I think there is truth in the fact that people might keep information to themselves because they fear losing power or worse losing their job. So let’s say this info does not land on the wiki.

There is a lot of information that people have that they would probably very willingly put on a wiki. If you are the only person who knows how to do something, there is a good chance that a lot of people will come to you to ask for your help. Such skills can also be annoying. In such cases you will gladly put your knowledge on the wiki and refer to it when people come asking.

Starting at this level will improve chances of success and can very well grow to the situation where the type of information written about earlier is posted.

Would the participants to a corporate wiki need to disclose their identities in your view? I think that a survey in the respective organisation would be the best first step to take, to check if people are open to the concept. The organisation psychology side of this is an interesting element, absolutely worthwhile exploring in more detail.

I agree with your first statement. I think that people feel important when they have knowledge no one else within the organisation has. They might also feel important when sharing a lot of information on a wiki. This can also raise the status of this person.

On your second statement about rewarding people for their contributions on a wiki I’d say that this doesn’t have to be true. How do you explain the popularity of Wikipedia? Contributors only get rewarded with a good feeling and the hope that if they are looking for answers someone else put that piece of information on the wiki. They also feel part of the community.

I think this can also be an important factor client/supplier wiki. When the client feels part of the community he/she will participate and share valuable information. The supplier on the other hand has to be open towards the client and give him/her the feeling that he/she belongs to the community.

So summarizing, I think you can have contributors on your wiki without a physical reward.

I agree. Also, people needing to be billable / account for every hour of the day mostly perceive an internal barrier to share insights with other people, since these insights may be the main thing setting them a part from their colleagues. Or, the insights may enable them to get the job done quicker than their colleagues, as knowledge is a personal USP. Also, some organisations maintain some levels of ‘competition’ within their organisation. Whether this is a good thing, I’ll leave up to you to decide.

To take this one level further…. Let’s assume that you have a company forum or wiki on which ‘general population’ can post questions/share information; would this be done for things other than e.g. a lost file?

The solution to these questions in my view lie in how one is rewarded for ones contribution to the wiki-content. So, how could participants whose contributions add value be rewarded?

Looking at the client side… Is it the client or the product or service supplier who is hesitant to use a wiki?

Correct! If you look closely at the actual business cases of knowledge driven companies such as consultancy/accountancy firms then you can find a bases for the reason why these organisation’s do not use wiki’s.