I have a new "all in one" remote control. You get with it a small manual with instructions and operation codes. These things work that way: you need to set it to your appliances, so there is a specific code for each brand and model and you have to punch in the right code into the remote control, then if the code was accurate, you can start using the remote. In order to adjust it to the specific brand and model of your appliances you have to look for the appropriate codes, listed in the manual. So far so good. But it turned out that my TV set, PILOT of some unknown model, doesn't go with any of the codes listed in the manual for Pilot. One code did work, but only partially. Annoying.
What would you do at this point? One option was to return the remote to the store and make it ship back to Taiwan or China or wherever it's manufactured.
But then I remembered the great invention of the Internet. Maybe it will come to my rescue. So I Yahooed and Googled for the name of the remote control, RM-788 of Universal Electronics. And I got to some reseller sites, and even to the site of Universal Electronics themselves. But apart from seeing the picture of my remote there was no useful info available.
So I came back to the remote and to the manual. It appears that there is an auto-search function of the thing, which is a bit troublesome, being not really automatic, more like “semi-automatic” – the remote pass through all codes, but you have to check each code manually and then if not OK, you need to press the “Power” button to move to the next possible code. Since there are about 400 possible codes for TV sets I was a bit pessimistic. BUT, it did work! After a while I reached code 138 which worked perfectly for my Pilot TV (there is a way to know the currently set code, by counting number of led blinks for each digit, so the moment I got it working I wrote down immediately the magic number 138).
Now comes my social responsibility. I wanted to share this knowledge somewhere, for the benefit of other Pilot-TV owners who may try to use this remote (even if one in the entire universe!). Needless to say that the manufacture site doesn't allow to add comments or tips. Probably they are afraid of obscene language comments, and don't have the resources for an editor. (Do you know of any company that do provide such a “drop a tip in my site” service?)
There was one site on electronic appliances which did have the ability to add tips and even had the RM-788 remote listed in his catalogue! Unfortunately when trying to submit a tip the site ask me to register and fill in a ton of details (stuff like my mother maiden name, oh madden!) so I left this unwelcoming site in a hurry and rushed to my blog.
Which made me think -- We need a Wiki here.
Just to clarify the terms. Speaking about Wiki and the Wiki idea, I refer to the concept of free editing with immediate publication. For some nuances a few operations may require prior registration, but not for adding or editing content. When editing is allowed only for the site owner, or is not immediately reflected in the site, then it's not Wiki for me, it's just a Content Management System, based maybe on Wiki framework and syntax, but not on the Wiki idea.
The Wiki idea was invented as early as 1994 (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiWikiWeb).
It came into wide notion with Wikipedia. Followed by many other Wiki sites, some as part of the WikiMedia foundation, others include Star Trek Wiki, World of Warcraft Wiki and many more (some lists can be found here, and here, and here, and here, and of course here and here).
What would you do at this point? One option was to return the remote to the store and make it ship back to Taiwan or China or wherever it's manufactured.
But then I remembered the great invention of the Internet. Maybe it will come to my rescue. So I Yahooed and Googled for the name of the remote control, RM-788 of Universal Electronics. And I got to some reseller sites, and even to the site of Universal Electronics themselves. But apart from seeing the picture of my remote there was no useful info available.
So I came back to the remote and to the manual. It appears that there is an auto-search function of the thing, which is a bit troublesome, being not really automatic, more like “semi-automatic” – the remote pass through all codes, but you have to check each code manually and then if not OK, you need to press the “Power” button to move to the next possible code. Since there are about 400 possible codes for TV sets I was a bit pessimistic. BUT, it did work! After a while I reached code 138 which worked perfectly for my Pilot TV (there is a way to know the currently set code, by counting number of led blinks for each digit, so the moment I got it working I wrote down immediately the magic number 138).
Now comes my social responsibility. I wanted to share this knowledge somewhere, for the benefit of other Pilot-TV owners who may try to use this remote (even if one in the entire universe!). Needless to say that the manufacture site doesn't allow to add comments or tips. Probably they are afraid of obscene language comments, and don't have the resources for an editor. (Do you know of any company that do provide such a “drop a tip in my site” service?)
There was one site on electronic appliances which did have the ability to add tips and even had the RM-788 remote listed in his catalogue! Unfortunately when trying to submit a tip the site ask me to register and fill in a ton of details (stuff like my mother maiden name, oh madden!) so I left this unwelcoming site in a hurry and rushed to my blog.
Which made me think -- We need a Wiki here.
Just to clarify the terms. Speaking about Wiki and the Wiki idea, I refer to the concept of free editing with immediate publication. For some nuances a few operations may require prior registration, but not for adding or editing content. When editing is allowed only for the site owner, or is not immediately reflected in the site, then it's not Wiki for me, it's just a Content Management System, based maybe on Wiki framework and syntax, but not on the Wiki idea.
The Wiki idea was invented as early as 1994 (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiWikiWeb).
It came into wide notion with Wikipedia. Followed by many other Wiki sites, some as part of the WikiMedia foundation, others include Star Trek Wiki, World of Warcraft Wiki and many more (some lists can be found here, and here, and here, and here, and of course here and here).
Why Wiki is the best tool for knowledge sharing?
Because it allows someone with good will but no patience for bullshit to just get in and share his knowledge. Publishing the submission right away forces the submitter to pay more attention to his submission. Usually one would invest more time, when knowing that no other person is responsible of editing his post and fixing any spelling mistakes. Of course, someone may need to follow new or edited articles and validate them. But we don't have to wait for the validation in order to see how the new contribution looks, publicly. This is the Wiki idea!
The fear of vandalism, by the way, is almost irrelevant, when it comes to internal knowledge sharing inside organizations. This is the reason Wiki becomes more and more as the method of choice for knowledge sharing internally inside big corporations.
As for the RM-788 Pilot-TV code, it appears that there is a Wiki for Product information, called simply ProductWiki. It's commercial (not a non-profit). I would have drop my tip there, but it didn't have the spoken RM-788 listed in its catalogue, and required me to register for creating it, so I quit.
The fear of vandalism, by the way, is almost irrelevant, when it comes to internal knowledge sharing inside organizations. This is the reason Wiki becomes more and more as the method of choice for knowledge sharing internally inside big corporations.
As for the RM-788 Pilot-TV code, it appears that there is a Wiki for Product information, called simply ProductWiki. It's commercial (not a non-profit). I would have drop my tip there, but it didn't have the spoken RM-788 listed in its catalogue, and required me to register for creating it, so I quit.
For more on Wiki as a tool for knowledge sharing, and other good references for managing information in the Wiki way:
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