Diplopedia
Encyclopedia
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
, is a wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
running on a State internal Intranet
Intranet
An intranet is a computer network that uses Internet Protocol technology to securely share any part of an organization's information or network operating system within that organization. The term is used in contrast to internet, a network between organizations, and instead refers to a network...
, called "OpenNet". It houses a unique collection of information pertaining to diplomacy
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...
, international relations
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
, and Department of State tradecraft.
The wiki may be used by U.S. foreign affairs agencies domestic and abroad with State intranet access. It is also available to the United States intelligence community
United States Intelligence Community
The United States Intelligence Community is a cooperative federation of 16 separate United States government agencies that work separately and together to conduct intelligence activities considered necessary for the conduct of foreign relations and the protection of the national security of the...
and other national-security related organizations using the Intelink-U network as a mirrored, read-only archive. Both sites are rated by the government as sensitive but unclassified
Sensitive but unclassified
Sensitive But Unclassified is a designation of information in the United States federal government that, though unclassified, often requires strict controls over its distribution...
. The wiki on either network is not open to the public.
Diplopedia is a project of the Office of eDiplomacy
Office of eDiplomacy
The Office of eDiplomacy acts as an applied technology think tank for the United States Department of State. As part of the Bureau of Information Resource Management, eDiplomacy serves as a liaison between Department of State IT specialists and Department of State diplomats and other employees /...
(eDip), located in the Bureau of Information Resource Management
Bureau of Information Resource Management
The Bureau of Information Resource Management is a component of Department of State's management family of bureaus, which provides the information technology and services the Department needs to successfully carry out its foreign policy mission....
within the Department of State. Diplopedia uses MediaWiki
MediaWiki
MediaWiki is a popular free web-based wiki software application. Developed by the Wikimedia Foundation, it is used to run all of its projects, including Wikipedia, Wiktionary and Wikinews. Numerous other wikis around the world also use it to power their websites...
, the same software used by the Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
free-content encyclopedia project.
Creation and usage
The project was launched in September 2006 after a presentation by State at Wikimania 2006.The program began as part of a larger effort created by former Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...
within the concept of Transformational Diplomacy
Transformational Diplomacy
Transformational Diplomacy is a diplomacy initiative championed by former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for reinvigorating American Foreign Policy and the United States Foreign Service....
. Under that plan, personnel utilized Web 2.0
Web 2.0
The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...
technologies such as wikis, blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
s, communities, and virtual work environments to provide diplomacy to areas that have been underrepresented. The program continues under Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
's vision of diplomatic Smart Power
Smart power
Smart power is a term in international relations defined by Joseph Nye as "the ability to combine hard and soft power into a winning strategy." According to Chester A. Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson, and Pamela R...
which also relies heavily on new media
New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
to include the web, blogs, and wikis, in concert with commercial online media distribution including Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, and YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
.
At Wikimania 2008, eDiplomacy revealed the state of the wiki as of July 2008. In a presentation entitled "Diplopedia: Wiki Culture in the U.S. Department of State" the overall Diplopedia project hosted more than 4,400 substantive articles, is edited by 1000 registered users, and has had 650,000 page views.
In January 2009, Diplopedia was among 27 online technologies named as "The Best Government Tech of the Bush Years" by Wired
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
.
By February 2010, the wiki had grown to 10,000 articles by over 2,000 contributors.
Content
Examples of Diplopedia content include a comprehensive collection of information for desk officers, the Foreign Service OfficerForeign Service Officer
A Foreign Service Officer is a commissioned member of the United States Foreign Service. As diplomats, Foreign Service Officers formulate and implement the foreign policy of the United States. FSOs spend most of their careers overseas as members of U.S. embassies, consulates, and other diplomatic...
s who act as the in-house experts and go-to officials on a particular country.
Desk officers rotate out of their positions every two years and often have little lead time to learn the scope of their new job. Diplopedia provides a desk officer manual, advising them on everything from what to make of Department jargon, how to move a paper for decision, or how to navigate a new Ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
through the complexities of Senate confirmation and assignment to his or her mission.
Forty briefing portals help Department employees find and contribute information on specific programs, economic issues, and international politics. Recent additions are part of a working space for foreign policy experts to share and collate information that underpins the Department's efforts to address a major global issue which encompasses economic, political, human rights and population concerns.
Community practices
The wiki provides so much flexibility that several offices throughout the community are using it to maintain and transfer knowledge on daily operations and events. Anyone with access to read it has permission to create and edit articles after registering and acquiring an account with Diplopedia (there are no anonymous edits allowed). Since Diplopedia is intended to be a platform for expressing the various points of view of the Department, Diplopedia does not enforce a pure neutral point of view policy. Instead, viewpoints are attributed to the offices and individuals participating, with the hope that a consensus view will emerge. Positions or views in an article that do not fairly represent the consensus of the relevant community of interest are to be clearly marked with the author, office, or agency whose views they represent.Diplopedia has a unique categorization of abbreviation
Abbreviation
An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase...
s and acronym
Acronym and initialism
Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations formed from the initial components in a phrase or a word. These components may be individual letters or parts of words . There is no universal agreement on the precise definition of the various terms , nor on written usage...
s (pervasive in government). Each is placed in Category:Abbreviation and most point to articles on the topic the abbreviation represents. Information is also grouped by categories familiar to diplomats and lay people alike such as Missions Abroad, Offices, Information Technology, and Security. Diplopedia also contains non-encyclopedic content including notes and items of internal, administrative interest.
Diplopedia uses the same categorization for frequent users as Wikipedia, namely a number of mythical creatures representing types of editors.
Diplopedia and Intellipedia
Congressional testimony from Jimmy WalesJimmy Wales
Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales is an American Internet entrepreneur best known as a co-founder and promoter of the online non-profit encyclopedia Wikipedia and the Wikia company....
, the co-founder of Wikipedia, notes the difference between vertical and horizontal information sharing and suggests that both could be successful e-government endeavors. Intellipedia
Intellipedia
Intellipedia is an online system for collaborative data sharing used by the United States Intelligence Community . It was established as a pilot project in late 2005 and formally announced in April 2006 and consists of three wikis running on JWICS, SIPRNet, and Intelink-U...
is an excellent example of sharing information horizontally across agencies, and Diplopedia has found similar success in sharing information within the Department of State bureaucracy. Statements on both wikis encourage cross posting of relevant information as appropriate.
See also
- A-SpaceA-SpaceA-Space is a collectively run anarchist community center and art gallery located at 47th St & Baltimore Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
- BureaupediaBureaupediaBureaupedia is a wiki used internally at the FBI with the intention of capturing the knowledge of senior agents and reduce knowledge loss due to retirement.Bureaupedia's existence was revealed in a September 2008 article in Federal Computer Week....
- FBI's online encyclopedia - DoDTechipediaDoDTechipediaDoDTechipedia is a wiki developed by the United States Department of Defense , to facilitate increased communication and collaboration among DoD scientists, engineers, program managers, acquisition professionals, and operational warfighters...
- United States Foreign ServiceUnited States Foreign ServiceThe United States Foreign Service is a component of the United States federal government under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of approximately 11,500 professionals carrying out the foreign policy of the United States and aiding U.S...
- Diplopedia: The Evolution of a Wiki, presentation about Diplopedia at Wikimania 2010.
External links
- Ben Bain. Diplomats take a shine to Wikipedia-like app. Federal Computer Week. 2007-07-25