Okay, wikis… What can I say… Probably, the most famous is Wikipedia. Talk about a wiki that took off! Wikipedia has become so synonomous with the word wiki that often times if you mention the word wiki people think you are talking about Wikipedia. That is good for Wikipedia, but doesn’t get people necessarily behind the word wiki and what it is.
So, in case you are wondering what is a wiki?
Well, put simply a wiki is a web site or workflows program that allows anyone to add or edit a page, at least theoretically. It is possible for most wiki programs to change the settings, so that it is restricted to only certain users being able to make changes to the wiki. The overall spirit of web 2.0 though encourages keeping wikis open to any user being able to make changes to the wiki and Wikepedia does a remarkable job of doing just that. Naturally the thought that pops in most people’s mind is wont that mean a great deal of inaccurate information, vandalism or nonsense occuring? Truthfully, this does occur, although not as often as you would think, nevertheless the creators of Wikipedia and other wikis believe that by harnessing the collective effort of everyone, errors and vanadalism is most likely to be corrected rather quickly. You have to admire their optimism and flexibility in allowing some inaccuracy to produce a great deal of good.
Most of the examples I found of wikis being used in libraries included useful subject guides, FAQs or other useful resources. Some of the cooler ideas I saw were allowing the local community to add useful resources, a business resource guide with an Instant Messaging Meebo widget, so people could ask questions and links within the catalog. Wikis could, also, be used internally to ease workflow. I know of a couple local libraries doing that and in the process they have created a valuable resource for staff to use and alter to best fit the needs of that library.
For more on wikis in libraries check out the great resource, Five Weeks to a Social Library.
All right that is all for now! Ciao! 