#12

Wiki is one of those Web 2.0 terms that just seemingly appeared out of nowhere.  Like Google, it seems to be just been one of those forces of nature that most everyone, everywhere knows about and uses on a regular basis.  I don't know precisely when I began referencing Wikipedia.  With it being a regular at the top of my Google search results when researching various topics, it just somehow made its way into my (and everyone else's) online subconscious.

I've only recently accurately discovered what exactly the term "wiki" means -- content which is created by anyone, that can be edited and shared by anyone (provided they've been granted access).  With this light shed, I realize that I've been using wikis for some time without even knowing it.  For a class I took in Spring 2009, my preassigned group had a collaborative document due along with a presentation.  Without any deliberation, a member of my group recommended typing up the assignment via Google Docs.  (Once again, Google takes the credit here, though it's apparent this method of communicating probably wasn't originated by them!)  Being that the group size was three, and the assignment was in three parts, we would each take one part, type up our findings separately, then post them to the final document we could each access and edit at any given time.

As is demonstrated in the Common Craft video on wikis, having a shared document or web page for communication purposes is much more efficient than the inevitable roundabout of emailing every party within a group would.  In my past jobs, whether or not someone's email address was carbon copied or included in the 'to' column could result in a line of confusion not easily resolved.  For instance, I may email my direct supervisor and cc the president of the company on an email regarding a problem that needed addressing, but then get a response from the supervisor without the president being return cc'd (a simple oversight that may or may not be deliberate).  In the haste of obtaining a resolution to the problem at hand, the president of the company may be inadvertently left out of the loop of communication, not knowing the status of the potential resolution at hand.  With something like a Wiki, this confusion or lack of information would be eliminated, because everyone with access to the page would, literally, be on the same page.

There is a certain amount of trust inherently involved in working with wikis, and in a library setting this would be of utmost importance.  When various library staff are able to contribute different aspects to, say, their library's blog, and notice an erroneous item someone else may have posted, they can easily correct it without much ado (having to contact an administrator, or the author, to have it corrected, etc.).  In this realm, wikis would most certainly result in the most accurate information, provided in the quickest, most accessible way.