More thoughts on Wikis and web 2.0

Been very busy at work for the last few weeks (heritage festival preparation etc), and so haven't posted for a while! But it has given me time to ruminate on some of the benefits and the potential of wikis.

As information professionals, it is our responsibility to ensure that information can be found when it is sought, and that it can be verified once it is found. So, why not combine the genius of Wikis with the practicality of Creative Commons to ensure that a 'virtual paper trail' is created. Let me elaborate, if I add a page to a specialised wiki (such as nswlearning2), and someone edits it, then their username (to maintain privacy) and the date, and a Creative Commons licence attribution share-alike is attached, then whoever then copies, edits or uses the information are compelled to maintain the attribution, thus ensuring that people will always be able to find the original source of the information by following the trail back, and see how it has developed! I believe this will encourage the free exchange of information, while maintaining some level of source reliability.

I would also like to see an active campaign by libraries to remove the stigma associated with wikis (such as wikipedia). By actively assessing the information on various entries, and editing them to ensure they are correct and meet referencing and style-guide standards, we can all improve this encyclopedia, and make it a more reliable source.

I have changed my views on wikis in the past weeks, thanks mainly to this NSW Public Libraries Learning 2.0 course. I realised that I would not be able to find information about my suburb, or the City I work for, or my Mayor in a standard print or online encyclopedia, because (lets be honest) why would they bother! There are thousands of 'little' places, people and things all over the world and they couldn't ensure that all were accounted for and then keep the entries maintained.