Week 6 Case Studies

Because I had so much to say this week, I've divided up my main blog post and my review of the case studies into two postings:

Case Studies:

Bull Run Library
Wiki –I really did not like this wiki. At first glance, it just seemed to
be a poorly-organized stand-in for a news section. The page is not readily
identified as a wiki (title in the browser aside, there is no big wiki
explanation section or invitation to contribute), and navigating to different
sections is not an intuitive process.

Butler
WikiRef Home Page –Much better explanation on this page than on the Bull
Run one. Still ugly, but most wikis are. Navigation is still a problem – I
didn’t see a search box, so I first went to the menu on the left and selected
“Wiki Directory”, which turned out to be a directory of all wikis on seed wiki,
rather than a directory of what was in the Butler Wiki. After finding the link
to the Butler Wiki page index, I was impressed by the content available.

Ohio
University Libraries Biz Wiki -An
excellent wiki! Chat widget and photograph give the wiki a personal touch, and
the explanation and navigation tools prevent the user from feeling lost. The
content also was very good – however, editing is locked, so is this really a
wiki? Or is it a guide posted with wiki-oriented software?

Princeton
Public Library - BookLoversWiki -
This seems like an innovative use of wiki technology. The cover images add some
visual interest to the standard wiki ugliness. The category menu down the left
hand side allows lots of access points to the wiki, and the FAQ is helpful for
people who’ve stumbled across the site.

SJCPLSubjectGuides
-Not really a full wiki, in the sense
that only librarians can edit the content. Navigation is very easy, although a
little more information on what the site was meant to do would be helpful (a
link at the very bottom of the page, “About SJCPLSubjectGuides”, contains a
paragraph that would have been useful on the main page). As a user, I would
understand that this was created in a wiki framework, but since I couldn’t edit
it, I probably wouldn’t refer to it or think of it as a wiki.

USC Aiken
Gregg-Graniteville Library -Using a
wiki platform to create a library website – interesting! The main downside I
see is that wikis are notorious for lacking visual appeal, and this site is no
exception. On the plus side, I suppose all of the librarians can readily edit
the content of different pages. I do wonder, though, if something like Drupal
wouldn’t be a better solution. Also, I couldn’t find any pages that were
actually public wikis – isn’t this strange, considering that the functionality
would be built-in?

Wyoming Authors
Wiki –I liked this wiki because it has a nice design, a clear and
well-explained purpose, and easy navigation. That’s actually a checklist for
what I think a good wiki must have.