Coffee Lounge

The Coffee Lounge (known as the Village pump in Wikipedia) is a discussion forum. This page is used to discuss the technical issues, policies, and operations of the HL7 Wiki. The Coffee Lounge is not a place to make lasting comments as inactive discussions will be permanently removed after a while.

1500 Pages

• The HL7 Wiki has reached 1500 pages around July 1st 2008, after the Wiki was moved to the hl7.org domain and merged with the contents of Wikis hosted elsewhere. The 900 page mark was reached on January 2nd, 2008 (800 on October 1st, 2007; 700 on April 4, 2007; 600 on December 29, 2006; 500 on October 1st, 2006; 400 - probably created in July 2006).

Wiki Etiquette

• Management of the Wiki: who will take responsibility for vetting the information placed in the HL7 Wiki? What should the HL7 Wiki Etiquette look like ?
  • One of the nice aspects of a Wiki site is the opportunity to have free exchange of thoughts. The challenge is that changes are made more easily and is therefore subject to proper wiki etiquette and discipline, as well as that at any point in time the site may not be reflective of the collective consensus on a particular topic. Simple Wiki etiquette requires that contributors stick to facts and consensus on the main pages. The comments/talk/discussion pages are for anything that is questionable, controversial, or unsettled. Wiki Moderators need a effective way of discouraging heated open disputes.
  • The option of "freezing" of pages (a lockout) should probably be limited to co-chairs.

Status of the Wiki

• Do we need a Wiki that is maintained/controlled/administered by HL7.org, and if so, how do we arrange this?
  • A knowledgeable team is needed to manage/update the Wiki software. Mayo is willing to host the HL7 Wiki until such a time that HL7 decides to host it, and provided that use of (human) resources is limited.
  • Need to establish a policy/clearly defined rules that communicate the intent on how the wiki and the HL7 web site interact.
    • Note that minutes of comittee meetings, ballot reconciliation spreadsheets nor motions can refer to a Wiki page. When a motion references a Wiki page, the Wiki page should be copy/pasted into the Minutes and uploaded to the HL7 Website. This as a persistent way to record (as per ANSI requirements) what was agreed upon at a particular point in time. The contents of the Wiki are not a persistent record.
    • Meeting minutes and motions can be captured on the Wiki, but will always have to be copy/pasted into meeting minutes uploaded to the HL7 Website. The contents of the Wiki are not a persistent record.
• Some within HL7 have expressed concern related to legal issues related to HL7 Inc. taking responsibility for the Wiki. These concerns (related to Slander, Libel and Defamation) appear to be unfounded:
  • See (on Wikipedia) Section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act of 1996
  • Panel discussion during Wikimania2006 on Wikipedia and Section230 (MP3, 35 Mb)