What types of wiki implementations do you think would be particularly effective for your/a library or organization?
Right now I am thinking how a wiki could really work for a special project I am working on with the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine Library. I am the project manager for a preservation project which will digitize a collection of lectures from an annual conference located in San Diego. The cassette tapes go all the way back to the 80's to the early 2000's and there are many (100s) of them. It is a big job and to make the job even more difficult, the tapes must be transferred in real time (analog) and must be monitored and editited by a human. The decision was made to involve other staff members in the process due to the amount of time it will take to finish the project. I was charged with the task of training 5 or 6 staff members, making a detailed instruction sheet, monitoring the progess of the trainees, and plotting the next steps in the evolution of this project. The goal is to someday have the lectures available online, in CD format, and use the valuable space that previously held the tapes for other materials.
So far, I am using email, printouts, folders, desktop folders/files, phone, logsheets, and memos to communicate with my team. A wiki could move all of these elements onto one space that could be accessed by all and monitored by me and my supervisor. There are also lists of damaged tapes, issues with equipment, details with the IT dept. on campus, questions by staff, and all sorts of other details involved in this process that could be better organized and managed by a wiki. The only concern is whether the student supported staff would be able to use or be comfortable using the wiki. At the minimum, I would have to have a wiki training session with each staff member, which is problematic since I am only at the library twice a week, so scheduling is tough. I do think a wiki would be effective for this particular project and could serve as a model for future projects within the library.
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What a great way to implement some of the things that we are learning about in class. I agree with you that this would be an excellent time to use a wiki - it would certainly help manage all the information that seems to be floating around in email, print, etc. I also agree that training and technical issues of people being trained on the wiki might get in the way at first, but in the long run, once people know how to work the wiki, it seems that it will save you a lot of time and energy. Best of luck with the project.
Yeah, I thought it was a good idea too. However, the wiki idea was shot down by the College due to security/privacy concerns. There is some chance that an internal blog could be implemented, which could work just as well probably.