FISDev and Wikipedia

From Open Sustainability

In moving to the open source version of FISDev, we took much of our inspiration from Wikipedia and the work being conducted by the Wikimedia Foundation. In what has become one of the most popular web sites in the world, Wikipedia is a great example of the power of open source and a collaborative community.

The similarities and differences between FISDev and Wikipedia are summarized below.

Similarities Between FISDev and Wikipedia

• Both sites are focused on content-building in a collaborative fashion
• Both sites use the same MediaWiki technology for building wiki pages
• Because they use the same software, the core syntax used on the FISDev site and Wikipedia for creating Article pages is the same
• The process of using Talk Pages to discuss Article pages is similar
• Both sites allow for parallel improvement of articles, although there are differences in the approach

Differences Between FISDev and Wikipedia

• FISDev is much more narrow in its focus that Wikipedia. FISDev is focused on topics related Sustainability and Governance; Wikipedia contains any content appropriate for an encyclopedia and has far more content than any other encyclopedia. Other projects by the Wikimedia Foundation include definition of a shared images commons, a dictionary and thesaurus and News.

• The open source version of FISDev is very immature compared with Wikipedia and was released in December 2007. Wikimedia is one of the most visited sites in the world, has been active since the year 2001 and has millions of registered Wikipedians.

• As FISDev provides a methodology for how organizations can manage sustainability issues better, it is inherently biased in its approach and does not necessarily align to the Neutral Point of View that is one of the core tenets of Wikipedia. There will, however, be an option to express a point of view on any asset on Talk Pages.

• Not all FISDev content would be deemed to be of general interest - some content may be considered specialist material that would be inappropriate for an encyclopedia. In addition, it is expected that some vendor solutions will be commercial in nature.

• A much larger percentage of FISDev is Protected Content. Content is protected as part of providing a stable Release Cycle. This content has a direct impact in shaping other artifacts that are added to the methodology.

• Release Cycles mean that there will be period when some aspects of the Core Methodology will not change and will only change as part of a release.

• There are overlaps in FISDev and Wikipedia around descriptions of key concepts and processes such as Climate Change and Sustainable Development. In some cases, the Wikipedia description of these concepts are far more comprehensive; the FISDev description is always framed in specific terms related to the overall method.

License Dependencies

• FISDev has referenced some limited content from Wikipedia in the Sustainability Governance Framework by directly linking to this content on Wikipedia. This approach is allowed without permission by the WikiMedia Foundation as referenced in the following article.

• Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL); FISDev is released under the Creative Commons License.

Affiliation

Other than the use of some referenced content to make up the open-sustainability Framework there is no affiliation between the FISDev initiative and the Wikimedia Foundation, nor has there been any communication between the creators of FISDev and the Wikimedia Foundation.

Content Mashups from Wikipedia

As Wikipedia provides such an excellent online reference of objectively written material, it is an ideal source of content for FISDev. Some content has therefore been mashed up for articles in FISDev that are definitional in nature and for which the focus is to explain Sustainability concepts.