Alison --
We are using wikis for a variety of purposes here at Simmons. The
application that's most similar to what you're talking about is one we
set up for the reference staff at the college library. They are now
using it as a supplement/replacement for their binder of procedures.
We have also set them up for a number of purposes within the GSLIS,
including one for the front desk, one for the faculty office, and one
for the tech group.
We have standardized on Mediawiki, because it's free (open source),
fairly flexible and people are familiar with it from other large wiki
projects like Wikipedia. There are a number of extensions available for
it, and it is updated with new features fairly frequently. It also runs
very well on PHP/MySQL/Linux, which are all free, so it can be a very
economical solution. I was able to get this running on our server fairly
easily, but depending on your level of expertise with MySQL/PHP, you
might need to find a technical person to do the setup.
I can't comment much on the pay services, but they may offer a good
option if you have concerns about the technical aspects of installing
your own. I've heard that some may offer WYSIWYG editing, which
MediaWiki currently doesn't support natively. I don't think this is a
big deal, though, since the Mediawiki coding is very straighforward and
easy to learn. For example:
==This is a heading==
I can link to a new page [[like this]].
Hope this helps,
-David
--
David Dwiggins
Dean’s Fellow for Technology Support
Graduate School of Library and Information Science
Simmons College
300 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115-5898
617-521-2871 / [log in to unmask]
Alison Hinderliter wrote:
> Hi folks, and welcome back from SAA.
>
> We're thinking about getting a wiki* to be created and used by our reference staff so that the staff can share current information and add to the general knowledgebase at the Library. Has any other shop out there tried this approach, and if so, what software have you decided to use? I know there is shareware out there as well as subscription software (like jotspot), and I'm wondering what the advantages are of paying for a wiki as opposed to adapting shareware.
>
> Thanks,
> Alison
>
> ************************************************
> Alison Hinderliter - [log in to unmask]
> Manuscripts and Archives Librarian
> The Newberry Library
> 60 W. Walton St.
> Chicago, IL 60610-7324
> (312) 255-3694
>
A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org.
For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
*or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html
Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>