The Learn & Play Wiki
For those among the uninitiated, the 16th Learn & Play “Thing” was to play around with the Learn & Play “Sandbox” wiki.
The wikiwas set up with PBwiki, which I have used in the past with success. I like the ease of use if not the appearance of the interface. The WSYSIWYG editor takes a lot of the heavy lifting out of the process of course. I added my blog to the Favorite Blogs page and a favorite website. Really, anyone who’s already used to using Blogger or WordPress should have no problem with wiki editing. It is important for a “real” wiki that there be editing standards so that there’s a consistent look, but since this one is just for playing around there’s no problem here as far as I’m concerned.
Wikis are a fabulous tool for creating information storehouses. The ability to allow a community to create a storehouse of knowledge is fantastic. The only concern I have about them is that they be used properly. There is a tremendous urge on the part of Librarians to limit wikis. The well-publicized stories of vandalism on Wikipedia are certainly foremost in their minds. However, by limiting access to library staff you cut out potential gold mines of information in your own community and defeat the purpose of a wiki in the first place. In addition, wikis create an expectation that one will be able to edit content, and the fact that a public wiki is closed off to editing can be off-putting.
I know this sounds old school, but if you want to be able to control the content on a page, its perfectly alright to make a normal web page for it. I know wikis are “in” and all, but to make a wiki just because they’re more hip is just plain goofy (I feel like I’m repeating myself). If you chose a wiki because of the ease of use, consider that there are ways to add content to a regular page that are just as simple. For that matter, you could create a wiki, but take the time to make it look less like a wiki. There are services out there that let someone with a little CSS know-how customize the look of their wiki enough to disguise the “wikiness” of their site without compromising the ease of use. Of course, most of these cost money at least a little money…
I guess ultimately, my mantra is “use the right tool for the job”. That’s not always a wiki.
