Week 7, Thing 16: Wikis

Thing 16:

Wikis are unnerving. I started working on the HCPL Wiki's Tech Fair/Library 2.0 areas. What has been difficult for me is the idea that many people can edit one another's work. It's a new way of working that I'll just have to grow accustomed to.

St. Joseph County Public Library has a group of "subject guides" that are being managed and edited wiki-style. I would love to explore using this technology for my library's "Online Resources" page. I wouldn't mind having anyone have access to it, either, as this is a whopper of a task to maintain. I think that my personal "sticking point" is trusting others not to delete all the hours of work that have gone into the database (accidentally, of course). And what kinds of procedures would need to be put in place to track changes? The wiki keeps track, but somehow, those little emails I get when someone has changed our wiki don't make much of an impression.

Once again, I think my confusion has to do with how the way I work is evolving. I haven't arrived yet, obviously, because the emails seem to stop me in my tracks. With traditional emails, I take in the information. I delete it or save it. These little wiki notifications that show every little change require time to interpret and absorb. I'm not really thinking about the topic at hand when the emails come through. There needs to be a special way of handling this email, because it really is a different animal - at least in my mind, at this point.