Week 10 (Jul 26 - Aug 2)

Wikis

Collaboration is central to the Web 2.0 technologies where lots of people can freely work together and contribute to the Web environment. Wiki is perhaps the best example of what the "collective wisdom" can achieve. Let's have a look at Wiki in this week.

The following video can best illustrate the basics of Wikis, enjoy!

So, what is Wiki?

Wiki is taken from the Hawaiian word wiki, which means "Quick". In Web 2.0 terms, a wiki is a collaborative Web and authoring tool that allows you to add, edit, remove content that can be quickly put on the Web. The largest and most well-known wiki is Wikipedia; a huge, free online encyclopedia in over 200 languages. To publish on wiki, you don't have to know any computer language (e.g. HTML).

Much like blogging sites (e.g. blogger.com, Wordpress, etc), there are various kinds of wiki sites including PBWiki, MediaWiki, Twiki, etc. Wikis can vary greatly in both appearance and purpose, but they have very similar functionalities. To see and compare the features of different wikis, see WikiMatrix.

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How Are Libraries Using Wikis

There are numerous applications of how wikis are being used in the libraries. Here are just some examples:

Staff Wiki

• The University of Connecticut Libraries have created a wiki to maintain the vast amount of documentation in its Information Technology Services (ITS) department.
• The Glucksman Library also has a wiki for its cataloging staff with all kinds of cataloging materials and guidelines. These wikis allow easy access for anyone in the library to create/edit news and information. Keep in mind that wikis do not require any programming languages (e.g. HTML).
• The HKUST Library also maintains a Twiki which is not only a repository of meeting minutes, but it also serves as a knowledge base for our staff.

Subject Guides

Many libraries publish subject guides on wiki to help user navigating the information resources. For example,

• St. Joseph County Public Library makes all its subject guides available on wiki.
• Library Success is a best practice wiki which provides a place for library staff to share ideas, information and knowledge pertaining to the library discipline.

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Weekly Activities

1. Explore Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org). For example, you can find a wiki of HKUST which provides you a very detailed picture about our university.

2. Go to the Learning 2.0@HKUST wiki (http://lbnx30.ust.hk/mediawiki/)

3. You can create your own account or use the followings to log in.
Username: hkustlib
Password: learning

4. Click the "Edit" button on top and start adding your books!!!

5. When you are finished, click the "save" icon on the menu bar

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Last but not least, there are lots of discussions about wiki. If you are interested in learning more about wikis, here is the suggested reading list.

1. Wiki on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki)

2. The Wikipedia revolution: how bunch of nobodies created the world's greatest encyclopedia / Andrew Lih

3. How Wikipedia works: and how you can be a part of it / Phoebe Ayers, Charles Matthews and Ben Yates.

That's all for this week. Happy Wikis!

Remarks: Special thanks to Alex for his effort and time setting up the Mediawiki for us.