step #11~what the wiki...

1. in deze oefening ga je enkele bibliotheekwiki’s bekijken.

2. Schrijf een blogpost over je bevindingen. Wat vond je interessant? Welke toepassingen zouden goed zijn om in een wiki te doen en welke niet?

okay so as it asks in step #11 i checked out a few of the library wiki’s. wiki’s are in and of themselves a cool concept…being able to easily and quickly share knowledge over a particular subject in an open and collective environment… they are great for sharing info. in a work setting or using as a forum for faq. i mean really the list is endless. in work situations where the wiki is used as a sort of forum or opinion outlet or faq is the issue of content control no problem. it is your opinion or your experience that is important. but when the wiki is used to share more information than that which is first hand i think you have to be careful. for example wikipedia is a great idea for sharing information with each other but I don’t think it can be considered “research appropriate” material . just like in tagging, the issue of control remains and is actually a bigger issue here since you need to be sure that the information provided is accurate. i think you can use the likes of wikipedia as a spring board so you have a very basic understanding of the topic before you dive into further deeper “real” research but because of the essence of the wiki, the open sharing, it is not a source in and of itself. it is just not trustworthy enough for me. you can use the references provided(if they are even provided) for further research but not the wiki entry itself…that is like 3rd hand information…my brothers, roommates, goldfishes, next-door neighbours, long lost cousin said… and it just doesn’t cut it for me in the research world whether we are talking academic or elementary school level…does that make sense? so my conclusion for step #11 is lets use it in and out of library world to share info. but lets keep it out of the research world…i can get enough 3rd hand info. from my 92 year old neighbour!