#16 A wink to Wikis

I have been exploring wikis and their use for about two years now. It started at university where, at times, it could be difficult to find a time that suited all members from a study group to meet. Then we set up a wiki where we were all able to contribute our ideas and opinions - but at our own convenience.

The wikis worked very well when we did oral presentations, since it could be incorporated into a talk as a point of reference.

In the case of libraries, wikis have a bright future ahead (I think). I see in-house series such as Click goes the Library and About the Boys/Girls particularly suited.

In the case of Click goes... some of the demonstrations refer to a long list of useful websites (such as Travel, Google, and presumably the new demo, Family History). Instead of given them an extensive hand-out, we should just give them one address - Clickgoesthelibrary.webpaint.com (imaginary!). Participants are then also able to add sites, which they themselves have found useful and would like to share with others.

A wiki for About the Boys/Girls could eventually involve boys and girls who are unable to attend the sessions but who would still like to discuss books. A so-called book discussion wiki for teens. It could be a new way for the authors to reach out to their readers as well! Further down the track it could be fun to establish a Boroondara Library Book Club wiki.

I liked Peter Blake's suggestion regarding a Community Wiki. We would suddenly be able to make our community notice board electroni and accommodate every single notice we received - or even better, ask the groups to add their notices themselves! Also, our local information portal would also be a very good and useful tool in a Community wiki.

A wiki needs to be very clearly defined and sources referenced, which is why I liked the St Joseph County Public Library Subject Guides. However, it can very easily become cluttered. Another con is the obvious one - spam. However, there are really just minor issues.