Everyone enjoys an opportunity to choose their own homework assignment. This week, I choose two articles that will help me in two different avenues. The first article I chose was: Using a Wiki for Documentation and Collaborative Authoring by Michael Angeles. This article will come in handy specifically at work. I have convinced my boss to allow the training department to use a wiki to update training manuals. The next article I chose was The Habits of Highly Effective Web 2.0 Sites by Dion Hinchcliffe (this article was recommended by classmate Julie Kreft).
The Angeles article went over the basic reasoning for using a wiki and how a wiki can better improve collaboration in library settings. An interesting part of the article was the best practices listed to help ensure the sustainability of your company’s wiki:
- Train your users
- Keep it organized
- Understand use
- Lead by example
- Protect
- Style guides
This article will come in handy when I start the implementation of the wiki at our library. I know that this project will take planning and dedication but I’m thoroughly excited about the possibilities it brings to our system.
In Hinchcliffe’s article gave a definition of Web 2.0 as networked applications that explicitly leverage networks effects. The important thing to remember is that Web 2.0 evolves everyday and has become a “living” website. People no longer go to the web to check their email or conduct business but have developed a community of friends and family within a digital arm’s reach and have created a home within the Web. Hinchcliff outlined the Essentials of Leveraging Web 2.0 as:
- Ease of Use
- Open up your data as much possible
- Aggressively add feedback loops to everything
- Continuous release cycles
- Make your users part of your software
- Turn your applications into platforms
- Don’t create social communities just to have them
These two articles help describe how to make the most out of a social website and what can be done to accomplish its set goals. I know with the information I have gained in these two articles, I will be able to accomplish the goals of our library system and what could be better than that?