[Web4lib] wikis in libraries

[Mark Robertson]

I'm the original poster who asked about the use of wikis on library 
websites.  Probably my original post did make it sound like a "solution 
in search of a problem" as some have said.  My question arises from a 
realization that there are new "genres" of web writing which may open up 
new horizons (new services, resources, or ways to engage with our users) 
for our library websites.  I guess I was trying to find out if any best 
practices are emerging in terms of the use of wikis on library 
websites.  If there is a issue our library is hoping to address in 
considering wikis, it is the issue of how to engage more with our users 
and make our website more responsive to our users' needs.  Obviously 
there are lots of ways to do this.  My question was to find out if 
patterns of success are emerging in the way libraries are using wikis to 
achieve this goal.

Mark Robertson
Reference Librarian
York University
Toronto, Canada

K.G. Schneider wrote:
>> I'm going to have to side with John here.  Wiki's are interesting tools,
>> but there really isn't any great reason to use a wiki for FAQ's or
>> policy pages unless you want to let users write your FAQ's and policies
>> for you. ...
>>     
>
> "Wiki" is not a synonym for a website anyone can edit; most support levels
> of permissions.
>
> For the most part I've agreed with the people on this thread who said the
> original post sounded like a solution in need of a problem. But a wiki that
> is open to a limited community, such as a library team, can be valuable for
> a number of purposes, from subject guides to policies, procedures, style
> manuals, FAQs, etc. In fact a wiki is a good format for procedures and
> policies because you can track history and discussion; and most wikis
> support RSS feeds that make it easy to track when a wiki has been updated.
> (This does make me wonder whether in Mediawiki history and discussion pages
> can be suppressed for some communities.)
>
> My main beef with wikis is that they are not quite as easy to edit as they
> should be. They generally require learning a localized command language. It
> may not be a complex command language, but it's one more thing to learn.
> Compare with your typical blog, which is very easy to compose content in.  
>
> I also suspect the libraries that have moved to blog-managed websites from
> "a simple web page that's laid out correctly with CSS-styled definition
> lists or unordered lists" have traveled a route from funneling all changes
> through one person to distributing the work in ways that are ultimately
> "simpler" than centralized control (and again, some blogs, such as Wordpress
> and Movable Type, support levels of permissions). 
>
> Karen G. Schneider
> kgs at bluehighways.com 
>
>
>
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