Guardians of the BizTalk TechNet Wiki Articles
Almost two years ago, November 2011, I started writing my first TechNet Wiki articles. The subjects were on BizTalk Server 2010, BizTalk tooling, beginners guide, and the adapter pack. Immediately after my first releases of articles I was joined by Tord G. Nordahl and Sandro Pereira. Both like myself were very excited and eager to make more contributions to this new platform.
The three us share a passion; working with BizTalk Server! Besides our devotion to BizTalk we have more in common. We are Microsoft Integration MVP's, friends and members of the BizTalkCrew. This band of brothers is responsible for organizing events and sharing knowledge through multiple channels including the TechNet Wiki. The crew consists of the Microsoft Integration MVP's: Nino Crudele, Saravana Kumar, Sandro Pereira, Tord Glad Nordahl and Steef-Jan Wiggers and we promote the TechNet Wiki in all our joined events.
When I embarked on my journey as a TechNet Wiki writer there was a small set of articles present in the now very famous article BizTalk Server Resources on the TechNet Wiki. This article was created by one of Microsoft fine technical writers Nitin Mehrotra, who wrote a few excellent wiki articles himself. Nitin is not the only Microsoft employee that is strongly committed to the TechNet Wiki. He is joined by bright, skilled colleagues like Mandi Ohlinger, Ed Price, and Trace Young.
Roughly forty articles existed in December 2011 and today it is six fold of that number.That is a stunning, immense number of articles for a Microsoft Server Product on the TechNet Wiki. This is one statical fact, but there are a couple more:
- Around 30 people (Microsoft, MVP's and community representatives) wrote the content of today's BizTalk relevant articles for the TechNet Wiki;
- Over 50% was written by Sandro, Tord and myself;
- All the articles were reviewed, edited, updated and sanitized by Microsoft staff, Sandro, Tord and myself;
- The BizTalk Crew met in person 90% of all the writers of BizTalk relevant TechNet Wiki articles;
- The articles cover nearly all the aspects of BizTalk Server;
- Skillful, dedicated BizTalk professionals around the globe have made contributions;
- Little over 70 Wiki Ninja blog posts cover the efforts for BizTalk Server on the TechNet Wiki.
Personally I am convinced that all the authors have felt a great feeling of satisfaction after their article was entirely finished. At least I am after a tedious process of writing, editing, formatting, adding pictures or images. Creating a wiki article may seem straightforward yet it requires a lot of patience, accuracy, skill and diligence. Fortunately you can find information and guidance through the Wiki: Governance and Guidelines Portal to get you going. With every new article you will get more sophisticated, savvy and competent.
In my personal view the TechNet Wiki provides a platform that enables people to create and build a worldwide supported collection of Microsoft based technology and products. It complements and strengthen the current MSDN library. The TechNet Wiki articles are based on experience, proficiency and skills of its writers and can be of great value to its readers.
There is still a lot of room left for more appealing articles on BizTalk Server to ultimately have a complete library of comprehensive articles. We are delighted to help, provide guidance or share our experience and knowledge with you. You can consider us guardians of the BizTalk relevant articles on the TechNet Wiki. The ones present and in the (near) future!