I completed the two Wiki assignments. Based on my personal experiences and the assigned readings, I think Wiki's have great potential to aggregate useful information that is kept up-to-date in real time. I like the idea of a system-wide Wiki rolodex or a temporary wiki that helps aid in accomplishing a short term or long term project. I see wiki's as information tools that help get a particular job done. When visiting some of the library Wiki's I thought that sought after information might be too embeded for the casual user to find. I also thought that the wiki pages were quite boring. For so long, the online world has been focusingattractive websites that are easy to use. Those wikis that I explored for this assignment seem to be quite rudimentary with regards to design and ease of use. I assume that they will evolve over time and that this criticism will no longer be valid.
I feel less comfortable using Wiki's in libraries within free for all environments such as for patron book comments or general commenting sited. Libraries need to remain controlled environments in order for them to be safe places for everybody. The blogosphere is a pretty wild west kind of crazy place, where people are routinely attacked, tags are used maliciously, and flame wars abound. While I like the idea of tagging and linking, libraries were originally designed as places where information was kept confidential. I don't think cataloged items should have any baggage linked to them. I believe our items should be in the catalog bias free. If folks want opinions expressed from the general population, there are already many sites to visit.
Libraries are necessarily controlled so that we have balanced collections that represent all aspects of society. Each item should stand on it's own.
No comments:
Post a Comment