborative technologiesNew culture emerging around wikis (and other collaborative technologies) out of the old oneDrafting rolesGrassroots technologies in a top-down organization

U.S. DEPARTMENT of STATE

Marketing & training

Find the early adoptersProvide training where necessaryTell lots of people about the wiki, or they won’t use it or contribute to it Repeatedly explain why benefits (large) outweigh risks (small) Integrate with enterprise search

U.S. DEPARTMENT of STATE

Governance

Central initiative and oversight with decentralized contribution of contentKey tenets: Informative and deliberative, not authoritative General guidance for conduct and content Anyone can read but contributors must register eDiplomacy office director adjudicates disputes

U.S. DEPARTMENT of STATE

Gardening

Gardeners help provide the right environment for content to growGardeners assist the growth of the wiki by organizing contentGardeners also help contributors with their articles, including scope and length

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Main Page

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Portal example

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Article example

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Related State Department projects

PodcastsWeb chatsInstant messagingSecond Life presenceRecruiting through Facebook

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Wikis in other U.S. Federal agencies

Department of DefenseIntelligence community (Intellipedia) Other civilian agencies either creating them, or in the process

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What’s next for Diplopedia

Classified DiplopediaExpanded use of portalsReplacement of “traditional” web sitesLDAP authenticationMore support from management (we hope)

U.S. DEPARTMENT of STATE

Contact

Eric M. JohnsonTeam Lead, Knowledge Management Action TeamOffice of eDiplomacy, U.S. Department of Statejohnsonem3 /at symbol/ state.gov

More information: eDiplomacy page on the State Department web sitehttp://www.state.gov/m/irm/c23839.htm