WIKI WIKI

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WIKI WIKI

• OR, Is there a wiki in your (library) future?

Donnice Cochenour Colorado State University
Libraries 2005 CAL Conference November 11. 2005
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Wiki Wiki

• What is a wiki
• How are libraries using wikis
• Demo of wikis

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Wiki history

• Hawaiian term for "quick or superfast
• Started by Ward Cunningham in 1995

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What is a wiki?

• the simplest online database that could possibly
  work
• Bo Leuf Ward Cunningham, The Wiki Way Quick
  collaboration on the web. Boston
  Addison-Wesley, 2001. p.15

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A Wiki is

• Web-based collaborative work space.
• Content management system.
• Draws together multiple document types.
• Complex HTML tagging not required.
• Easy to add or modify content.
• No delay in posting updates.

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Public wikis

• Wikipedia is the best known
• Wikisource
• Wikibooks
• Wikitravel
• Wikinews

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Library wikis

• University of Connecticut Libraries' Staff Wiki
• http//wiki.lib.uconn.edu/wiki/Main_Page
• University of Minnesota Libraries Staff Web Site
• http//wiki.lib.umn.edu
• http//wiki.lib.umn.edu/Staff/FindingAidsInEAD
• University of South Carolina Aiken Library
• http//library.usca.edu/

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More library related wikis

• Library Success A Best Practices Wiki
• http//www.libsuccess.org/index.php?titleMain_Pag
  e
• LISWiki - a niche encyclopedia covering
  library-related issues
• http//liswiki.com/wiki/Main_Page
• NISO Metasearch Initiative
• http//www.lib.ncsu.edu/niso-mi/index.php/Main_Pa
  ge
• Unofficial conference wiki
• http//meredith.wolfwater.com/wiki/index.php?title
  Main_Page
• User Group wiki
• http//wiki.dspace.org/FrontPage

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Dis/Advantages of wiki

• Advantages
• Technical support and training is minimal
• Changes are immediate
• Easy authoring, open access, unrestricted
  collaboration
• Concerns -------
• Soft Security relies on community of users to
  police
• Absence of explicit organization Loose
  collection of linked pages (but more organized
  than a blog).
• No standard mark-up language
• Intellectual property rights of collaborative
  content

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Potential Library (public) wikis

• Suggestion box and patron comments
• Interactive FAQs
• Knowledge base of commonly asked reference
  questions
• Patron contributed book reviews

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Potential Library Instructional wikis

• Online course interaction
• Student team projects
• Interactive finding aids
• Informal bulletin board for course communications

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Potential Library (staff) wikis

• Shared work space for collaboration
• Project or task force discussion space
• Track progress and action items
• Store or link to shared documents
• Project documentation
• Minutes of meetings
• Deadlines, assignments and schedule
• Bookmarks to websites

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Two options to create a wiki

• Hosted wiki site
• sometimes called a wiki farm
• http//c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiFarms
• Load software locally
• must be loaded to a web server
• http//c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiEngines

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Wiki software selection

• Local technical expertise available
• Language preference
• Documentation availability
• Software support (open source/commercial)
• Desire for variety of permission levels
• Customization features add-ons desired

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Starting a wiki

• Identify purpose for wiki
• Create basic structure for wiki
• Provide initial content to get it started
• Clearly state expectations
• Let it evolve

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CSULs wikiSample commercial wiki
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Tasks

• Edit an existing page
• Create a new page
• page names must be unique
• first add new page name to an existing page
• Monitor a page for changes
• History (rollback, compare, diff)
• Attachments formatted documents

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Wiki best practices

• Train users
• Keep it organized use categories
• Watch recent changes enable alerts
• Lead by example use for your projects
• Be civil expect changes to your words
• Success depends on user contributions!

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• The defining characteristic of wiki software is
  the simplicity and immediacy of creating content
  using the familiar web browser.
• Knowledge preservation
• Collaborative writing
• Process management
• Decision making

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Readings

• Michael Angeles, "Using a Wiki for Documentation
  and Collaborative Authoring," LLRX(r).com,
  November 28 2004. lthttp//www.llrx.com/features/li
  brarywikis.htmgt
• Naomi Augar, Ruth Raitman Wanlei Zhou,
  Teaching and learning online with wikis, in
  Beyond the comfort zone Proceedings of the 21st
  ASCILITE Conference (pp. 95-104). Perth, 5-8
  December 2004. lthttp//www.ascilite.org.au/confere
  nces/perth04/procs/augar.htmlgt
• Brenda Chawner and Paul H. Lewis, "WikiWikiWebs
  New Ways of Interacting in a Web Environment,"
  Handout prepared for LITA National Forum, October
  8-10, 2004, Sheraton West Port Lakeside Chalet,
  St. Louis, Missouri. lthttp//www.ala.org/ala/lita/
  litaevents/2004Forum/CS_WikiWikiWebs.pdfgt
• Brian Lamb, Wide Open Spaces Wikis, Ready or
  Not, Educause Review, Sept/Oct 2004.
  lthttp//www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0452.aspgt
  
• Bo Leuf and Ward Cunningham. The Wiki way quick
  collaboration on the Web. Boston
  Addison-Wesley, 2001. lthttp//wiki.org/wiki.cgi?T
  heBookgt
• Something wiki this way comes, Business Week
  Online, June 7, 2004. lthttp//www.businessweek.com
  /magazine/content/04_23/b3886138.htmgt
• Emma Tonkin, Making the case for a wiki,
  Ariadne, January, 2005. lthttp//www.ariadne.ac.uk/
  issue42/tonkin/gt