Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Thing 16 -- Wiki World

Wikis apparently are good for information sharing and collaborative efforts. Wikipedia makes me nervous. Some people consider it a good source of information. NOT! People need to understand just because something is on the screen does not mean it is true, or even correct. If information is shared, updated or revised, that's fine for some uses, but not all. An amusing statement in one of the articles pointed out that the advantages of Wikis are also their disadvantages. Some of the library Wikis were very well set up and inter connected with other sites providing unlimited and easy access to information -- not only from the library, but from local community, and the webworld at large. The term "online community" seems to be exactly right. New people or travellers are often at a disadvantage. The possibilities are endless for providing all sorts of information for all sorts of needs. Just be careful!

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