Sunday, October 25, 2009

Week 7, Thing #16

I feel silly even saying this; however, I never made the connection of Wikipedia being a Wiki. My only exposure to the wiki would have been through Wikipedia as well as minimal use in a previous class in my library science studies. I started from scratch and read the text, the 23 Things, watched the YouTube video, and visited all of the websites suggested. I really appreciated in the video the easy explanataion of exactly what a wiki is and exactly why it is quite useful. It really became clear to me when the wiki was compared to a blog, except done by whomever has a thought. The idea of the wiki seems practical, especially if people are working collaboratively from a distance and would like to share with others.
My favorite use, and what I would consider the most practical library use of the wiki was the book lovers wiki. http://booklovers.pbworks.com/Princeton%20Public%20Library It allowed for book lovers who participated in a club to comment and provide ratings for books in a number of categories. I just imagined how fun that would be for my students to read a book and share on a wiki with their classmates or for younger classmates in years to come. I realize that it would not be practical for students to do this for every book they read, but I think they would really enjoy this process. Maybe the student could even accompany a book report with a wiki rating and comments.
I am most pleased with the ease of the wiki. It does not require a person to sign up for anything, receive obnoxious daily emails, or hand out personal information. It is just a friendly forum where the ideas can flow! I am excited to use a wiki for my future technological endeavors.

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