Wikis and Other Things From Week Three

Week Three: Wikis Galore is almost over. Amazingly enough, this also means that Five Weeks is more then halfway over. As far as this leader and moderator knows, no one has been lost at see or in the internet tubes. Some people have been feeling overwhelmed and there has been quite a lot of new information flying through your screen. I hope you all take some time to digest and relax this weekend.

We only had one live webcast this week, but it was filled with two great presenters: Chad Boeninger and Starr Hoffman. Everyone had lots of great questions and Chad and Starr gave everyone a lot to think about. If you missed this webcast, you need to listen to it to get all the juicy details.

This was a busy week as there were also three screencasts and one podcast. Paul Lewis and Brenda Chawner discussed PMWiki, Robert McDonald and Jonanthan Blackburn shared their experience with MediaWiki, and Amelia Abreu talked about using social software to create a community around special collections. Brenda Chawner and John Rankin brought us a very cool interview with Patrick Michaud, the creator of PMWiki.

This week the assignments were based on exploration. You were to either:

• Explore the library wikis listed under week three and post about how you could use wikis in your library or
• Explore the different wiki tools and discuss why you would choose one or the other.

At this point in the roundup, I usually link to a bunch of people's posts and you can bounce around and look at them. Today though, I just want to encourage you to go and read everyone's posts for the week. You have all been thinking about the possibilities of wikis in your libraries and many of you have asked very good questions. How is this useful? What about content control? Archiving content? What about a wiki that is made and abondoned? How can I use this to make my job or my partons' experience better?

Next week is packed to the gills and you will have a lot to do, read, explore, and think about. Take some R&R time this weekend. After you finish this week, of course. You guys are doing a wonderful job.

A small reminder: You should start thinking about your final project, what it will be. look like, and the format it will take. Be fun. Be creative.