Friday, August 28, 2009

Exploration 7: Wonderful World of Wikis

The Wiki is a wonderful thing. I like that wiki means quick in Hawaiian because this is exactly what it is - a quick and very easy way to communicate and give information on the web. The video explains it very well and makes me want to start a Wiki of my own (about what I do not know). In the beginning I was concerned about just anyone being able to post information. What if it was wrong or what if it was posted in a way that would offend someone. But, it appears, that the Wiki was created to deal with this problem. Other people who read it and know that certain information is wrong can fix it right away and explain their source as they do it. The Wiki enforces behavioral norms so that offensive material will not be posted.
I looked at The Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki and it seems to me that it is a good idea that has possibilities. I went searching for posts about storytime and there were a few but many of the subheadings had no posts yet. So, I guess a Wiki is only as good as the community that uses and contributes to it.
Wikipedia is the certainly the leader in Wikis. It gives people who are passionate about a subject a way to give their knowledge to the world. I have found the information on Wikipedia to be very informative. I feel as long as they cite their sources it can be as reliable as any other source and more reliable than many.
I can see Wikis being very valuable in the library especially as a way to share information among staff who are often separated at many branches and the only way they communicate is by computer. Wikis for the public could be created to ask for input about events or programs or perhaps even to post storytime rhymes, fingerplays, books and other ideas.
So I do believe Wikis are here to stay and will only get better as more people realize how easy they are to use and how much they have to offer.

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