Transcript Slide 1
Wikis and Libraries:
A Winning Combination
Darlene Fichter
University of Saskatchewan
[email protected]
April 18. 2006
Darlene Fichter
Photo by: rolobeetle
Some rights reserved.
Overview
Collaboration & communication
Wikis
– How do they work
– What are some of the benefits
– Blogs and wikis, what to use when
Questions
What is your primary role at your organization?
Reference/Instructional Librarian
Library ITS (web developer, systems librarian)
Library manager
Collections or Cataloguing or Digital Projects
Other
Are you interested in using wikis for:
Subject pages
Internal project or team work
Documentation
Personal web publishing
Conference
Intranet
Don’t know
Do you contribute to a wiki?
Does your organization use:
Blogs
Wikis
RSS feeds
Poll: Committees and Teams
How many groups do you belong to?
None one to two three to five More than 5
How do you share information?
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Email
Mailing list
Shared file server
BBS
IM
What are some of the limitations?
What if …
Reduce email overload
Have an archive of the work done to date
Build a knowledge base auto-magically
Have an easy way to write reports,
documents, policies, and procedures together
Technologies Enabling Online Collaboration
Dozens:
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Discussion forums
Email
Instant messaging
Newsgroups
Webcasts
Web conferencing
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Weblogs
Team rooms
Text messaging/wireless
RSS
Wiki
Expertise location
FOAF
What is a “Wiki”?
Web application invented by Ward
Cunningham in 1994 that allows anyone to
add content and anyone to edit it.
“It’s a tool for collaboration, really, we don’t know
quite what it is but it’s a fun way of
communicating asynchronously across the
network”.
Wiki means “quick” in Hawaiian
Wiki Characteristics
Intended to be simple so you can focus on
the writing, not the mechanics and syntax
No HTML know-how required
Wikis: Collections of Pages
Main Page
edit
Contact Us
edit
Electronic
edit
Virtual
edit
Wiki pages look like web pages
Anyone with a web browser can read a wiki site
Illustrations adapted from Guillaume du Gardier. What is a wiki? June 2, 2005
Click, Write and Save
...KMWorld
2005
edit
save
…KMWorld
2005
edit
Anyone with a web browser can edit a wiki site
Anyone can undo any change at any time
Creating New Pages
Make a new page by typing the name in CamelCase, aka
WikiName
Title
NewName
… NewName …
edit
edit
Click on any WikiName to see pages that link to it
Wiki Design Principles
Opennessand
and
Trust
Openness
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
More principles…
Wiki Design Principles
http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiDesignPrinciples
Wiki Examples: Wikipedia
www.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia: Recent Changes
Time Lapse – London Bombing
http://thelastminute.typepad.com/blog/2005/07/the_day_citizen.html
Wikipedia: Viewing History
Wikipedia: Talk Page
Wiki Gardeners
Person who goes around tidying
up the wiki, pruning, editing,
organizing, and cleaning up
Usually liked and respected
On a library wiki, you might want to
assign this role.
Wikis: Professional Knowledge Repositories
http://www.libsuccess.org/
Wikis: Conference
http://cil2006.pbwiki.com/changes.php?pageID=1/
Library Web Site: Wiki Subject Guide
http://www.library.ohiou.edu/subjects/bizwiki/index.php/Main_Page
SCJPL: Subject Guides
http://www.libraryforlife.org/subjectguides/index.php/Main_Page
SCJPL: Subject Guides
http://www.libraryforlife.org/subjectguides/index.php/Pets
SCJPL: Discussion Pages
http://www.libraryforlife.org/subjectguides/index.php/Talk:Crafts
Coralville Public Library: Let’s Write!
http://www.coralvillepubliclibrary.org/warm.htm
Library Web Site Built With a Wiki
http://library.usca.edu/
Tour: Library Wikis
Internal uses
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Staff Intranet
Projects
Event planning
IT documentation
Helpdesk
Library Intranet
http://wiki.lib.umn.edu/
Library Intranet
http://wiki.lib.uconn.edu/wiki/Main_Page
Library Information Technology Services Wiki
http://wiki.library.vanderbilt.edu/
Project/Committee
http://www.seedwiki.com/wiki/b-team/
Internal Wikis in Libraries
Collaborative writing (projects, teams
developing procedures, policies, plans)
Meeting notes and reports
Shared knowledge repository
Simple Case Study: Event Planning
Hosted Wiki:
Jotspot
www.jotspot.com
WYSIWYG Editor
What Pages Have Changed?
See What Changed
Single Page or Side by Side
Wiki (Jotspot) Anatomy: Features
Search
Attach a File
Import Word
Emails
Make a comment
Send an Email
InviteChanges
users via RSS
Event Planning and Support
http://coppul.jotspot.com (Password protected)
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
Conference / Wiki Support
Participants signed up for wifi, dine-arounds,
connected with each other before the event
Shared notes during the presentation and
uploaded slides
Evaluated the workshop
Wiki Roadmap*
Install wiki software on web server
Plan rollout and content
Build the initial structure
Populate initial content with early adopters
Initial rollout with smaller group
Train and coach users
Do not underestimate inertia and time
*Peter Theony, Wiki Based Collaboration
http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Codev/TWikiPresentation17Feb2005
Practical Tips
Have a champion
– New way of “thinking”, paradigm shift from Intranet,
webmaster or CMS (content management system)
Choose the right features:
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Attach files
Access control
Version control
Ease of use: make sure “add a page” is self evident
Match look and feel
Alert and post via email to 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
2005
http://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
Individual voice
Unstructured, organic
Default is by date, reverse chronological
Anyone edits
Anyone comments
Fluid medium: change any time
Post medium like email (comment, reply,
comment, …)
Better management: versions, rollback
and change log, syndicate changes
Edits aren’t tracked usually, new items
are syndicated
Less familiar
More familiar
Wiki Brainstorm
Think about collaborative/team activities in your
organization and library.
Identify 2 or 3 areas where a wiki web would
help with collaboration.
Identify the “biggest obstacles” and how you
might overcome them.
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 Bibliography & Links
– http://library.usask.ca/~fichter/wiki/
Questions
[email protected]