Wikis and Libraries Staff and User Opportunities Darlene Fichter University of Saskatchewan Library February 1, 2007

Darlene Fichter

Photo by davezilla was takendavezilla was taken

Photo by Ross MayfieldRoss Mayfield

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Questions What is your primary role at your organization? Reference/Instructional Librarian Collections/Digital Project Library ITS (web developer, systems librarian) Library manager Other

Questions Do you contribute to a wiki?

Questions Are you interested in using wiki for: Business processes Personal web publishing Community building Intranet Don’t know

Committees and Teams How many groups do you belong to?  None  1 – 2  3 – 5  5 – 10  > 10 How many groups do you belong to? –Mailing list archives – folders –Everyone’s desktop and file cabinet –Shared file server –Web board –IM (saved) What are some of the limitations?

What if you … From pòchò pòchò

What is a “Wiki”? Tool that allows a group of people to quickly create and edit a web site together

Characteristics Intended to be simple so you can focus on the writing

Wikis: Collections of Pages Main Page Contact UsElectronic Virtual edit Anyone with a web browser can read a wiki site

Wiki Pages Anyone with a web browser can edit the wiki Anyone can undo any change at any time

Anyone You Allow –Everyone –Just your staff –Just your workgroup

Click, Write, and Save edit save...OLA 2007 …OLA 2007

Creating New Pages …OLA 2007 … NewName? … edit NewName Use CamelCase, aka WikiName

Wiki Design Principles Openness and trust –if a page is incomplete or inaccurate anyone can edit it Wiki Design Principles

Wikipedia: Viewing History

Wikipedia: Talk Page

Wiki Design Principles Openness and trust –if a page is incomplete or inaccurate anyone can edit it Incremental –pages can cite other pages, even those not yet written Wiki Design Principles

Red Links Mark Future Pages

Wiki Design Principles Openness and trust –if a page is incomplete or inaccurate anyone can edit it Incremental –pages can cite other pages, even those not yet written Observable –you can see the changes being made Wiki Design Principles

Wikipedia: Recent Changes

Wiki Design Principles Openness and trust –if a page is incomplete or inaccurate anyone can edit it Incremental –pages can cite other pages, even those not yet written Observable –you can see the changes being made Organic –site structure is up to everyone, and it will evolve and change Wiki Design Principles

Time Lapse – London Bombing thelastminute.typepad.com/blog/2005/07/the_day_citizen.html

Wiki Gardeners On a library wiki, you might want to assign this role.

Photo by Ross MayfieldRoss Mayfield

External Library Wikis Subject guides Events Community Content –Encyclopedia –Book Reviews –Course

External Library Wiki Talk page Edits

Crafts

Talk About Crafts Talk page

Event Planning and Support (Password protected)

Stevens County Encyclopedia

Princeton Public Library

Course Wiki

Web Site

Internal Library Wikis Staff Intranet IT Documentation Special Projects/Committees/Events Helpdesk & Knowledgebase

Staff Web Site

Library Intranet

Data Library 6 people One works off site

Case Study: Event Planning

WYSIWYG Editor

What Pages Have Changed?

See What Changed

Single Page or Side by Side

Features Attach a File Attachments Import Word s Send an Make a comment Invite users Changes via RSS Search

Wiki Reactions Well, I wasn't sure about that wiki (sounded like something from Star Wars), but I decided to try it out. It is fabulous! Every conference should have one. Gail Curry, UNBC

Photo by soundfromwayoutsoundfromwayout

Champion Photo by azamrashdi'azamrashdi'

Culture Shock Photo by Childish DavidChildish David

Structure Photo by mirandomirando

More Tips Have a purpose Choose the right features Starts slow (snowball) Train and coach others

Lowered Barrier to Cooperation Photo from Corey Doctorow’s CraphoundCorey Doctorow’s Craphound Unthinkable possible

Wiki Exercise Identify 2 or 3 areas where a wiki web would help with collaboration and communication. Identify some “barriers” and brainstorm how you might overcome them in your work environment.

Wiki Summary Wikis help support collaboration Tools are simple, quick and inexpensive They belong in our collaboration toolbox Our workplaces are diverse –Diverse users –Diverse needs –Diverse software choices

More Resources Wiki Resources –

Tools to Help You Choose Wiki Matrix – Emma Tonkin’s charts in –Making the Case for a Wiki. Ariadne, January

Questions

Weblogs and Wikis Face Off Photo Credit: Pascal Vuylsteker CC Attribution 2.5Pascal Vuylsteker

WikisWeblogs Group voice Unstructured, organic Anyone edits Fluid medium: change any time Better management: versions, rollback and change log, syndicate changes Less familiar Individual voice Default is by date, reverse chronological Anyone comments Post medium like (comment, reply, comment, …) Edits aren’t tracked usually, new items are syndicated More familiar