Wikis...I really hadn't created one until I returned to the U.S. in April, although I'd been using Wikipedia for my own quick searches and as an example in my classes related to web evaluation for a few years.
As I looked around at the various wiki sites, I guess my main question is "why??" -- by this I mean -- what are the benefits of them in the context of the place and or purpose. I come back to this question a lot as I look at technology and try new things...is there a tie to instruction, to the curriculum, to learning?? -- or -- is it just fun because...
Not to negate fun because..., but at some point, I begin to feel overwhelmed as to "why" -- and unless I can see a benefit to my life, or my job or to the communities I serve -- then I really just need to backburner some things because of time and energy.
Re: wikis -- I think if we have content that is collaborative and would benefit from collective input, then I'm all for it. The websites that I looked at were using them for a myriad of purposes, from reference, to book information. At Boatwright, we have the MSD and Boatipedia wikis -- MSD seems a good choice for a wiki, since we might have collaborative additions we can benefit from -- Boatipedia, as a wiki, I'm still thinking about -- I see benefits from having comments on the pages and staff input, but we really don't want anyone to be able to go in and change content -- do we?
How could other areas of the library benefit from a wiki? I think as a knowledge base, they are very useful -- such as reference transactions and FAQs for staff -- such as questions asked at the desk, especially since they can quickly be searched. For many cases though, I think that a blog can be used with just as much success since you can post information and comments -- it depends on whether the information is timely as in updates/or more static--reference-oriented in nature I guess...
My 2 cents for the day on Wikis and posts for this week.
Carol
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