Wikis in the Workplace

At the Supreme Court of Canada library, we have put the exploration of Web 2.0 tools (such as wikis and RSS feeds) in our 2006-2007 business plan.

Nothing fancy, nothing hard in stone, yet. Just exploring the ideas.

Recently, there have been a few interesting explanations of how to adopt wiki technology for team projects:

• Wikis in the Workplace: How Wikis Can Help Manage Knowledge in Library Reference Services: this is from the latest issue of the electronic journal LIBRES, published by Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Western Australia. The abstract reads: "This article explores how wikis can be used in library reference services to manage knowledge and why they should be used in this environment. The article begins with a description of wikis, then covers knowledge management and the systems that support knowledge management, specifically collaborative and conversational technologies. Next, the author discusses how wikis can be used as a knowledge management system and explores the organizational applications. Finally, a discussion follows on how wikis can be used to support knowledge management in library reference services with some examples of wikis as both private and public knowledge repositories and as collaborative workspaces".
• What Is a Wiki (and How to Use One for Your Projects): this was published last week by the O'Reilly Network. "Somewhere, in a dimly lit classroom, a library bench, or in a home study, some lucky so-and-so is writing an essay from beginning to end with no notes. This splendid individual is able to craft entire sections without forgetting by the end what the section was intended to include at the beginning, and can weave a carefully paced argument with thoughts and references collected over a period of months, all perfectly recollected. Neither of your authors is this person. Instead, we need help, and that help comes in the shape of a wiki. A wiki is a website where every page can be edited in a web browser, by whomever happens to be reading it. It's so terrifically easy for people to jump in and revise pages that wikis are becoming known as the tool of choice for large, multiple-participant projects. This tutorial is about how to effectively use a wiki to keep notes and share ideas amongst a group of people, and how to organize that wiki to avoid lost thoughts and encourage serendipity".

And this Thursday, July 13, SirsiDynix is hosting a seminar on Wiki: The Ultimate Tool For Online Collaboration