Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Task 16: All About Wikis

I looked at each of the wikis recommended for this exercise. The one I got the most out of, much to my surprise, was The Bull Run Library wiki.

This wiki is basically a bulletin board, which is not sponsored by, nor associated with, the Bull Run Library system. It is maintained by one library patron, and provides information about programs at the library, as well as a mish-mash of other information.

One really useful bulletin, however, was about the Web 2.0 Awards . As you would expect, one award category was for wikis. They were rated according to usability, usefulness, social aspects, interface and design, and content quality.

The most recommended wiki hosting sites were as follows:
http://www.wetpaint.com/
"Wetpaint’s wikis come fully equipped with smart navigation, tag clouds, awesome editing interfaces and neat customization features."
pbwiki.com
"Simple and free to use, PBWiki allows users to upload HTML in order to customize their pages."
stikipad.com
"A cheap hosted wiki service, Stikipad comes with neat features such as the ability to track changes and easily update content."

The other library wikis included in the exercise were:

St Joseph County Public Library (SJCPL Subject Guides) This wiki brings together all types of information on a specific subject – from the library's collection, webpages, and local help services. It is probably very useful to patrons of the library, but I thought it could get a bit confusing for some people, especially when it links straight to the library catalogue record.

Princeton Public Library - Book Lovers Wiki– This book review site is a great idea for public libraries, but could be adapted for students who could use the wiki to build a useful bibliography of information sources.

Library Success: A best practices wiki. This is a PD page for librarians, covering, not just web 2.o topics, but all aspects of operating a successful library service.

ALA 2006 New Orleans wiki - The best bit about this wiki is that it includes notes about editing the wiki, and ground rules for editing. A great idea since many wiki visitors may be 'newbies'.

Please also check out my own wiki which I started a while ago. I started it so that I could share information about web 2.0 technologies with teachers. Please feel free to critique my efforts.
http://web20talk.pbwiki.com/FrontPage

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