WIKI BRAINSTORM

When I think Wiki I automatically think Wikipedia – as I’m sure do most people. This is both a good and a bad thing. Wikipedia gives potential users a clear idea of the capabilities of a wiki. The danger of course is that people will also be limited by what they know of wikipedia. Wiki can be so much more than just an online encyclopedia.

I have a couple of ideas as to how DRT can use Wikis. The first idea I came up with was to use the Wiki as a depository for reference questions. So this could be seen as more of an insider application. Questions are currently stored but not much happens to the information afterward. I believe the program being used was called Eudora. The information looked to be troublesome to search, therefore using it is not as easy. Using a wiki could very easily make this information easy to search.

The second idea may have a big security hurdle to get over. I believe the idea of the giving the public free-range over the quality assured information being provided by LC may not be possible. However, I am interested in offering limited editing that can be supervised of course. Currently, if a mistake is found on one of the pages and notification form is filled out by the user. This is then sent to a department, if the mistake is in the content (ie the battle of New Orleans was in 1815, not 1814) then the request is forwarded to the DRT. The DRT then fact checks the information and determines if a change is necessary. The outcome is then emailed to another department to make the necessary changes. Wouldn’t it be so much easier to forego all this email forwarding!