wikis and libraries staff and user opportunities darlene fichter university of saskatchewan library...
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Wikis and LibrariesStaff and User Opportunities
Darlene Fichter
University of Saskatchewan Library
February 1, 2007
Darlene Fichter
Photo by davezilla was taken
Photo by soundfromwayout
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– Email 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
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 Us Electronic Virtual
edit edit editedit
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 editsave
...OLA 2007…OLA 2007
Creating New Pages
…OLA 2007
… NewName? …
editedit
NewName
Use CamelCase, aka WikiName
Wiki Design Principles
Openness and trust – if a page is incomplete or inaccurate anyone can edit it
Wiki Design Principleshttp://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiDesignPrinciples
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 Principleshttp://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiDesignPrinciples
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 Principleshttp://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiDesignPrinciples
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 Principleshttp://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiDesignPrinciples
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 Mayfield
External Library Wikis
Subject guides Events Community Content
– Encyclopedia– Book Reviews– Course
External Library Wiki
http://www.libraryforlife.org/subjectguides/index.php/Main_Page
Talkpage
Edits
Crafts
Talk About Crafts
Talkpage
Event Planning and Support
http://coppul.jotspot.com (Password protected)
Stevens County Encyclopedia
http://www.scrldwiki.org/index.php/Main_Page
Princeton Public Library
http://booklovers.pbwiki.com/Princeton%20Public%20Library
Course Wiki
Web Site
Internal Library Wikis
Staff Intranet IT Documentation Special Projects/Committees/Events Helpdesk & Knowledgebase
Staff Web Site
http://wiki.lib.umn.edu/
Library Intranet
http://wiki.lib.uconn.edu/wiki/Main_Page
Data Library
6 people One works off site
WYSIWYG Editor
What Pages Have Changed?
See What Changed
Single Page or Side by Side
Features
Attach a File
Attachments
Import Word
Emails
Send an Email
Make a comment
Inviteusers
Changesvia 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 soundfromwayout
Champion
Photo by azamrashdi'
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 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– http://library.usask.ca/~fichter/wiki/
Tools to Help You Choose
Wiki Matrix– http://www.wikimatrix.org/
Emma Tonkin’s charts in – Making the Case for a Wiki. Ariadne, January
2005http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue42/tonkin/
Weblogs and Wikis Face Off
Photo Credit: Pascal Vuylsteker http://www.flickr.com/photos/pvk/
CC Attribution 2.5
Wikis Weblogs
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 email (comment, reply, comment, …)
Edits aren’t tracked usually, new items are syndicated
More familiar