Still Finishing My "Things"

I will earn my custom SPL flash drive for completing the 27 Things on time! Today is an introduction to wikis. Like most of these "things", wikis are nothing new to me but I do feel as though they have failed to be as widely embraced as I would have expected. The potential of this tool to have utility across such a range of situations is impressive to me.

Obviously, most of us are aware of one use of wiki: Wikipedia. However, I think that the near universal awareness of Wikipedia has blinded many people to the different ways in which the wiki technology might be used. As always in their work, Common Craft does an outstanding job of simplifying the concept of wikis in Wikis in Plain English. In short, the wiki provides a place for folks spread across geographic areas to collaboratively create information on a given topic. This can take a form as informal as that presented by Common Craft or it can be used in much for formal settings. Durham County Library provides an outstanding example of the collaborative power of wikis at their strategic planning wiki, for example. Not only did DCL's use of wikis provide an always accessible place for the sharing of ideas and feedback during their planning process, I think the best thing about this example is the ease with which customer feedback was incorporated into the planning process.

At Sacramento Public Library, there have been a few attempts at making use of wikis for project planning but these attempts have not proven all that fruitful. I'm not really sure what actions or attitudes make a successful wiki experience more likely but I'd be interested to hear from those who have had positive experiences.