I’ve been reading Wired.com for a few years, usually daily. For awhile now they’ve had a feature called the Wired How-To Wiki. (this one is about getting through airport security)
It’s an interesting experiment in presenting learning content on several different levels.

First off all they have lots of resources and professional writers to make it look good and read it really well.

Second, they understand that the graphics really make a piece. Sometimes the images are truly (which is the positive), sometimes they are just fun (at least they give us something). Check out How to survive and Avalanche

Third… it’s a wiki – meaning anyone can make changes, comment on the content, and even see the changes over time.

Although I haven’t dug in to see if readers of wired.com are adding much content or not, it is still an interesting concept. Allowing user generated content and corrections to create learning content.

Think of organizational possibilities – you create a quick procedural write-up on how to do a task, maybe as a job aid for yourself, or for a co-worker learning on the job. Rather than letting it rot on your hard drive, you share it out to the wiki. Perhaps a coworker sees an error or inconsistency, and takes a minute or two to make a change. A third co-worker disagrees, and changes the process. All is lost– no, from the wiki we can see who made what change and when- it can be restored back to its previous state, or changed again.

So not only does it create transparency, it creates an opportunity for each member of the organization to take ownership.

A potential downside might be if and when employees don’t feel like they have time to add anything. Then we’re no better off than we were before the wiki. Also, I’m not saying that this is the strategy for deploying every type and kind of training- I wouldn’t use it for highly regulated topics, or topics that are mission critical to the success of the organization. It can assist, but probably not the primary tool.

Now, can I get my screencasts to play in the wiki?