Editorial Policies and Procedures
The free and open nature of social software can encourage an 'anything goes' attitude, which is fine up to a point, but may lead to problems if left unchecked. The organisation should indicate in its terms of use the types of behaviour which are considered to be unacceptable (such as threatening behaviour, obscenity, defamatory content or infringing material) and confirm the organisation's discretion to remove any material at any time for any reason. Where the organisation elects to moderate content, it is good practice to develop an editorial and moderating policy, so that one person, or group of people, is identified as having overall responsibility for the content of the site. There is no need for editorial control to reflect organisational hierarchy - indeed, it may often work better and prove less political if the overall editor or moderator is not in a position of seniority to all other contributors.
For those used to traditional academic writing and publishing processes, wikis can take some getting used to since there is no definitive version, but a resource which is eternally edited and updated. However, although the element of certainty is sacrificed, it is compensated by harnessing contributors' deliberations and comments as the resource develops, thus tracking the thought-processes which would normally be lost. In general, brevity and informality is the key to effective use of social software tools such as blogs, which may also come as a surprise to those used to academic writing! If it is impossible to convey what you want in a couple of blog paragraphs, then perhaps a blog is not the right medium for your message.
There are also justifiable concerns about vandalism, spamming and generally chaotic organisation of content. However, with careful planning, there is no need for this to be a problem. For example, as highlighted in the section on wikis, configuration options normally allow you to limit access to a closed network of invited contributors/subscribers. Furthermore, many wiki services enable you to keep a record of previous versions and view the editing history, in case you need to restore a previous version.
