Thing #16: Wikis

I first encountered wikis while working at the reference desk of an academic library. Initially, I absolutely despised the idea, as it provided a false sense of authority to articles that could be complete bunk (such as can be said for the internet as a whole, I guess). I frequently heard students (these were college students keep in mind) say that wikipedia must be accurate because it was just like an online encyclopedia. The similar names meant that veracity must also be similar. This was several years ago, and since then the general public's knowledge of wikis has improved, but also it seems to me the content available has also come a long way. From my initial distaste for the concept, I now frequently find myself happily finding information on wikipedia. I usually only use the site to satisfy personal curiosity on a topic, and would still never point a student towards it as a resource for school. But still, it seems that the quality of writing and the accuracy in place has truly made great strides. I now enjoy them (wikipedia specifically) a great deal and often use the site when I seek an answer simply for my own edification. I guess the way I look at it at this point is as a kind of online encyclopedia specifically for odd topics. I'll often look up a character from a book, movie, or comic and find where fans have researched every appearance of that figure, read interviews with the creators, and really provided a nice bit of background information that would have otherwise taken significant leg work to track down. So as I said, great for personal curiosity, not so good for scholarly research.

I looked at some of the suggested wikis and wasn't too sure about the purpose of the sites. The Book Lover's Wiki just seemed like a review site, which we've already seen throughout the 23 things. The Bull Run Library wiki just seems like a crummy web page. It's not so much a true wiki, so much as it is (the site admits) just a place on the internet where one patron updates info about programs and the library. I think the concept of wikis has alot of potential, but there is still quite a bit of thought necessary as to how they should be properly employed in our profession. Just how they'll influence libraries in the future remains to be seen.