Thing 12 - Wikis

I had heard the term wiki floating around a lot at Millhopper and Tower, but I was never sure what it meant. Of course, I knew what Wikipedia was, but I didn't know what the "wiki" part meant. I use Wikipedia all the time. It's usually just trivial things I can't remember or something I've always wondered about, like who was that guy in that movie? or how do I take care of this type of plant? or would a piranha really eat a human? I used it just the other day to try and find out more about an author and what other books she has written. Even my hometown has its own Wikipedia page. It was neat to learn about all the random facts I had never known before. I see Wikipedia as a general information site, a starting point. Because every time I use Wikipedia, I always keep in the back of my mind that some of the info may not be true. It's monitored fairly well, but a wiki by definition means that anyone can create or change its content. I was watching tv one night, I think it was the Colbert Report or Conan O'Brian, and he was able to get his viewing audience to change content on one of the Wikipedia pages to something completely false. So you always have to be careful. But I still think it's a good starting point, and there are usually credible links at the bottom of each page providing you with more information. Wikipedia was always banned from my high school and college reference lists. But that didn't stop me from using it as a jumping off point. One of my Political Science professors during my senior year of college actually allowed us to use it, saying it was credible.

As for using wikis in the library, I wish I had asked more questions about them. I don't know what they are being used for presently, so I'm not sure where they will be in the future. Maybe wikis could be created on our website so patrons, staff, and the public could add info to it. In schools, it would be a neat project if students were given a topic and told to create their own wiki. It would not only teach them research skills, but also help with typing and general computer skills (even though kids are waaaaayyy ahead of all of us when it comes to computers).

I tried my skills at adding to a wiki by going to the Neflin 23 Things Wiki. I just added some comments about Wikipedia, nothing fancy. You could spend lots of time on a page, organizing and adding. If I have time in the future, I would love to create my own site. Maybe someday...