Project Navigator FAQ

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Overview

What is GCpedia?
GCpedia is the Government of Canada wiki. It is a collaborative work tool for federal employees. Users are free to use the wiki as they see fit, within the code of conduct. For more information, please see GCpedia:Project.

Who can use GCpedia?
Only Government of Canada departments and agencies with access to SCNet can access GCpedia. Please also note that the GCTools can be accessed by members of the public pursuant to an Access to Information request, by the Members of Parliament, the Senate and their staff in both the Government and Opposition.

Why should I create an account? Can't I just browse anonymously?
{{:GCpedia:Why create an account?}}

What can we do with GCpedia?

Almost any area of practice within the public service that requires the sharing, use and collaborative development of documents can be supported by GCpedia. To date, it has been used to record meeting minutes, organize car pools, raise funds for United Way with a silent auction, establish terms of reference for interdepartmental committees, and support communities of practice in areas like Aboriginal affairs, information management, and learning. But there are other areas of opportunity being demonstrated by GCpedia users every day. Be bold and creative and put GCpedia to good use.

Why is GCpedia different than other collaboration tools?

Like most wikis, GCpedia does not support 'private' spaces. As such it is meant for sharing unprotected information in an ongoing fashion. GCpedia is meant to be a steadily developing information resource accessible by everyone on the Government of Canada network. Through GCpedia, departments are empowered to share information that they believe other agencies across the Government of Canada would benefit from receiving, and get feedback in return--including serendipitous input from unexpected quarters of the federal government.

Do I need permission from anyone to use GCpedia?

No, just behave in line with the code of conduct and the terms and conditions of use. Tens of thousands of Public Servants have registered accounts on GCpedia and thousands of GCpedians across the country use it every day as part of their work. It has proven its value as an indispensable work tool and many organizations have developed approaches for using GCpedia that give explicit approval to employees for using the wiki. Keep in mind that secure, confidential, and sensitive information does not belong on GCpedia.

Do we need to consult TBS prior to commencing our project?
No you do not need to seek the permission of TBS to use GCpedia as long as you abide by the code of conduct and the Terms of Use.

How does the fact that we are doing this in a mass collaboration, distributed way change governance models?

If by 'governance models' you mean Westminster, and with it, Parliamentary relations or Ministerial responsibility, it doesn't change that. It does, however, change how we work, which does change regularly. It makes what was vertical now more horizontal, which is a drastic change for more parochial departments which were overdue for change and who had their silos reinforced for a long time (they don't need to be; Intellipedia demonstrated the otherwise impossible breakdown of necessary silos). The public service isn't the same public service of 20 years ago, where information (before the Internet) needed to be controlled, counted and filed away. Now information is recognized for its possible value, which increases with input (collaboration) and connections (distributed). Collaborative tools (like wikis) and social media accelerate this information sharing, retrieval and creation, adding value in so many more values with each iteration.

How do we get all these smart people actually working together on real problems in real time?
By distinguishing public servant from department representative Make recognition based on people vs. department (your department is merely a tag to define you, like your title). People representing themselves (instead of their department) at meetings, recognized for their skill, insight and information sharing. Central agencies providing support, direction and even protection

Why can’t we have our own departmental pages on GCpedia that aren't accessible to other departments?

All pages on GCpedia can be seen by all users. GCpedia sysops can protect a page from editing if there is a strong justification for doing so (i.e. protecting a template that is used thousands of times on the wiki). If you need your page protected to prevent other users from editing it, ask yourself whether it belongs on GCpedia in the first place. A simple alternative to protecting a page is to use the template {{protected}}, which asks users to refrain from editing the page.

Is there a cost to using GCpedia?
Members of the Chief Information Officer Council (CIOC) provide funding to the GCTools Team to support operations of GCpedia and GCconnex.

Can GCpedia support every employee in the federal government?
Yes, federal government employees total approximately 250,000 Canada-wide, which is not a lot of users in the large scheme of wiki/web use. Pages are lightweight in terms of memory use because they contain “thin” media-wiki code. Maximum capacity (all Government of Canada) was considered in the planning stage.

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