I spent some time on the phone this morning with a plant manager, part of an intranet project I’m working on. We were discussing possible uses for an intranet at the several factories he manages. He was enthusiastic about the potential for kiosks on the shop floor as a means for factory workers to look up processes.

That got me thinking. Of course, how-to’s for the factory floor are standard content on many intranets, notably in the automotive world. But who creates these documents? It’s not likely that the blue-collar workers on the factory floor are the authors. Probably it’s some technical writers who’s never actually done the work before.

How much better would it be to open a wiki for the people who do the work? “Start here,” you instruct them. “Write down how you do the work. When you come back, see what other people who do the same work have added or changed, then edit it so it’s right.” The people who know the process best—those who perform it every day—will hammer out a collaborative document that explains in language others can understand how to get the job done. A professional writer can take a final pass at the document that ultimately will reside on the intranet.

I’m not sure anybody’s doing anything like this yet, but it’s a perfectly logical application of participatory communication that should be explored.