Wiki's and how!!!

I've finally found time to get back to the 27 Things, and am now at number 15, Wiki's You'll Know and Love. I visited the link to What Is a Wiki, the wiki about wiki's and have a much better idea of what wiki's are and how they might best be put to use. As I'm trying to do this at work and being constantly distracted I still have a somewhat disjointed conception of how this all works and its usefulness, but must say I appreciated the discussion at What Is A Wiki.

I then visited the St Joseph County Public Library's subject guides wiki, Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki, and the Book Lover's Wiki at the Princeton Public Library.

I can begin to see the value of Wiki's for quickly being able to add and edit information as it emerges, without the tediousness of emailing or hosting a separate web page. I was intrigued to learn what "wiki" meant (it means quick in Hawiaan). It was interesting to note that The Book Lover's Wiki was an event specific wiki and that the posting of reviews of books was available to their patrons from their catalogue, as it is now with KCLS. As an aside I've posted an online review of a book written by a good friend concerning her experience starting a non-profit organization, and really liked that tool.

For Librarians and LA's I can also see that the Library Success Wiki has a wealth of information that is easily accessable by anyone using a computer. I did not have enough time to check it out completely, but it appears that editing is limited to Librarians, which is specifically true for the SJCPL's Subject Guide Wiki.

I've been exploring wiki's on my own for some time, but this is the most comprehensive overview I've ever had of them, and I'm looking forward to exploring more and getting up the nerve to add some content and do some editing on my own.

Back to the stacks for now.

Stan