wikis and libraries: a winning combination darlene fichter university of saskatchewan...

Wikis and Libraries: A Winning Combination

Darlene FichterUniversity of Saskatchewandarlene.fichter@usask.ca April 18. 2006

Darlene Fichter

Photo by: rolobeetle Some rights reserved.

Overview

Collaboration & communicationWikis

– How do they work– What are some of the benefits– Blogs and wikis, what to use when

Questions What is your primary role at your organization?

Reference/Instructional Librarian Library ITS (web developer, systems librarian) Library manager Collections or Cataloguing or Digital Projects Other

Are you interested in using wikis for: Subject pages Internal project or team work Documentation Personal web publishing Conference Intranet Don’t know

Do you contribute to a wiki? Does your organization use:

Blogs Wikis RSS feeds

Poll: Committees and TeamsHow many groups do you belong to?

None one to two three to five More than 5How do you share information?

– Email– Mailing list– Shared file server– BBS– IM

What are some of the limitations?

What if …

Reduce email overloadHave an archive of the work done to dateBuild a knowledge base auto-magicallyHave an easy way to write reports,

documents, policies, and procedures together

Technologies Enabling Online Collaboration

Dozens:– Discussion forums– Email– Instant messaging– Newsgroups– Webcasts– Web conferencing

– Weblogs– Team rooms– Text messaging/wireless– RSS– Wiki– Expertise location– FOAF

What is a “Wiki”?

Web application invented by Ward Cunningham in 1994 that allows anyone to add content and anyone to edit it. “It’s a tool for collaboration, really, we don’t know

quite what it is but it’s a fun way of communicating asynchronously across the network”.

Wiki means “quick” in Hawaiian

Wiki Characteristics

Intended to be simple so you can focus on the writing, not the mechanics and syntax

No HTML know-how required

Wikis: Collections of Pages

Main Page Contact Us Electronic Virtual

edit edit editedit

Wiki pages look like web pagesAnyone with a web browser can read a wiki site

Illustrations adapted from Guillaume du Gardier. What is a wiki? June 2, 2005

Click, Write and Save

edit editsave

...KMWorld 2005

…KMWorld 2005

Anyone with a web browser can edit a wiki siteAnyone can undo any change at any time

Make a new page by typing the name in CamelCase, aka WikiName

Creating New Pages

Title

… NewName …

edit edit

NewName

Click on any WikiName to see pages that link to it

Wiki Design PrinciplesOpenness and trust

– if a page is incomplete or inaccurate anyone can edit it Incremental

– pages can cite other pages, even those not yet writtenObservable

– you can see the changes being madeOrganic

– site structure is up to everyone, and it will evolve and changeMore principles…

Wiki Design Principleshttp://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiDesignPrinciples

Openness and Trust

Wiki Examples: Wikipedia

www.wikipedia.org

Wikipedia: Recent Changes

Time Lapse – London Bombing

http://thelastminute.typepad.com/blog/2005/07/the_day_citizen.html

Wikipedia: Viewing History

Wikipedia: Talk Page

Wiki Gardeners

Person who goes around tidying up the wiki, pruning, editing, organizing, and cleaning up

Usually liked and respected

On a library wiki, you might want to assign this role.

Wikis: Professional Knowledge Repositories

http://www.libsuccess.org/

Wikis: Conference

http://cil2006.pbwiki.com/changes.php?pageID=1/

Library Web Site: Wiki Subject Guide

http://www.library.ohiou.edu/subjects/bizwiki/index.php/Main_Page

SCJPL: Subject Guides

http://www.libraryforlife.org/subjectguides/index.php/Main_Page

SCJPL: Subject Guides

http://www.libraryforlife.org/subjectguides/index.php/Pets

SCJPL: Discussion Pages

http://www.libraryforlife.org/subjectguides/index.php/Talk:Crafts

Coralville Public Library: Let’s Write!

http://www.coralvillepubliclibrary.org/warm.htm

Library Web Site Built With a Wiki

http://library.usca.edu/

Tour: Library Wikis

Internal uses– Staff Intranet– Projects– Event planning– IT documentation– Helpdesk

Library Intranet

http://wiki.lib.umn.edu/

Library Intranet

http://wiki.lib.uconn.edu/wiki/Main_Page

Library Information Technology Services Wiki

http://wiki.library.vanderbilt.edu/

Project/Committee

http://www.seedwiki.com/wiki/b-team/

Internal Wikis in Libraries

Collaborative writing (projects, teams developing procedures, policies, plans)

Meeting notes and reportsShared knowledge repository

Simple Case Study: Event Planning

Hosted Wiki: Jotspot

www.jotspot.com

WYSIWYG Editor

What Pages Have Changed?

See What Changed

Single Page or Side by Side

Wiki (Jotspot) Anatomy: FeaturesAttach a File

Import Word

Emails

Send an Email

Make a comment

Inviteusers

Changesvia RSS

Search

Event Planning and Support

http://coppul.jotspot.com (Password protected)

Wiki Reactions

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

Conference / Wiki Support

Participants signed up for wifi, dine-arounds, connected with each other before the event

Shared notes during the presentation and uploaded slides

Evaluated the workshop

Wiki Roadmap*

Install wiki software on web server Plan rollout and content Build the initial structurePopulate initial content with early adopters Initial rollout with smaller group Train and coach users Do not underestimate inertia and time

*Peter Theony, Wiki Based Collaborationhttp://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Codev/TWikiPresentation17Feb2005

Build the initial structure

Practical TipsHave a champion

– New way of “thinking”, paradigm shift from Intranet, webmaster or CMS (content management system)

Choose the right features:– Attach files– Access control– Version control– Ease of use: make sure “add a page” is self evident– Match look and feel– Alert and post via email to wiki

Tools to Help You Choose

Wiki Matrix– http://www.wikimatrix.org/

Emma Tonkin’s charts in – Making the Case for a Wiki. Ariadne, January

2005http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue42/tonkin/

Weblogs and Wikis Face Off

Photo Credit: Pascal Vuylsteker http://www.flickr.com/photos/pvk/

CC Attribution 2.5

Wikis Weblogs Group voice

Unstructured, organic

Anyone edits

Fluid medium: change any time

Better management: versions, rollback and change log, syndicate changes

Less familiar

Individual voice

Default is by date, reverse chronological

Anyone comments

Post medium like email (comment, reply, comment, …)

Edits aren’t tracked usually, new items are syndicated

More familiar

Wiki Brainstorm

Think about collaborative/team activities in your organization and library.

Identify 2 or 3 areas where a wiki web would help with collaboration.

Identify the “biggest obstacles” and how you might overcome them.

Wiki Summary

Wikis help support collaborationTools are simple, quick and inexpensiveThey belong in our collaboration toolboxOur workplaces are diverse

– Diverse users– Diverse needs– Diverse software choices

More Resources

Wiki Bibliography & Links– http://library.usask.ca/~fichter/wiki/

Questions

darlene.fichter@usask.ca