Transcript Wikis and Libraries Staff and User Opportunities

Wikis and Libraries
Staff and User Opportunities
Darlene Fichter
University of Saskatchewan Library
February 1, 2007
Darlene Fichter
Photo by davezilla was taken
Photo by Ross Mayfield
Photo by soundfromwayout
Questions
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What is your primary role at your
organization?
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Reference/Instructional Librarian
Collections/Digital Project
Library ITS (web developer, systems librarian)
Library manager
Other
Questions
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Do you contribute to a wiki?
Questions
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Are you interested in using wiki
for:
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Business processes
Personal web publishing
Community building
Intranet
Don’t know
Committees and Teams
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How many groups do you belong to?
 None  1 – 2  3 – 5  5 – 10  > 10
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How many groups do you belong to?
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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”?
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Tool that allows a group of people to
quickly create and edit a web site
together
Characteristics
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Intended to be
on the writing
simple so you can focus
Wikis: Collections of Pages
Main Page
edit
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Contact Us
edit
Electronic
edit
Virtual
edit
Anyone with a web browser can read a
wiki site
Wiki Pages
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Anyone with a web browser can edit
the wiki
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Anyone can undo any change at any
time
Anyone You Allow
– Everyone
– Just your staff
– Just your workgroup
Click, Write, and Save
…OLA 2007
...OLA 2007
edit
save
edit
Creating New Pages
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Use CamelCase,
aka WikiName
NewName
…OLA 2007
… NewName?
…
edit
edit
Wiki Design Principles
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Openness and trust
– if a page is incomplete or inaccurate anyone can edit it
Wiki Design Principles
http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiDesignPrinciples
Wikipedia: Viewing History
Wikipedia: Talk Page
Wiki Design Principles
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Openness and trust
– if a page is incomplete or inaccurate anyone can edit it
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Incremental
– pages can cite other pages, even those not yet written
Wiki Design Principles
http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiDesignPrinciples
Red Links Mark Future Pages
Wiki Design Principles
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Openness and trust
– if a page is incomplete or inaccurate anyone can edit it
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Incremental
– pages can cite other pages, even those not yet written
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Observable
– you can see the changes being made
Wiki Design Principles
http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiDesignPrinciples
Wikipedia: Recent Changes
Wiki Design Principles
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Openness and trust
– if a page is incomplete or inaccurate anyone can edit it
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Incremental
– pages can cite other pages, even those not yet written
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Observable
– you can see the changes being made
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Organic
– site structure is up to everyone, and it will evolve and change
Wiki Design Principles
http://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
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Subject guides
Events
Community Content
– Encyclopedia
– Book Reviews
– Course
External Library Wiki
Talk
page
Edits
http://www.libraryforlife.org/subjectguides/index.php/Main_Page
Crafts
Talk About Crafts
Talk
page
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
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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
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6 people
One works off site
Case Study: Event Planning
www.jotspot.com
WYSIWYG Editor
What Pages Have Changed?
See What Changed
Single Page or Side by Side
Features
Attach a File
Import Word
Emails
Attachments
Make a comment
Send an Email
Search
InviteChanges
users via RSS
Wiki Reactions
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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'
Culture Shock
Photo by Childish David
Structure
Photo by mirando
More Tips
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Have a purpose
Choose the right features
Starts slow (snowball)
Train and coach others
Lowered Barrier to Cooperation
Unthinkable possible
Photo from Corey Doctorow’s Craphound
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
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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
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Wiki Resources
– http://library.usask.ca/~fichter/wiki/
Tools to Help You Choose
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Wiki Matrix
– http://www.wikimatrix.org/
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Emma Tonkin’s charts in
– Making the Case for a Wiki. Ariadne, January
2005
http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue42/tonkin/
Questions
[email protected]
Weblogs and Wikis Face Off
Photo Credit: Pascal Vuylsteker
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pvk/
CC Attribution 2.5
Wikis
Weblogs
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Group voice
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Individual voice
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Unstructured, organic
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Default is by date, reverse
chronological
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Anyone edits
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Anyone comments
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Fluid medium: change any time
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Post medium like email
(comment, reply, comment, …)
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Better management: versions,
rollback and change log,
syndicate changes
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Less familiar
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Edits aren’t tracked usually, new
items are syndicated
More familiar