Thing #10 Wikis

I've used the Wikipedia quite a bit in the past, but didn't really have any idea how it worked. Now I know what a "wiki" is. (It's such a silly sounding word!) The Common Craft video gave a simple explanation of how a wiki can be used. It's a great planning tool for a group of people who are unable to meet together in person. I really liked the library staff wiki from Albany County. The library where I work could easily set up something like this to keep staff updated on procedure changes, etc. I explored the MN 150 wiki, and found it very interesting. The site had excellent instructions for how to edit their wiki . They even had their own "sandbox". So I practiced in there for a while, then set up an account. I added an entry of my own to the wiki, and then went back later and edited it. The site encouraged people to share their memories on the selected 150 topics, but I found that very few people had done so--maybe they need to learn how to edit wikis! One thing about wikis does concern me. If anyone can add or edit an entry, how do you know if the information in a wiki is accurate? Who verifies the information? What if someone deliberately (or through ignorance) enters incorrect or offensive material? This could be one reason why teachers do not want students to use Wikipedia as a source. (Bird photo taken by Balaji Ditt.)