Week 6: Wikis

Learning Objectives

By the end of this week, students will:

• understand the history and development of wikis as a format for online collaboration.
• understand the basics of wiki software and be able to recommend particular wiki solutions based on a needs assessment.
• have developed their own ideas about the usefulness of wikis in a library environment.

Readings

• Wikis in Plain English, The Common Craft Show (audio + video)
• Know It All: Can Wikipedia conquer expertise? Stacy Schiff
• So You Want to Build a Wiki, Meredith Farkas
• Wide Open Spaces: Wikis, Ready or Not, Brian Lamb
• Using Wikis to Create Online Communities, Meredith Farkas
• Wikis in the Workplace: How Wikis Can Help Manage Knowledge in Library Reference Services, Angela Kille
• TechEssence.info White Paper on Wikis, Meredith Farkas
• On uses for wikis and gardening, Meredith Farkas (companion blog post to TechEssence.info White Paper)

Case Studies

Things to do this week

• Read the articles and explore the case studies for this week and post your thoughts & comments to your blog. The case studies for the week illustrate a range of uses for wikis in libraries. Once you’ve explored these examples, think about some other possible uses of the format/technology in libraries and post your ideas to your blog. Don't forget our weekly deadline for blogging is 9 am, Friday. Remember to check out your classmates' posts too and respond (where appropriate) in the comments.
• For those of you who have never used a wiki, I've set up a test wiki at http://lis757.pbwiki.com/ (invite key: "social"). Feel free to use it to get a feel for how wikis work (add a page, edit a page, add some links, images, etc.). You'll find more instructions on the wiki.
• Continue tagging pertinent content in del.icio.us using the "lis9763" tag.