I’m already a fan of  Wikipedia. It’s a useful resource for librarians.

As for contributing to wikis, I’ve used a wiki when I was involved in a Learnscope project a couple of years ago. The main problem was finding time to work on the project and also add updates to the wiki. Time pressures won and I only added the bare minimum of project details to the wiki. Still, I like the idea of a shared web page that can be edited and updated by a group of users.

I’ve had a look at some of the wikis listed (those that weren’t blocked!). I’m a bit concerned about the number of these wikis that have been abandonned and the content moved elsewhere. Some contributors state that they had too many problems with spam. Other wikis were just created for a specific project though, and ended at the project’s conclusion. If privacy and spam issues can be resolved, I think wikis have potential for the following:

Potential Library Uses

• project management
• library subject guides with RSS feeds e.g. http://champlaincollegelibrary.pbwiki.com/Accounting
• reading lists with RSS feeds

Education Uses

Here’s an interesting idea – wikis as textbooks! http://lrr.cli.det.nsw.edu.au/Lrr2Tale/Tale/ResourceInfo.aspx?resID=6927

Potential Challenges:

• controlling authority of content
• deciding who can edit the wiki and setting up restrictions without missing out on potentially valuable contributions
• finding time to maintain the wiki as regular checks and updates would be required