WIKIS

I knew very little about wikis before this class assignment. Although I am aware of Wikipedia I hadn't really investigated it either, so this assignment was new territory for me
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What did I learn? Wiki means quick in Hawaiian.
Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to create and edit a web page using any Web browser. Wikis support hyperlinks and simple text formatting rules. I found this website explaining the rules. http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?TextFormattingRules. A wiki page doesn’t require knowledge of HTML. Usually, web pages have Webmasters who control the content of a webpage, but Wikis are open web-pages that allow anyone registered with wiki to publish, change or amend the page. Therefore, the website becomes a collaboration of many people’s thoughts and ideas. Some wikis are open to everyone whilst others are open only to specific groups.

Meredith Farkas’ article "Using Wikis to Create Online Communities" is very interesting and insightful and as usual Common Craft put Wikis in a simplistic way. I looked at all the suggested resources for Wikis in the Library. I liked what SJCPL had done with their subject guide page. I visited Wikipedia and looked up patient safety. The results were interesting with numerous links to related information.

In my workplace I can see that wikis would be useful in creating manuals, applying for grants or any topic where input is needed from all Mayo sites being that we operate in the same manner in each location. I understand that some committees in my workplace are using wikis, but I have not been involved.

In summary a wiki would be used for Group collaboration or as James Surowiecki in his book The Wisdom of Crowds suggests "the process of taking into account the collective opinion of a group of individuals rather than a single expert to answer a question". There are obviously problems with wikis in the public sector such as duplication, lack of control, and the information that has been added could be inappropriate or incorrect. It would obviously not be wise to add personal information or copy righted material.