Wikis in the Library

Wikis are one of my favorite Web 2.0 tools because they are so accessible and collaborative.  In the 90’s, if you wanted to make a page of information on the web, it involved HTML knowledge and some FTP knowledge, as well. Pages could not easily be updated and if a page moved or was changed, it would often mean broken links and dead-ends. Thankfully, with the invention of the wiki, individuals can create informative pages without any HTML knowledge. On top of that, they can easily create, edit, and change pages by anyone with access – not just the webmaster.

The biggest benefit for libraries to use wikis, as mentioned above, is that they allow individuals to create an informative page without having to know anything about web-design. Of course, knowing web-design certainly doesn’t hurt, but it is no longer necessary as it once was. This opens the doors to many people being able to share their information who might not have been able to before because of their lack of HTML knowledge. Wikis also allow anyone with access to edit, so one wiki can be maintained by several people (or by anyone). Since libraries are generally collaborative anyway, this is perfect for them!

There are many different ways libraries could use wikis. I could see a county having its own wiki with a page for each different public library within that county. One or two librarians from each different library could be responsible for maintaining their specific branch page and could use it to post timely information about their library – such as branch hours, events, and new features or additions. Libraries could also use wikis as a main page for all of their library information. For instance, a special library could use a wiki to explain all the databases it subscribes to, resources it provides, and staff members.

There is a really interesting wiki built by librarians for librarians called Library Success. It has links to all the various projects – including wikis – that librarians are using.  In the old days – as mentioned above – many websites existed like this that had a list of links about a particular topic. If someone wanted a link added or changed, they would have to contact the webmaster directly and wait for them to change it. If a link was broken or changed locations, only the webmaster could update the site. Thankfully, with this wiki, those one-person pages are a thing of the past. Anyone can edit or change the wiki as they like, which allows for the most up-to-date resource possible.

Wikis, however, are not without their drawbacks. For one, wikis can be too collaborative. Take the wiki mentioned above that anyone can edit. If someone wanted to, they could erase or deface the information on the pages. Thankfully, most wikis have the technology to revert to previous versions to help reverse blatant vandalism. However, this takes time and effort to maintain. The bigger the wiki is, and the more people that have access to edit it, the more of a problem this “over collaboration” becomes.

Another problem with wikis is that they take time and resources to set up and maintain. A wiki has to be hosted somewhere and the files, pages, and multiple versions take up space. There are websites – such as pbwiki – that allow anyone to set up a wiki without having a webpage. However, the wiki still needs to be maintained by someone or a group of people, which can be more effort than it first appears.

Overall, I think wikis are a great addition to libraries and the web in general. I like how it allows knowledgeable people to share information and collaborate with one another.

Social Bookmarking: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

I would like to share a recent tale of woe, involving the website Delicious. I used to use Delicious several years ago, when it was owned by Yahoo, to save bookmarks across multiple devices. In the most recent years, I let my account fall by the wayside as I found it easier to manage bookmarks locally instead. A couple months ago, I decided I wanted to start using Delicious again. So, I tried logging into my account, and it kept on giving me errors telling me the username was not found. Username not found? That’s impossible!  I’ve been using the site for years prior without any problems. After more research, I figured out exactly what had happened. Delicious was recently purchased by the founders of YouTube and users had a certain window of opportunity to transfer their account information over. And if they missed that window? Their information was lost forever with no way to retrieve it. All those years of bookmarking, tagging, and organizing were just gone all because a website changed ownership. I was ready to cry. Thankfully, I had synced all of my Delicious bookmarks up to my local computer a long time ago, so the majority of them were still intact. But, I would still have to manually re-add them if I wanted to continue using the site.

This was a harsh reminder that Web 2.0 tools are never really permanent, especially when the dealing with cloud. We sometimes take for granted these sites where all our information is stored elsewhere. These tools can – and often – do change ownership and when they do, all sorts of problems can arise. It is important that if organizations, such as libraries DO choose to take advantage of these services, that they back up all of their information so it is not lost.

That’s not to say that these tools don’t have their benefits. Libraries can use bookmarking features as a way to easily share resources and information with patrons. Patrons could follow the libraries on these social bookmarking sites to easily add bookmarks to their personal accounts, if need be. These links could also be grouped by different subjects based on the library. For instance, an academic library could tag their links by appropriate areas of interest, so Math majors would only see links relevant to them, and so on. Since the social bookmarking feeds are published as RSS, anyone can subscribe to them with any platform, even if they do not have a social bookmarking account themselves.

Delicious and Diigo both have their strengths and weaknesses. Previous experiences aside, Delicious has a very nice layout since it was relaunched. I like how you can add bookmarks multiple ways. When you do add a popular website, suggested tags come up of what to tag it with. You can also add a picture, if need be, and add a group of links to a stack that you can make public, if you wish. With Diigo, I liked how it incorporated highlighting of important notes on a page. I also like how some bookmarks contained cached versions (but only the really popular sites). I did not like how Diigo required that you installed a browser plug-in to add links (I was using Chrome). If Delicious can easily add a way to add a link with no browser buttons required, why can’t Diigo? I did find the layout of a Delicious user page a little more informative than Diigo.

Here is a link to my Delicious page, and here is a link to my Diigo page.

QR Code

Here is the QR Code that links to my Google Sites (alternatively located here). On this page you will find my projects for my Preparing Instructional Media (LIS 6303) class. I tested this on my iPhone, so I can confirm the QR code works. I also noticed that the URL contains a small extra part on the end to track if people came via a QR code.