Friends lets just get it out of the way now! When you heard the word wiki you thought Wikipedia right? You thought to yourself; why would I want to read an entire blog about Wikipedia? I use it everyday and I know everything there is to know about Wikipedia. Well my friends I have something to tell you. Wiki isn't Wikipedia.............
Your shocked aren't you? Granted Wikipedia is the most famous wiki page in the world right now, but it is not by any means the oldest. In fact it is only one of millions out there.
So if Wiki is not short of Wikipedia then what does it mean?
A wiki is a piece of server software that easily allows members to participate in the creation of the web site quickly and easily without any prier HTML knowledge. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has simple text syntax for creating new page and links between pages. So basically a wiki is a type of website where any member of the site can easily go into the page and change information without having to have a degree in computer speak. As an example lets use the big bad world of Wikipedia, which as you may or may not know is a online dictionary of sorts. Members and staff of Wikipedia will enter information on a subject and than post it. What if a member reading it can looks at the page and says "hey that's not entirely correct!" Well than that member can go in and change the information. The change can be performed as easily as typing in text in a word program. There are no codes to know or formulas to figure out. If enough people on Wikipedia agree that a piece of information is correct, it will then be changed on the page.
This is a screen shot to show you an example of Wikipedia:
The little numbers in brackets represent citations; which can be changed. Occasionally with the citation there will be a note stating that a citation or more information is needed. Information on Wikipedia can actually be published before the information is agreed to be fact. The blue font is of course links; which will bring you to other pages within the Wikipedia world. All wikis allow you to utilize links very simply without any knowledge.
Now there are good and bad things about being able to so easily change information. An example of the bad is comedian Stephan Colbert. On his show "The Colbert Report" he has routinely asked his audience to all go to Wikipedia, on specific articles and change the information to make it incorrect. The flaw is that with enough people claiming something is fact it does become fact. If enough people stated the sky is green Wikipedia could actually post that as fact. This does not seem to be much of a problem for smaller wiki sites.
Wiki sites can be large or small; on any topic. They can be used internally within companies, or externally to fans or groups. If you wanted to start a wiki site of your own; on say your favorite TV show or band, books you have read or even a political party you choose to support; the first thing you want to do is go to a site such as Wikia, webpaint or pbworks. These are all FREE wiki web hosting sites that will help you get started. Out of there three I personally like Wikia the best. It seems the most straight forward and easy to use site. Plus it just looks the best of the three. And lets be honest a big part of the websites we choose to use these days is based on the aesthetics. PB works is aimed towards businesses and the site seems a little too beige and boring for my taste.
Now as with many of the things I have blogged about, I have never really used wikis before; other then the king of the wiki of course. I use Wikipedia all the time; but I do not think my use has anything to do with the fact that the information can easily be changed. I like the idea of community use of web sites and the simplicity of wikis, but I don't think I would really use them myself. I personally think that if I wanted to import information of any kind on a website I would just use a blog perhaps. I don't think I would ever take the time to follow another wiki or change information in any other wiki. I can see for certain groups of people why wikis would be quite useful for being able to easily change information but for my personal use I do not find them that useful.One place that could easily benefit from Wikis use would be libraries; especially public libraries. Internally libraries could use wiki's to communicate information to each other. The best feature of course is the fact that so many hosting sites are free to the library. Any free services that the library can use are things we should take advantage of. There are many uses for a library wiki page. Higher ups could put information in a wiki page and the people who respond can easily add or change information as needed. Also patrons could benefit from things such as changes in hours, upcoming events, new materials available in the library, library history and general information; such as late fees, card applications and types of materials available. The nice part is that all the things on the libraries wiki page can easily be changed without hiring on outside company to run a website or an expert in html
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While I was researching wikis I did come across a few that I thought were fun, so if your want to see a few examples of different types of wikis then please take a look!
1. The Mighty Boosh Wiki
This is an example of a very simple, user friendly television show wiki.(And my personal favorite show!)
2.Hello Kitty
This is an example of a Wikia wiki page. A nice, colorful page dedicated to Hello Kitty, with pictures, video and text.
Hello Kitty Wiki
3. Travel Wikis
A very wikipedia style travel wiki page. This one is is a very classically styled page that is easy to use. There is a lot of information to find and the ease of use is high.
A travel Wiki
Till next time friends!
Sincerely
Amanda- Head Librarian.
Librarian Currently Listening to: City Lounge: Paris
Lies that Chelsea Lately Told Me- Audio Book
Library Currently Reading:
The Swan Thieves- Elizabeth Kostova
The Scribblings of a Madcap Shambleton : Noel Fielding
Random facts for today:
To celebrate the last days of Canadian Library Month don't forget to stop by any local branch to drop off a book in our donate a book program! Or stop by any of this weekends children's reading events with Where the Wild Things are read by David Sedaris on Saturday and The Cat In The Hat read by Chuck Palahnuik.
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