Wikis: Basics, Tools and Strategies

Wikis Basics, Tools and Strategies Meredith Farkas April 15, 2007 Computers in Libraries

What you will learn
What a wiki is
What wikis are good for, what they’re not so good for
How libraries and other groups are successfully using wikis
How to get started with wikis
Tips on developing a successful wiki

Who am I?
Meredith Farkas
Distance Learning Librarian at Norwich University (VT).
Author - Social Software in Libraries .
Columnist – “Technology in Practice” column in American Libraries .
Blogger - Information Wants to be Free and TechEssence .
Wiki manager - Library Success , ALA 2005 and 2006 , etc.

My experience with wikis
Looking for a way to collect knowledge for ALA Annual 2005.
A Website would only collect my knowledge
ALA Chicago 2005 Wiki
Amazing community formed around the wiki!

Library Success Wiki
Where does a new librarian go to get ideas and learn from other people's successes?
Library Success Wiki: Designed to collect best practices, good ideas, useful articles and links, etc.
Site has developed a diverse community of individuals who add content in their areas of interest.

Other wikis I’ve created
ALA 2006 New Orleans Wiki
CIL 2006 Wiki
IL 2006 Wiki
KM World 2006 Wiki
Buying and Selling eContent Wiki
CIL 2007 Wiki
Many other personal wikis for planning, internal wiki at work, etc.

What is a wiki?
Content management system
Allows people to collaboratively develop a Web site without any tech-savvy
Wiki = quick (in Hawaiian)
All community members can add to or edit the work of others

Wiki background
Ward Cunningham and the Portland Pattern Repository
Wikipedia
Conference wikis, fan wikis, wiki knowledgebases
Wikis in the library! Still often controlled access.
Organizations jump on the wiki bandwagon

Wiki Structure
All wikis start off as a single blank page
Pages are created and connected by hyperlinks
No ownership of pages; anyone can change the work of others

Wiki Components
Pages community members can add to or edit ( example )
Discussion area for each page
List of all of the changes made to a particular page (version control)
List of all changes made to all pages.

Wiki Syntax
Ways to format text, change color, create links, create tables, etc.
Wikipedia editor’s guide
Not difficult to learn, but different
Differences for each wiki
WYSIWYG is the future

Wikis vs. Blogs
No one owns content
No specific organization (hyperlinks)
Anyone can edit other people’s work
A person owns their post
Organized in reverse chron. order
Only author can edit their own work (others can comment)

Wikis vs. Blogs
Perpetual work in progress
Good for collaborative group work
Posts are permanent
Good for disseminating info/starting a dialogue

Why wiki?
Easy to use
Web-based
Anyone can make changes
Version control
Findability (with database wikis)
Many free and open-source wikis
Flexible and extensible

Knowledge management (KM)
All organizations want to make the best use of organizational knowledge
Most are really bad at it
Wiki is a great KM tool

Wiki = quick
No editing in Dreamweaver, no FTP-ing into the server.
No waiting for the Webmaster to update your page.
Different people can be responsible for different content areas

Collaboration
Wikis are a great way to get patrons/colleagues to participate in building a Web space
Resource guides
Conference
Book reviews
Area guides
You can learn a lot from your patrons and colleagues!

Why not wiki?
Too open (trust issues)
Concerns about ownership of content
Disorganized
Vandalism and spam
Wikis aren't for everyone. If control is a major issue with the site you're developing, then a wiki may not be right for your project.

Questions?

Wikis in Practice

How libraries can use wikis with their patrons
Community wiki
Subject guide wiki
Wiki as courseware
Wiki as Web site
Wiki for capitalizing on the collective intelligence

Community wikis
RocWiki (Rochester, NY)
Davis Wiki (Davis, CA)
Arbor Wiki (Ann Arbor, MI)
PGHWiki (Pittsburgh, PA)

Wikis that build community
ICANN Wiki
Tax Almanac
Mandriva Club

Subject guides
Ohio University Library’s Biz Wiki
St. Joseph County Public Library Subject Guides

Wiki as Website and courseware
University of South Carolina Aiken Library Web site
Bull Run Library
Bemidji State University eRhetoric course wiki

Capitalizing on the collective intelligence
Resource guides and book reviews
ProductWiki
wikiXbox360
Princeton Public Library’s Book Lovers Wiki
Wyoming Authors Wiki

How librarians can use wikis
Staff Intranet
Collaborative document editing
Collaboratively-developed manual
Conference wikis
Knowledgebase
Planning space for conferences

Wiki as Intranet for info sharing
Most are behind the firewall or are password protected
SUNY Stonybrook Health Science Library Wiki
University of Connecticut Library

Collaborative document editing
ZohoWriter
Google Docs and Spreadsheets
You could even just use something like PBWiki !

Collaboratively-developed manual
Print manuals are really hard to update!
Antioch University New England Library Staff Training and Support Wiki

Conference wikis
ALA 2005 Chicago Wiki
ALA 2006 New Orleans Wiki
IL 2006 Wiki
Wikimania 2006

Wiki as professional knowledgebase
Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki
Library Instruction Wiki
Qwiki : Quantum Physics Wiki
The New PR Wiki

Planning space for conferences
Hard to plan a conference with people from all over the place.
Five Weeks to a Social Library
BarCamp
PodCon

Wiki Tips How to develop and maintain a successful wiki

Wiki Tips: Software
Popular options for wiki hosted on your server
MediaWiki
PmWiki
Twiki
MoinMoin
XWiki
Confluence ($$$)

Wiki Tips: Software (cont’d)
Popular Options for wikis hosted by the software company
PBWiki
WetPaint
SeedWiki
If you want control, no ads, etc., host the wiki on your server.
If you don’t have server space, need the wiki for a small time-limited project, or are scared of maintaining a new tech, go with a hosted wiki.
Check out the WikiMatrix when thinking about which software to use

Choosing software: What to consider
Programming language
Ease of installation
Security
Permissioning
Spam prevention
Ease of use
Cost
Version control

What to consider (cont’d)
Syntax
Ability to hold discussions
RSS
Ability to change look
Extensions
Trajectory of development/support of development

Wiki Tips: Seeding the wiki
No one wants to add to an empty wiki
Also, people often don’t know what to add
Add some content to the major categories before going live
Creating an organizational scheme will prevent orphan links and chaos

Wiki Tips: Documentation
Wikis need lots of info for novice users
What is a wiki
What can you do with this wiki
How to edit the wiki
FAQ
Whom to contact for more help
Prepare for lots of questions!
Wikipedia has lots of good documentation for MediaWiki users

Wiki Tips: Content development
Do lots of marketing
If possible, offer trainings
Partner with groups/people related to your mission
Don’t do it all yourself!
Give the wiki a grassroots feel, make it welcoming.

Wiki Tips: Management
Security
Should you require registration?
Dealing with spam
Install spam-killing plugins or blacklists
Bad Behavior plugin.
Monitor the wiki several times a day
Get to know and love RSS
Find lots of dedicated helpers!!!

How to deal with posts you don’t like
Guidelines
Limit to on-topic posts
Take a note from the Wikipedia’s policies and guidelines
Get a committed group of volunteers to patrol a public wiki
If you need to delete something - use discussion area to explain why things were deleted.

Questions? Comments? Meredith Farkas mgfarkas at gmail dot com http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/ AIM: librarianmer Links and more resources at http://meredithfarkas.wetpaint.com/

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Wikis: Basics, Tools and Strategies

by Meredith Farkas on Apr 14, 2007

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