Wikis and Libraries: a Winning Combination (webcast) - Education Institute - I have posted my PowerPoint Slides. About 10 percent of the library sites tuned in had wikis already. More than 50% of the sites were thinking about using wikis in multiple areas/projects.
There were some great questions and comments. Someone from Windsor Public Library talked about how useful a wiki was for keeping track of recent software/server upgrade. At a glance you could see what had changed - it was "fresh". Great comment!
Bonnie Duckett wondered how librarians responded to the organic structure of wikis? I had talked about a lot about how "open contribution" can be a bit of mental hurdle in some libraries where they are used to tightly controlling publishing and authoring. The notion of "radical trust" - let anyone edit and it will work - takes some getting used to. Bonnie also hit the nail on the head when she asked about structure. Many of us are used to the structure and navigation being the same from day to day. One suggestion is to prepopulate any new wiki with a "starting structure" unless you have a experienced group of wiki contributors who have a good sense of what they're up to. It can be disconcerting for many of us to open up a new tool and see a blank slate to write on. Even experienced wiki contributors appreciate a clear statement of purpose and context. On some wikis you may want to lock down the home page so no one can trash it or make radical changes without discussing it first.
Mark Simpson at the University of Calgary sent me a link to the Doucette Library of Teaching Resources wiki area. They created this wiki for their students and have added curriculum related resources.
Related Resources:
Wikis in Libraries resource page - quick links to some Library wiki sites, articles on wikis, choosing wiki software and news about wikis.
wiki wikis library library 2.0
April 18, 2006
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