Wikis are fast becoming part of our accepted information sources, but remain controversial as far as the reliablity of their content is concerned. The New Zealand school library Listserv regularly hosts discussions on whether students should be allowed to use Wikipedia or not. It has been claimed that research shows that Wikipedia actually contains less factual errors than Encyclopedia Britannica - I am not sure whether this is true or an urban myth. Editing, revising and bringing out a new edition of a conventional encyclopedia takes years, but advances in knowledge can be added quickly to a Wikipedia, so they are a valuable resource in areas such as information technoloy, which develop and change quickly. As far as reliability goes, the fact that people are constantly editing wikis means that false information will soon be removed. Objectivity is a problem, but this applies to conventional information sources as well.
As far as libraries are concerned, wikis offer lots of possibilities. Library staff can't possibly read all the books available and write reviews on them, so encouraging customers to add reviews to the library website would be great. The same applies to community information - organisations like Lions and Rotary which change their office bearers every year are hard to keep track of, so it would be helpful if they added their own information. Moderation of information would have to be considered, as you'll always have the problem of people who add inappropriate content. But the pros definitely outweigh the cons. Within the library service wikis can be used to disseminate ideas and information among staff. For conferences, wikis are an incredible way of organising all the information that is generated - and one person doesn't have to collate all that information. The big plus of wikis is that they are so easy to use - anyone who can type can contribute even if they don't know what HTML means.
As far as libraries are concerned, wikis offer lots of possibilities. Library staff can't possibly read all the books available and write reviews on them, so encouraging customers to add reviews to the library website would be great. The same applies to community information - organisations like Lions and Rotary which change their office bearers every year are hard to keep track of, so it would be helpful if they added their own information. Moderation of information would have to be considered, as you'll always have the problem of people who add inappropriate content. But the pros definitely outweigh the cons. Within the library service wikis can be used to disseminate ideas and information among staff. For conferences, wikis are an incredible way of organising all the information that is generated - and one person doesn't have to collate all that information. The big plus of wikis is that they are so easy to use - anyone who can type can contribute even if they don't know what HTML means.
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