Wikis, Wikis Everywhere but…

Ok – I’m not an actual Librarian – so I am allowed to admit – that I love Wikipedia. Possibly, probably, maybe, because it has proved me right on more than one occasion in those inane arguments you have with your better (or in my case wronger) half.  (Like did Toyah do a cover version of Echo Beach? And oh, yes so she did!)

I realise that is has many flaws and is subject to mischievous hoaxes and misinformation and limitations and I kind of love it even more because of this.  It’s a bit like the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” – which “despite its many glaring (and occasionally fatal) inaccuracies, has outsold the Encyclopedia Galactica because it is slightly cheaper...”"

I can see that using a Wiki might be quite a good thing if you are working collaboratively with people who don’t share the the same network and are incapable of CCing in an email (or using reply all).  (Although, as an aside and disappointingly – as a learning tool for doing distance learning through several papers at Massey I have found Wikis to be more than useless. The only people who seem to add anything are:   the tutor with an initial welcome message expressing their delight at using “new” technologies to deliver their teaching  and looking forward to seeing how it goes,  2 or 3 “hellos” from other students, and about 3 items from me with maybe 1 response from someone else before the Wiki becomes a barren wasteland of neglect with tumbleweeds rolling across the plains.)

So for my discovery exercise, I took a look at the Library Success – wiki and thought, great - here is everything I ever wanted to know about the profession all in one place – what a fantastic idea!! Wikis are wonderful!  Then I took a look at the public PBWikis page and hmmmm, there are lots of libraries all with their own wikis, all providing information on Readers Advisory or Children’s services. And hmmm, I think there might be some duplication here. Everyone wants to contribute to a Wiki, but it seems like they all want to contribute to their own Wiki (and get others to join them) not add to existing ones.  Then I read Meredith Farkas piece, and her mention of the Wiki about the librarians 2005 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago and all the restaurant and accommodation reviews etc. I thought about the IT Consultant’s 2006 Annual Conference in Chicago’s Wiki, and the Govenment PA and Executive Officers 2007 Annual Conference and their Wiki,  and the American Medical Association Alliance’s conference, and the International Salvation Army conference, and even the XXVIth International Symposium on Cerebral Blood Flow and  Metabolism (950 delegates no less). And I wondered how many wikis were being written all with almost exactly the same information.

I ask myself – does the World need another Wiki?  Why does Wikipedia work? Because all the information is in one place. But what if there are lots of Wikis everywhere?…