Excerpt

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is interested in leveraging new collaborative technologies to improve communications within and between various programs within its purview. To investigate some possibilities, the ECRI Institute Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) was charged with examining the feasibility of using a wiki to support the collaborative development of evidence reports, technical briefs, and systematic reviews by AHRQ's EPCs. A wiki is “a type of Web page designed so that its content can be edited by anyone who accesses it, using a simplified markup language,” according to The Oxford English Dictionary. Wikis could serve multiple purposes in the workflow for EPCs. In addition to serving as a mechanism for reviewing draft reports, wikis could be used in earlier stages of topic refinement and report development, such as in the developmental phases of key questions, inclusion/exclusion criteria, and search strategies. The wiki could serve as a collaborative platform for general methods development and methodology-related discussions and potentially could facilitate submission of topic nominations by partner organizations and public stakeholders.

At AHRQ's request, this study explores access, governance, and policy issues related to using a wiki for peer review of reports, and its feasibility and potential in the longer term as a platform for report publication, updating, and dissemination. It also explains technical and operational considerations involved with different types of wikis and addresses other points of interest, such as issues of Section 508 compliance.

Contents

• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Project Overview
• Introduction to Wikis
  • What Is a Wiki?
• Potential Uses for Wikis at AHRQ
  • EPC Community of Practice
  • Central Hub for Methodology
  • Connecting Related Topic Areas
  • Individual Sites for Project Working Groups
  • Collaborative Authoring
  • Review and Editing
• Policy and Governance Issues
  • Access and User Roles
  • Adoption and Usage
  • Governance
  • Wikis That State They Are 508-Compliant
  • Agency Section 508 Coordinator List
  • New Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0
• Technical and Informatics Issues
  • What Types of Wikis Are Available?
  • Uses for Wikis
  • Best Practices in Wiki Design
• Government Wikis
  • National Library of Medicine (NLM)
  • NASA
  • COLAB
  • Intellipedia
• Recommendations
  • Is There a Place for Wikis in the AHRQ EPC Program?
  • Selecting a Wiki
• References
• Appendixes
  • Appendix A Requirements Checklist for Government Web Managers
  • Appendix B Elements That Can Be Compared Using WikiMatrix
  • Appendix C Recommended Reading
  • Appendix D Case Study: Community of Practice Based on a Wiki

Prepared for: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services¹, Contract No. 290-02-0019. Prepared by: ECRI Institute Evidence-based Practice Center, Plymouth Meeting, PA

Suggested citation:

Erinoff EG. Feasibility Study of a Wiki Collaboration Platform for Systematic Reviews. Methods Research Report. (Prepared by the ECRI Institute Evidence-based Practice Center under Contract No. 290-02-0019.) AHRQ Publication No. 11-EHC040-EF. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. September 2011. Available at: www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/reports/final.cfm.

This report is based on research conducted by the ECRI Institute Evidence-based Practice Center in 2008 under contract to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Rockville, MD (Contract No. 290-02-0019 -I). The findings and conclusions in this document are those of the author(s), who are responsible for its content, and do not necessarily represent the views of AHRQ. No statement in this report should be construed as an official position of AHRQ or of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The information in this report is intended to help clinicians, employers, policymakers, and others make informed decisions about the provision of health care services. This report is intended as a reference and not as a substitute for clinical judgment.

This report may be used, in whole or in part, as the basis for the development of clinical practice guidelines and other quality enhancement tools, or as a basis for reimbursement and coverage policies. AHRQ or U.S. Department of Health and Human Services endorsement of such derivative products or actions may not be stated or implied.

None of the investigators have any affiliations or financial involvement that conflicts with the material presented in this report.

1

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