Week 9, Thing 17: Wikis

#17 Learn about wikis and discover some innovative ways that libraries are using them
Having just spent hours cruising through all kinds of wikis, one thing I noticed is that I would not have known that many of these were wikis if it had not been pointed out to me. There is such a wide variety of formats and the look of many of these wikis is very much "traditional web page." So I guess that means I'll have to really watch more closely to see if I am actually on a wiki site. Best thing about wikis: ease of collaboration, can access many people's points of view; worst thing: inability to authenticate sources. Whether I would rely on information obtained on a wiki would depend on the topic. Would I try a recipe from Recipes Wiki? Sure. Would I trust the article on "How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry That Prevents Windows XP from Starting" from wikiHow? Well... I think I'll stick with the article I found on that same topic on the Microsoft tech support website. Especially since the first instruction from wikiHow has me taking the cover off not one but two computers and hooking them together (like a jumpstart for the non-functioning one) and Microsoft has me start out by inserting the Windows CD. The fact that step one of the Microsoft fix actually worked (that is, it got my computer to start, even if the repair is not yet complete), days before I found wikiHow, has no bearing on this comparison!

But would I use a wiki in my library? Yes, I would. I might try a book review wiki with students. I'll definitely try some project-based wikis with classroom teachers so we can collaborate by adding resources for students to a page they can access from school or home, and we can do it on our own time, not in those few minutes when our planning times overlap or we all happen to be working late.