Thing 16: Wikipalooza

I never used Wikipedia until about a year ago, and I was prepared to discard it as a worthless site. However, I found that I appreciated the site and agree with my those who deem it a decent starting point for research or a quick answer resource.

This exploration has shown me what other wikis are out there and how they are valuable. I especially can see the value of a wiki to a library-I think it would make a great RA tool. Allowing patrons to review books or make suggestions would be great! It's like having free staff! Really brings the old suggestion box idea up to snuff!

In the different sites highlighted in this area, a frequent contributor was Meredith Farkas (not sure if she's any relation to Scut Farkas from A Christmas Story, my favorite movie, but I digress). Ms. Farkas developed a wiki for an ALA conference in Chicago, which reminds me of my beloved (sorry to sound like a broken record) TripAdvisor. The contribution of ideas and suggestions, when offered with the right motivation, are very helpful to others. I did notice that her wiki Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki now carries a disclaimer stating that due to vandalism problems, email confirmations are now required. Therein seems to lie the root of the problem with wikis-the free sharing of "information" is not always presented objectively or accurately.

Here is my question: what is the main difference between wikis or sites like TripAdvisor, Facebook, or blogs? Is it the fact that there is no moderator? That doesn't seem 100% true, as it does appear that vicious, deragatory, or blatantly untrue wiki posts can be removed. Is it more that everyone is the moderator, instead of one figurehead?

One more note on Ms. Farkas: She had a segment on WebJunction where she states :And if someone don’t like what I wrote, they can make their own changes." If someone "don't" like?!! I bet she wishes WebJunction were a wiki so she could change what spellcheck probably incorrectly changed for her!