I've not much to say on Wikis as the strengths and uses of them are fairly evident and well explained in some of the links from the Web 2.0 page. I just wish I was aware them when I was still doing stuff like group assignments back at uni- I'm sure they would have been around then but I guess few of us would have been aware of them at all. As for libraries using them I can see a fair amount of potential. A lot of the examples given seemingly weren't that different from a regular more static webpage but I guess without studying the changes and evolution of any of them it is hard to really see all that is happening with them and if it is a group creating the page i.e. the collected staff or a particular library or organisation I imagine behind the scenes the use of a Wiki site as opposed to a standard website means an unfortunate individual doesn't have to do it all (Hopefully). Within a workplace, any workplace, I could certainly see the use of a Wiki as a superior way of maintaining things like procedures and guidelines- as long as it properly moderated it would be a superior option in many ways to having umpteen different drafts of a certain procedure scattered across the local drives.
I suspect like many people the only wiki I use on a regular basis is the big one- Wikipedia which for all its faults I really love. It's a great quick answer tool, not recommended for in depth study by any means but excellent for the quick fix when required. I've spent many hours Wiki-surfing random topics when I just meant to look up one little thing and kept clicking on links.
I like your idea of keeping work procedures and guidelines on a wiki rather than in multiple copies throughout networked drives - though I wonder if the wiki would still end up with different bits all over the place? I guess it would make it easier to track who put the copies everywhere, at least, and get them to fix it. Very interesting :)
ReplyDeleteThat's the problem with so many links, you end up getting sidetracked and too much time is wasted. As I said in my very first blog post - "It's a trap!"
ReplyDeleteI use Wikipedia all the time and find it really useful as I have a client who is always asking for obscure information. I have managed to find something on wikipedia everytime.
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