{"id":244,"date":"2008-06-18T11:06:02","date_gmt":"2008-06-18T19:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/2008\/06\/18\/wikis-with-numbers\/"},"modified":"2008-06-18T11:25:17","modified_gmt":"2008-06-18T19:25:17","slug":"wikis-with-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/2008\/06\/18\/wikis-with-numbers\/","title":{"rendered":"Wikis with numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"spreadsheet\" by <\/em><\/span>Arbron<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span>
\nLet’s Talk about Numbers<\/a>:
\n[Via Transparent Office<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, SocialText<\/a> has made another major product announcement: SocialCalc<\/a>, the first truly wiki-integrated spreadsheet.<\/p>\n

SocialCalc has one really big, really obvious benefit over traditional spreadsheets like Excel: it’s distributed. In other words, more than one person can work on it at a time. But as ZDNet’s David Greenfield<\/a> and others have pointed out, we’re not the first ones to have delivered distributed spreadsheeting.<\/p>\n

What’s different about SocialCalc–and I think it’s really fundamental–is that SocialCalc is integrated into a wiki. You can drop a spreadsheet into a wiki page. You can drop wiki text into a spreadsheet. You can link from a spreadsheet to a wiki page that explains where the numbers came from. In short, you can talk about the numbers.<\/p>\n

[More<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Being able to add an active spreadsheet to a wiki page opens up some very important possibilities. <\/p>\n

Numerical models have been created with spreadsheets since the beginning. However, the development of them has usually been a solitary ad hoc undertaking. Other, more communal approaches to creating them (i.e. meetings, email) have been too cumbersome.<\/p>\n

And, often when the model has been generated, it can be hard to modify or to correct errors. Heck, even <\/em>just finding the error<\/a><\/em> in the first place is not easy. Data indicate that almost every large spreadsheet can contain errors, yet these tools continue to be used.<\/p>\n

But putting the models in a wiki, bringing openness to the creation of the model, makes it much easier to create very complex numerical models. It can provide some more rigor to its development. There has already been some discussion of the positive benefits<\/a> of making spreadsheet development more collaborative. It will be interesting to see how well this innovation works in a research setting.
\n<\/em>
\n<\/p>\n

Technorati Tags: Web 2.0<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Arbron Let’s Talk about Numbers: [Via Transparent Office] Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, SocialText has made another major product announcement: SocialCalc, the first truly wiki-integrated spreadsheet. SocialCalc has one really big, really obvious benefit over traditional spreadsheets like Excel: it’s distributed. In other words, more than … Continue reading Wikis with numbers<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe2yp-3W","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":444,"url":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/2008\/11\/17\/order-from-chaos\/","url_meta":{"origin":244,"position":0},"title":"Order from chaos","date":"November 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by \u00b7 YeahjaleaH \u00b7 Gifted few make order out of chaos - 06 March 2002 - New Scientist: [Via New Scientist] Some people have a special gift for predicting the twists and turns of chaotic systems like the weather and perhaps even financial markets, according to an Australian psychologist. Richard\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Knowledge Creation"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/chaos.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":564,"url":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/2009\/07\/25\/its-the-people-not-the-network\/","url_meta":{"origin":244,"position":1},"title":"It's the people, not the network","date":"July 25, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Arenamontanus Too much networking?: [Via Cosmic Log] Open-source communities may suffer from \"an overabundance of connections,\" an information policy researcher suggests in the journal Science. Are geeks guilty of groupthink? A network expert argues that less social networking would produce more radical innovation on the Internet. [More] This is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Open Access"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":660,"url":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/2010\/06\/27\/sometimes-failure-is-an-option\/","url_meta":{"origin":244,"position":2},"title":"Sometimes failure is an option","date":"June 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Long of Coming Up Short[Via HarvardBusiness.org] I didn't take Calculus in high school, and I almost didn't take Advanced Placement (AP) American History for fear that I wouldn't get an A. In retrospect, given that I've pursued a career in finance, achieving a B in Calculus rather than knowing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Knowledge Creation"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61,"url":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/2008\/03\/17\/social-network-analysis\/","url_meta":{"origin":244,"position":3},"title":"Social network analysis","date":"March 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by jurvetson Six degrees of messaging : Nature News: [Via Nature] I'm not sure if anyone can see this or if you need a subscription. But, this being the Information Age, you can read the abstract of the paper itself and download a PDF of the paper. It discusses work\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/network.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":546,"url":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/2009\/05\/19\/adopting-an-idea\/","url_meta":{"origin":244,"position":4},"title":"Adopting an idea","date":"May 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I happened to read this article from the Center for American Progress about the different groups found in polls about global warming. and was immediatley taken with the numbers. Here is the relevant figure I wish to discuss. I've read a lot about how new ideas and innovations work their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Knowledge Creation"","img":{"alt_text":"diffusion of an innovation","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/diffusion2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":428,"url":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/2008\/11\/03\/seven-rules\/","url_meta":{"origin":244,"position":5},"title":"Seven rules","date":"November 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by ThunderChild tm Seven rules for the KM-lords in their farm of cubes: [Via Knowledge Jolt with Jack] David Snowden has expanded his three rules to seven principles. Now I have to wonder if there are nine rules somewhere. And if there is One Rule to Bind them All. Rendering\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Knowledge Creation"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/dice.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}