What's What With Wikis

Like many (most?) people, the only wiki on my radar screen was Wikipedia. Now that I have my eyes open for Everything Wiki, I am finding all kinds of interesting stuff. About Wikipedia itself: a Time magazine article (bookmarked) noting that the site is not as active as it was, speculating on the limits of knowledge and fatigue of the concept. "Has all knowledge been summarized, or does Wiki have a problem?" The contraction in editorial activity suggests interesting questions about reliability of "crowdsourced" information, waning commitment of the core editors, shifting standards of readers, and modifications that may be made in response.

Another Big Wiki I found was Library Success (bookmarked), a wiki about all things library, and an excellent resource for both librarians and LIS students.

And there is more, much more! Suzanne Bell has written a couple of terrific articles for Online magazine that explore different types of wikis based on specialized topics and users, their purposes, and who is contributing to them and maintaining them. These articles are inspiration not only for the information-seeking public but also librarians seeking references resources. Examples:

• Health wikis, where people can share and search for information related to medical, nutrition, and fitness issues. Information quality and reliability are examined.
• City wikis, where locals freely contribute information about their cities and towns, the places to see and things to do, an insider's view.
• Reference wikis, organized by topic and maintained by experts, tightly controlled. Issues of reliability, authority, and control are examined, with comments about the definition of a wiki...if editorial control is limited, is it really a wiki?
• Enthusiast wikis, freely and lovingly maintained by bikers, beer fans, quilters, and more.

(See Bell, Suzanne. Wikis as legitimate research sources. Online, Nov-Dec 2008, 32(6): 34-37. See also: Bell, Suzanne. Wikis for reference, enthusiasts, and government information. Online, Jan-Feb 2009, 33(1): 20-23.)

I've also found solid, basic definitions and background on the WebJunction and Library 2.0 websites (both bookmarked). Next: I will explore How to Do Your Own Wiki.