Friday, July 27, 2007

wikis

Here is another technology that feels a little daunting at first glance, but I have confidence from my previous experiences with the web 2.0 applications that this one will prove doable as well. After looking at the links to the sample wikis I was surprised to see such a variety of interfaces to work with. Initially those differences confused me when trying to get a grasp on how to access the information in the wiki. However, as I explored the possibilities I found lots of great uses for wikis. Some of my favorites are:
  • conference resources--the Chicago ALA wiki was a great tool for informing newcomers about community info as well as conference info
  • research guides--of course Chad's Bizwiki is a gem
  • wikis in academic courses--this seems a useful way to communicate course information with a class. This example from a course at Eckard was interesting.
  • collaborative documents or projects--I liked the example of planning a camping trip in one of the tutorials where various people add and sort information needed for the trip. "Library Success: a best practices wiki" appeared to gather a goldmine of information for librarians from multiple types of libraries.
Next I will be experimenting with our wiki "sandbox". I'll let you know how it goes.

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