How To do Thing 17: Add an entry into the Sandbox Wiki created with PB Wiki

Several people have had trouble following the directions for Thing 17, including me to my chagrin. I started using PBWiki last year – how could I NOT get it? Well I didn’t, and Donna H. helped me so don’t feel bad if you have trouble too!

Here are my directions for another staff member:
1. Go to http://marylandlibrariessandbox.pbwiki.com/Favorite%20Blogs.

2. Click the Edit Page link at the top of the page. This will prompt you to enter the password which is mdstaff. You also have to enter your name and email address. Once you do this you’ll be in editing mode for the page.

3. Scroll down to where BCPL has their entries – about halfway down the page.

4. Put your cursor at the end of the title above where yours will go, and hit enter. This should open up a line for you to enter the title of your blog.

5. After you type in the title, highlight it with your cursor.

6. Go to the editing buttons and find the one for a link. It should look like a chain link icon.

7. When you click that icon, set link type to URL and then enter the URL for your blog (http://….).

8. Click OK to close the URL box, and then click SAVE to save the changes you made to the wiki page.

9. Check to make sure it looks the way you want it on the wiki page. If it appears next to the previous blog title, just put your cursor between the two and hit enter to drop it down to the next line.

10. Save again.

Week7, Thing 17: Add an entry into the Sandbox Wiki

I had already played around with PBwiki a lot last summer. I even started a genealogy wiki to share with other researchers of the Sassafras Neck area but duh … there aren’t too many takers out there. Wikis are just too new I guess. It will probably be difficult to convince BCPL staff to use the Help Desk wiki at first. I hope not for too long.

I added my Learning 2.0 blog into the Maryland Libraries Sandbox Wiki and then added the book I’m reading to the list called “What I’m Reading.” I wasn’t able to get the name of the link to my blog to display properly but that appears to be a temporary glitch in the system. I tried again tonight to fix it but it still didn’t work.

Week 7, Thing 16: Wikis

I’ve been looking at and experimenting with wikis since last summer. I like the idea of having content that a group of people (or anybody) can edit without needing to know HTML. We’ve had Staff Help Desk web pages for about 8 years but there’s always been the issue of keeping the information up-to-date. I’ve had people over the years who could have easily kept the information updated if they knew HTML. We’ve also spent lots of time teaching our staff how to use HTML. That’s not to say this learning isn’t beneficial but it divides people into those who know how and those who don’t.

I played around with several free wikis such as pbwiki and actually liked that one very much. The problem for me is that I need to have more control over help desk content. It isn’t something we necessarily want out there for everyone to access but we do want it available to all staff.

Finally, this spring, when we started trying out WordPress for blogs, I approached Bob about downloading MediaWiki for us to try. The wiki would then be on a BCPL server and we could eventually limit access if necessary. So now, we’re in the middle of copying and editing the help desk web pages over into MediaWiki. So far, so good.

Hopefully by this fall, we’ll be able to share our content with the rest of the BCPL staff and allow them to add their own technology expertise into the wiki. After all, they’re the ones who are using RFID and public computers every day. They can share their tips and best practices. Perhaps we can create an online technology manual for the public computers so that branches can share and keep up-to-date. I’m sure we’ll come up with more ideas too.

Wikis in Plain English

Very clear explanation of how a wiki works. If you haven’t seem his video on RSS, you should check that out too. The Help Desk is working on moving our web pages over from our website to a wiki where you will be able to add and edit content too. More information about that to come soon!

Improving and Changing Communication

People are trying to figure out the best and easiest way to improve how we communicate – forums vs. blogs vs. wikis vs. email. I’ve spent some time thinking about this and the best I can come up with is that each one is better for different things.

1. Blogging is all about the identity of a person or a group. Someone who “meets” that person or that group through their blog should get a good idea of what they’re currently talking about and what’s important to them. Blogging is also used for sharing and distributing knowledge.
2. Wikis are for shared information and collaborative documentation.
3. Email is useful for direct communication but sharing information between a large group via email gets unwieldy and awkward.
4. Forums have been around for a long time and many people are comfortable communicating this way. Group voice is the forum’s real advantage. With so many authors, the forum or message board usually has someone with just the information you need.