Wiki's are definitely "on my radar" so to speak. Whether creating them to facilitate behind the scenes communication or teaching our student how to discern the quality of the information provided on Wiki's (see my post: The wonderful world of Wiki) collaborative information tools are a part of the library world.
Those of us who provide reference at my academic library keep a Wiki for the courses and questions that occur year after year without fail. It is a wonderfully easy application, we use PBWiki, that we can add to as needed. It is easily referenced when and where we need it and helps us provide seamless reference service. It is also great for familiarizing those of us who provide reference with the "hot topics" brought to the desk and can therefore inform our acquisitions decisions, as well.
I have far less experience, however, using a Wiki for our front end users, and while some of the book applications were interesting I am not completely sold on them as a worthwhile endeavor in the academic library setting.
Showing posts with label wiki's. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wiki's. Show all posts
Monday, February 25, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
The wonderful world of Wiki
If only I were so eloquent:
And this is why digital literacy is so crucial for educational institutions: we do a fundamental disservice to our students if we continue to propagate old methods of knowledge creation and archivization without also teaching them how these structures are changing, and, more importantly, how they will relate to knowledge creation and dissemination in a fundamentally different way. No longer is an encyclopedia a static collection of facts and figures (although some of its features might be relatively so); it is an organic entity. To educational and policy institutions which, for a substantial portion of history, have maintained control over static codex centered archives—think not only academic libraries, but national ones as well—the shift to an organic structure which they no longer control or solely influence represents a crisis indeed. But to train students in old literacy seems to me to be fundamentally the wrong approach. --David Parry in Wikipedia and the New Curriculum Digital Literacy Is Knowing How We Store What We Know
As a librarian who has the opportunity to teach college students "information literacy" skills in classroom and one on one settings I am constantly forced into a real life awareness of the changing types and retrieval styles of today's learners. How well am I preparing the undergraduate with whom I have contact for life and further academic endeavors if I do not recognize these changes? What I appreciate so much about Professor Parry's opinion is a recognition of and respect for this changing culture.
In regards to his comments, what I get excited about is my opportunity to help students learn and navigate these changing avenues of information dissemination more confidently and more critically. The hard part of the whole endeavor, however, is finding the wise balance between acknowledging these new opportunities available for information creation and dissemination while at the same time conveying an clear and academically necessary need for restraint. I have no answers, only the commitment to continually evaluate where I am as a librarian and aid to our students.
And this is why digital literacy is so crucial for educational institutions: we do a fundamental disservice to our students if we continue to propagate old methods of knowledge creation and archivization without also teaching them how these structures are changing, and, more importantly, how they will relate to knowledge creation and dissemination in a fundamentally different way. No longer is an encyclopedia a static collection of facts and figures (although some of its features might be relatively so); it is an organic entity. To educational and policy institutions which, for a substantial portion of history, have maintained control over static codex centered archives—think not only academic libraries, but national ones as well—the shift to an organic structure which they no longer control or solely influence represents a crisis indeed. But to train students in old literacy seems to me to be fundamentally the wrong approach. --David Parry in Wikipedia and the New Curriculum Digital Literacy Is Knowing How We Store What We Know
As a librarian who has the opportunity to teach college students "information literacy" skills in classroom and one on one settings I am constantly forced into a real life awareness of the changing types and retrieval styles of today's learners. How well am I preparing the undergraduate with whom I have contact for life and further academic endeavors if I do not recognize these changes? What I appreciate so much about Professor Parry's opinion is a recognition of and respect for this changing culture.
In regards to his comments, what I get excited about is my opportunity to help students learn and navigate these changing avenues of information dissemination more confidently and more critically. The hard part of the whole endeavor, however, is finding the wise balance between acknowledging these new opportunities available for information creation and dissemination while at the same time conveying an clear and academically necessary need for restraint. I have no answers, only the commitment to continually evaluate where I am as a librarian and aid to our students.
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