The Wikis

Am on my way to understanding the wikis - more investigation needed before finishing this blog.

Wikis - the collabrative way of working. I guess I have been using the Wikipedia for some years now to find information- just reading but not wanting to update or correct the information found. In the last month I have come across more examples of Wikis in libraries. The latest one being the eLGAR sharepoint. As a member of a working party in eLGAR we now have access to sharepoint and will be using this site for communication, filing of our minutes and more importantly - discussion/threads of future work. Any change control requests will be done thru this medium. No more emails going back and forth. Just a record of discussions, thoughts and points of view before we make a decision. Then once the decision is made - this record of the discussion will always be found.

A wiki would also be very useful in managing staff communications at work. Imagine the senario of Xmas dinner for the staff. Where, when, who could all be online. All staff to have input. At present it seems only those at the staff meeting get a say - no-one replies to an email with suggestions and very few have their say on the noticeboard... The staff meeting minutes could all be accessed thru the Wiki so could be accessible from anywhere not just at work on the G drive.

New best practice procedures could be done this way also - put the document up for discussion and comment. Work any changes into it. Publish and file for future reference

However I don't have the time to set this up so status quo continues.