Wikis in Libraries
Wikis in Plain English
Courtesy of The Common Craft Show
What's a Wiki?
Definition drawn from Background Reading
WIKI = IDEAS + WEB
It is an online communication medium.
It is a LEARNING TOOL for web communication.
Use a Wiki To... ?
- Create Web Pages
- Edit
- Experiment
- Share ...with a group of people you know ...with people over the Internet
Wiki connects people
- provides a group work space online
- provides a way to broadcast ideas in wide & varied ways online
- invites people to contribute at different levels within the framework of a wiki's theme
Academic Library Wikis
Wiki = Messy
Factors:
- Raw Process (?)
- Group Dynamics
- Changing content, style, or structure
Strategies for Wiki = Messy
*Wiki gardening (O'Reilly, What Is a Wiki)
- Group Contributions & Parceling (Wikinomics principle)
- Interest in the topic, people involved, or the questions
- Usage: Wiki doesn't need to be a "final product" as such
- Technical Writing principles are a possibility for authorship
Some Strengths of Wikis Experienced in Academic Library Setting
- Technical Writing Material
Samples:
Manuals, Staff Sites, etc.
- Creative Brainstorming Tool
- Information Gathering in One Place
- "Vetting" Material
- Group Notes during a project meeting
- Brainstorming
Exploring Together = Exchanges
Writing
- If you know something that isn't on the wiki, add it!
- If you see something wrong, fix it!
Reading
- Check the history: you can tell how active a particular wiki is by checking the clicking the "history" or "recent changes" links. More activity doesn't necessarily mean better quality, however.
- Wikis can be good starting points for research. Verifying what you find is always a good idea.
How to Create a Wiki
- Create a page at a wiki host
- "Edit" it to start adding material
- Explore Basic to Advanced Topics
- Share ...with a group of people you know ...with people over the Internet
PBWiki instructions:
How to Create a Wiki in 5 minutes (pdf):
Create a PB wiki in 5 min.
Other Hosted Wikis
Conference Practice Page
http://collabtechforlibraries.pbwiki.com/Collabtech+Practice
This page includes exploration ideas which can be expanded. Four are listed right now.
Exploration Idea 1: Wiki Style (Text markup, skins, editors)
Exploration Idea 2: Wiki Links (new page, internal, external, renaming links, classic or wysiwig)
Exploration Idea 3: Embed, or, Mashup (plugin possibilities with WYSIWIG editor & your wiki page)
Exploration Idea 4: BROADCAST Variations (explore widgits, tag pages, create rss feed, allow users to bookmark your page, etc.)
Resources from Conference Day
Wikis Overview
[http://collabtechforlibraries.pbwiki.com/Collabtech+Practice] + Your or your group's page
http://newfaq.pbwiki.com
http://forums.pbwiki.com
Other Resources
Review of Wikis
Wikimatrix - Compare wiki services to find the best one to suit your needs
[http://liswiki.org/wiki/Wikihttp://liswiki.org/wiki/Wiki] -a venue for librarians to explore wikis.
Reading
Wikipedia vs. Britannica Nature Magazine, 2006
Wikinomics
Pedagogical Potential of Wikis
Social Software and Educational Use
Recently, there have been questions about use of material in this environment.
In the past, people have informally asked people for use of material for reuse, for an educational purpose, etc.
The Creative Commons license is a self-selecting option for creators to choose how they would like their work to be used and shared: or facilitating the above informal process, in short. For example, Flickr has now incorporated this tool into their user group and people can search by the type of use allowed:
http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
For more information see:
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Frequently_Asked_Questions
A guide for librarians in academic settings is available at:
http://www.knowyourcopyrights.org/
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