Week 5 - Wikis

I have been looking forward to learning about Wikis as I have heard the term in use but did not really know what it was all about. I have enjoyed looking at four of the Wiki sites listed. These were the Mint Museum (North Carolina), Library Success, Book Lovers Wiki (Princeton Public Library) and Montana History Wiki. My favourite 2 sites were Montana History Wiki and the Princeton Public Library Book Lovers Wiki as I think Wikis are very useful for individuals contributing to local history information and book reviews. These two sites were very easy to use and were clearly organised and set out. These are two information fields where information gathering is always expanding and many people maybe involved.
Book Lovers Wiki at Princeton Public Library. I liked the "snapshot in time" for the Book Lovers Summer Reading Club Wiki. It is clearly set up and very easy to navigate around the Wiki layout. I especially liked the index to the Reviews and the breakup into alphabetical categories. Entries were given star ratings and some gave links to biographies about the author.
Montana History Wiki. This site is clearly laid out and was very interesting to use. The alphabetically arranged subject guide allows you to link to other useful information e.g. Geneaology guide has books you may find helpful. African American in Montana lists the layout and tells how many oral histories on various people. This site is very clearly organised. A great resource!
Mint Musuem at North Carolina. Different aspects of the Museum were arranged in headings such as Visit, Experience, Learn and News. Under the heading Experience you can go to view the collections using the Mintwiki. Entries contained links to other information which maybe of interest to the viewer. This allows information and resources to be accessed by a wider audience by going online and others to add their expertise and knowledge.
Library Success - a best practices wiki. This wiki had many, many headings which you could search under and I recognised headings from the Web 2.0 Learning Programme so far. Headings included sub-headings and other related topics such as Selling your library - Displays, Marketing, Fundraising Promotions. Under Information sharing and education there were the major collaborative tools - Wikis, Blogs, RSS and Learning 2.0 programme. These are terms I have just become aware of through this training programme.