I love the egalitarian intention of Wikis; and that "wiki wiki" means quick or something fast, in the Hawaiian tongue! The notion reminds me of a collaborative mind mapping (of sorts).
Despite creator Ward Cunningham's objective for Wikis not being for casual users; and seeking to "involve visitors in ongoing creation... that constantly changes the web site landscape", I admit that I am a sidelines casual visitor, completely having been voluntarily removed from actively changing the web's topography.
I have been a genuine advocate of the Wikipedia for some time now, though I also admit that I hadn't readily considered the maintenance structure, ongoing evolutionary process and development of the material contained therein.
The library Wikis I explored included:
Library Success - The best practice wiki. I found the breadth of topics and depth of content to be really worthwhile for assisting innovative attitudes and continuous improvement pursuits in library environs. However, I would have appreciated some additional Oceanic content.
Book Lovers wiki - I really enjoyed looking through the reviews and recommended reading lists. It was really unimpressive to view a large quantity of spelling and grammatical errors. This occurred in a dual fashion because the site is library based and library personnel have an obligation to retain certain language standards. It was also unsatisfactory because the wiki is published online. I suppose this oversight is a potential shortcoming of wikis, which can be taken for granted.
Further, there is an interesting article in the July 8, 2008 edition of The Age, "The Aussie who's changing the world of whistleblowers", written by Asher Moses. The article is fascinating for those interested in commercial, as well as public sector transparency and accountability. Wikileaks (http://wikileaks.org) was established by Australian Julian Assange. The site publishes and comments on leaked documents alleging government and corporate misconduct, by anonymously publishing submissions and leaks of sensitive religious, corporate and government documents. Assange purports that documents posted on the site about widespread corruption of the former Kenyan leader Daniel Arap Moi, led to a significant swing in the African nation's most recent presidential election. If this is an example of what Wikis can achieve, it is truly amazing!
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