Internet Librarian 2005 Wiki

Wiki wiki wiki

Wikis in the World
What is a wiki? How is it different or similar to other social software? The wiki most people are familar with is Wikipedia∞ but libraries and library professionals are using wikis in different ways too.

A wiki is a collaborative web-based work space. It's a website that you can edit literally on the page, without special software and without knowledge of HTML or other languages/protocols.

Personally, I think of a blog as a way for one person to publish his/her information, which other people can comment on. And while there is often a back'n'forth in the comments, it's a esstentially a one-sided medium. The tagging softwares like del.icio.us and flickr are more about collectively marking existing content. Wikis are about creating content together and organizing it in some way (even if it's as simple as an ABC list). Typically the wiki space is without controls. Anyone can edit the text, change the structure, correct others' mistakes, etc. Why would anyone want to do this? Because it's easy. Because there are some tasks it's the best tool for.

Examples:

• Two or more people writing a document together. You don't have to deal with Word and its odd versioning and color coding, or having to email a huge attachment around. The wiki tracks edits so you can see who did what and when, and you can rollback changes if necessary. (See the Page History link at the bottom of this page.)
• Planning an event or project. Ever been caught in one of those email avalanches of who's doing what, what they're bringing, etc, and then no one remembers what anybody said. Put it in a wiki where everyone can add or make changes, and it's all in one place.
• Sharing information from a conference, creating a mini-conference experience
• Taking notes in a meeting
• Other examples? Edit this page and add them. Go on. You're not going to break it. Correct my spelling at least.

Library Wikis

Two examples of library wikis that were shared at the conference:

LibSuccess∞: Want to know what other libraries are saying or doing about a particular topic? Want to explore ideas about your professional interests and career goals? Want to share your own information, ideas, experience? This is the place.

Unofficial ALA Wiki∞: This is an example of people creating the information and delivery mechanism they needed when the official source failed, being able to share with their colleagues who were unable to attend the conference, and learning how to use a new technology at the same time.

Another library is planning to post their collection of historical photos, many of which have no captions or other information. Who took these photos, who are the people in them, what are the buildings and other locations in them? They're going to put the photos in a wiki for the public, soliciting their stories about the photos.

This Wiki Right Here That You're Reading

So, you're reading information on a wiki right now. You may have left a comment -- thank you! -- but you can participate in this experiment too, please do. There are minor variations in wiki software. This particular one that we borrowed from Caleb Tucker-Raymond and http://www.oregonlibraries.net/L-net∞ requires you to create an account before you can comment or edit.

--Brandon Barnett 11/18/05 12:00pm