I may have previously mentioned my internship at National Geographic promoting the use of Web 2.0. Well, one of the things I especially pushed was the use of wikis for collaborating and sharing information. Often, when thinking of wikis, the first thing that comes to mind is Wikipedia. But at National Geographic, librarians as well as staff used wikis as forums to discuss future events and to record meeting minutes as well as creative ideas.

Libraries also use wikis for reader's advisory. I started such a wiki called Children's Lit Love (You can also see a link for this wiki at the top of this blog). Here is a screenshot:



Another example of a reader's advisory wiki is the Book Lover's Wiki. The great thing about a wiki is that it makes collaborating and publishing information in an online medium simple. Collaborators often add information in a format very similar to typing into a word processing window. Depending on the wiki engine (i.e., WetPaint, MediaWiki, etc.), collaborators will have to learn certain types of coding. However, it is extremely easy and publishing information on the web is as simple as clicking on a button. Also, information is organized by different web pages and not restricted to reverse chronological order as with a blog.

So you no longer have to know HTML and Dreamweaver to create your very own website about something that interests you!