If You’re Curious About Wikis…
Go online to learn more about the latest tech tool for learning
By Gail Junion-Metz -- School Library Journal, 11/1/2005
This month’s feature story, “Make Way for Wikis,” (pp. 52–54) explores how wikis are being used as a learning tool. These sites will help you learn more.
High School Online Collaborative Writingschools.wikicities.com/wiki/Main_Page
This high school wiki encourages students to not only write and contribute their composition to the project, but practice their editing skills to improve other student work.
UC Davis Campus WikiThe UC Davis Wiki is a fine example of a virtual community. A good model for a similar online presence linking your library, school, district, and/or community.
OCLC Wiki Worldcat Pilot Projectwww.oclc.org/productworks/wcwiki.htm
Check out this groundbreaking pilot project from the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) that allows librarians to add comments and book reviews to OCLC Worldcat (and eventually FirstSearch) cataloging records, all via a wiki.
Butler University Libraries Reference Wikiwww.seedwiki.com/wiki/butler_wikiref
Wikis can also be used to improve different aspects of library service. Here the reference librarians at Butler University have created a wiki that will provide more in-depth reference content than was feasible through a conventional Web site alone.
Library Instruction WikiThis library wiki illustrates how collaboration and user-provided content can be a good thing. The contributors are librarians who are using the wiki to share ideas, documents, handouts, and bibliographic references, all related to enhancing library instruction.
The Teachers Lounge WikiThis nifty teacher-oriented wiki offers educator-designed lesson plans, handouts, worksheets, and more. The elementary and middle school content is especially worthwhile. Share Teachers Lounge with colleagues, who might be inspired to contribute a resource of their own.
ALA Chicago 2005 WikiThe unofficial wiki for the last American Library Association conference provides an insider’s view of this event.
Wiki Bibliographywww.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/WikiBib.htm
Are you a Wiki neophyte? Then visit here to learn more about how others are using Wikis, through this bibliography created by Gerry McKiernan, a librarian at Iowa St. Univ. Library. It’s just the thing you’ll need to get up to speed on this new tool.
