Wikis

   A wiki is a way of gathering information from a large number of people. Its advantages are also its disadvantages. Wikis update quickly giving readers the latest information. But, anyone can write or change a wiki entry. There are wikis about many different topics. Because anyone can write a wiki, it can be subjective or based on the author’s opinion. Because of this, many teachers and librarians do not recommend Wikipedia to their students.

   Wikis: A Beginners Look :http://meredith.wolfwater.com/cil06/ offers information on how wikis are used and how to start your own wiki. From these slides I learned about wiki farms. A wiki farm is a wiki hosting service that offers tools that make it easy to start a wiki. There are different wiki farms to choose from.

   After reading through a list of wiki farms, I chose PBworks to create a wiki. They offer a free basic plan. It was fairly simple to start the wiki page. I like that the account can be set as private. In this case only people that are invited or approved can view your wiki. Or, the account can be set to be viewed by all. If I were using this for an activity with the children at school I would probably choose the private setting, depending on the activity. The difficult part will be figuring out what to use it for and filling up the page with information!


Here is an example of how a librarian might use a wiki:

http://www.library.ohiou.edu/subjects/bizwiki/index.php/Main_Page

I attended a workshop where the instructor assigned a research project to his students. He worked with the media specialist as they guided the students in researching and then creating wikis. The students worked collaboratively through the research process and  posted their results on a wiki. I think this is a wonderful project. The students learned the steps in creating a wiki and they also learned that anyone can edit the information found on a wiki. This helps them understand why wikis may not be reliable resources.