I Always Wondered What Wiki Meant

Wiki is one of those words that I've always wanted to look up, but never did. Anyway, I'm glad to know it's Hawaiian for quick. I for sure thought it was more computer jargon for IT folks to throw around in their own little world; For example, "I'm having a problem with this AS/400 program. I checked the CPU and that doesn't seem to be the glitch, so it could be the RAM. If it's not that, then it's got to be the wiki." My dad, a systems analyst, starts spitting out stuff with acronyms and he may as well be speaking Chinese. He'd likely translate the above as nonsense. I'm not sure if it makes sense. Except for the last word, which I now know doesn't fit.

Anyway, before the wiki walk-through, I did not know there were other wikis out there besides Wikipedia. I feel kind of stupid for thinking that others would not take advantage of the opportunity to create a Web page for which HTML knowledge is not necessary. I'm not crazy about Wikipedia. You never know who's writing what on the page. For instance, I can post a bunch of nonsense definitions for computer jargon, and people would be in big trouble.

But, I do see the value of using wikis in other arenas where hard-core facts aren't as important. I love the idea of building a community wiki with reviews of local restaurants, attractions, shows, etc. Also, I've often wished that our Library catalog included book reviews, as I'm always clicking over to Amazon for more book information. I think the St. Joseph County Public Library system has the right idea for including more details about books in its online catalog; allowing patrons to write reviews, rather than summaries, doesn't promise the public exact synopses, but does give patrons a general flavor for the book. The Prince William Public Library online catalog provides book summaries (it looks like they come off of the jacket), Library Journal reviews and excerpts, but it would be time-consuming and costly for a library itself to insert such information into its catalog and, likely, costly to obtain a program that provides it. Patron reviews through a wiki seem to be the way to go.

I also think wikis would be a great tool for librarians who want to frequently update reading lists on our Library Web site.