Wiki-WHAT?

Ahh wikis. Containing within them a plethora of information, some useful, some completely inane. The most popular wiki is Wikipedia, the world's largest encyclopedia. Anybody, anywhere, can add information to or create an article on any given topic. Part of what makes a wiki so user friendly is that it doesn't require users to be knowledgeable about HTML. On the other hand,public ones don't require them to be knowledgeable about the content they are adding to either. Which makes Wikipedia, and public sites like it, a great source for information but unreliable at face value. So you have to be careful in deciding which wikis to use to gather information from.


An internal wiki, however, is a great resource for companies to share and collect information from its employees. In a library setting, it could be used to brainstorm ideas, plan and coordinate events, even implement training programs. Every employee can voice a thought, an opinion, and get feedback from their colleagues.


After looking at three different wikis (Wikia, WetPaint and PBwiki) I have to say I preferred the set up of Wikia. It was very user friendly, and was like an EBSCOHost of wikis. I could enter a search time for a certain subject and it would come back with the most relevant sites. It also gave suggested wiki links, which a person might not have thought to look for, but found interesting anyways. 


The WetPaint site seemed altogether too cluttered for my liking. It was also not as easy to navigate. When I entered search terms, it didn't always come back with the relevant topic. Instead, it just seemed to give me any site that had those words found anywhere within it. Which meant instead of getting wikis on that topic specifically, I was getting sites that made a one line, off hand reference to the topic. 


And finally PBwiki. Which had a nice layout overall, and easy navigability as well. But it was limited to only Business and Education information. Helpful for somebody in those fields, or for somebody needing information about them, but not relevant to general searching. I liked Wikia best, but PBwiki is a close second.


Overall, I enjoy using wikis. Especially fan run ones, like Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki. Most of the time when I'm using a site like Wikipedia I take the information with a grain of salt, and search for other sites that will confirm the information is correct. But with a fan run site for something as prolific as Star Trek, you're almost guaranteed the information will be correct. If a rabid fan saw something that was incorrect, it would be immediately fixed, and the wrong-doer most likely chastised for getting it wrong in the first place. But for anything important, like a medical condition or your Masters thesis, a wiki might no be the best place to get information from.


We still love you, wikis. Live long and prosper :)