Wikis

I have written entries for an Oxford University Press encyclopedia and the process was strictly peer-reviewed. Jimmy Wales says not to cite ANY encyclopedia. Well, my entries were reviewed scrupulously, so I can stand squarely by the information I gathered for the essays. As for the dinosaur-version of encyclopedias, it's worth the time and effort to ensure that correct information is available to students, researchers and the public.

Henry Bryant Bigelow
Gail Borden
Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell

Wikis can be a good tool for internal communication, as many have said, or good for starting points on obscure or very current subjects. But as a research tool, not so much.

Speaking of specific wikis, I LOVED the St. Joseph County Public Library cooking subject page! It has the look of an old-fashioned pathfinder, which I learned to create in library school. There's information on the location and hours of the local farmers' market and even a recipe there! All of the library's cooking magazine subscriptions are listed (with links to the catalog records; helpful). There's a link to a local chocolate company's Web site and so much more; I am impressed. If I find out about specific subject pages of interest to me locally, I will certainly participate in the updating and maintenance of those sites. When used like this, wikis are bar-none for information sharing.

An aside: the CommonCraft videos are funny! They use bits of paper to show things about technology. I find that ironic, but charming.

Another aside: When I looked at the site yesterday, I was surprised to see Wales asking Wikipedia users for cash. What's that all about?