What’s a Wiki?! Does My Library Need One?

Wikis are Web pages that can be viewed and modified by anyone with a Web browser and Internet access. Described as a composition system, a discussion medium, and a repository, wikis support asynchronous communication and group collaboration online.[1]

Wikis are just on the edge of the radar screen for many library staff members. They may have heard of Wikipedia[2], but see little relevance to responsible library research needs for their patrons. However, wikis are the leading edge of the collaborative communications[3] iceberg and have great potential for libraries. One of the easiest implementations is to create a wiki for reference staff communication on hot reference topics, sources, and class assignment resources. Any staff member can access the wiki, view what has been compiled, and make immediate additions and corrections without additional software.

Wiki means “quick” in Hawaiian and describes a category of collaborative software that allows web-page viewers to modify a webpage immediately in real-time. Viewer/editor privileges can be tightly controlled (i.e. members of a committee, department, or organization) or intentionally unrestricted, as is Wikipedia’s practice. Each page’s revisions are stored within the software. Subsequent viewers can further modify the newly edited text, or restore the page to an earlier version.

Collaborative writing projects (policy documents, procedures manuals, etc.) can use a wiki to facilitate participation within a department or library. Geographically distant groups (branch libraries, extension campuses, etc.) can add their input easily and immediately. Committee members can access a wiki-based agenda to add items and supporting documents. During the meeting, the agenda document can be revised to reflect the meeting discussions and planned actions. After the meeting, the participants can view, save, or print the new minutes document. Participants can even post action steps completed and outcomes as they happen, before the next meeting.

Students can use wiki software to participate in a collaborative research and writing project asynchronously and from different locations. An instructor can view the project’s progress and add suggestions or corrections to the work as it proceeds.

Experimenting with wikis is easy and inexpensive. Much wiki software is open source and available for downloading at no charge or you can use wiki software on an existing website. An annotated list of software and sites is available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki_software.

For further information check out –

o Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia

o Library instruction resources - http://instructionwiki.org/Main_Page

o Library and information science resources - http://www.liswiki.com/wiki/Main_Page

(NH)

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[1] EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative, “7 Things You Should Know About Wikis” , EDUCAUSE, October 12, 2005 http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ELI7004

[2] Wikipedia is a grassroots, web-based collaborative encyclopedia any visitor can update an article thanks to wiki software. Started in 2001, it now has 815,920 articles with quality depending on the knowledge of the article authors and editors. Further information is available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia

[3] Collaborative software allows multiple authors (usually from different locations and times) to create and edit an intellectual work. Examples include wikis, blogs, and many online learning software systems.