Friday, July 10, 2009

Week 7, Assignment #13 Learn about Wikis

" What did you find interesting? Would you use a wiki for information? What are the benefits and drawbacks to finding information this way? What do you like or dislike about using a Wiki? What types of applications within libraries might work well with a wiki?"

Looking through the Wikis that were suggested, I found some of them wouldn't load. Of the ones that did, several were entertaining. I was surprised by how much information Nancy Pearl's site had. BookLoversWiki was fun too, although not as complex as Pearl's. I've seen Library Success before, and who hasn't seen Wikipedia?? The Bull Run Library was interesting. I noticed it wasn't an official library thing though. It had some dead links in it too. Wikihow and WikiMusic seemed to be lacking a lot. I put in searches and got no results sometimes. I think the people who do the SimpsonsWiki have too much time on their hands. Of course the same could be said about the people who do the Star Wars Wiki too- http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

or the Star Trek Wiki- http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Portal:Main

I have looked up information on Wikipedia numerous times. It can be helpful for a quick reference. We also have been setting up a Wiki in the library to help share information between staff about how we do things. Sort of an online manual for our jobs. This seems to be something that the Wiki is very useful for. A centralized place to keep instructions on how to do our jobs, or where to keep lists of vendors, and other things.

As many have said before me, there are 3 things that people want- Fast, cheap, and good. You can never have all 3. Usually you have to pick 2. Wikis are fast and cheap, but not necessarily good. It has been proven many times that because Wikipedia is fairly open, misinformation can be broadcast through it, and people can be misinformed. However, if someone is looking for a free/cheap way to share information quickly with a large group of people, then Wikis are very good. I think the way we are using it- as a manual etc- is a great way for libraries and other organizations to utilize Wikis.

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