Week 7, #’s 16 & 17

I enjoy using wikis. I have used wikis to collaborate in graduate classes and I have set up a wiki for my library.  Arrowhead Library Wiki is yet another way I can help my students focus on information that is useful and worthwhile. I have not set up a wiki for students to edit yet.  That is something I have been trying to do in collaboration with teachers in my building.  I would like to see the next research project become a wiki.  I started researching Internet Safety and Cyberbullying in the hopes that I could get it to become part of the library curriculum.  I have not kept up the wiki but plan to use it during my district’s strategic planning to help technology committee members collaborate on Cyber-safety for our children.  Conference wikis like the one started by CSLA are fun whether you are able to attend the conference or not.  So much information is shared on the wiki that it can help you learn from the conference attendants and speakers without attending the conference.   I am a member of or have started 25 wikis on wikispaces alone.  I like wikispaces better than other wikis but if I am going to be able to use wikis with students it will probably be one like pbwiki because my superiors believe it is safer and offers less exposure for students.  I did check out the educators pbwiki.  It is filled with helpful information and links.  I can see using this wiki for my own professional development. 

I have several favorite wikis that I use as part of my own professional development.  One of my favorite two wikis on the net are the LM_Net wiki where LM_Net list serve members can post documents since the list serve can not handle attachments. 

The other wiki that I frequent often is Eduwiki.us.  It is so filled with resources that I can spend all afternoon exploring and never hit the same  website twice. 

I went to the California 2.0 Curriculum Connections Wiki on pbwiki and took a look at the 65 ideas listed for using a wiki for collaboration towards a common goal.  I love idea #5 where students become responsible for creating pathfinder lists of links to reference information.  By putting the links on the wiki all students in the group or class have access to the information.  As a librarian I love that the wiki models proper citation of sources and a bibliography at the bottom of the site.  I have to give more thought to starting a book talk wiki for my students to add their opinions about the books they have read.  Collaborative book reviews can also be posted to our Destiny library catalog.  I also added idea # 11 about Wordle to the Online application and Tools page. 

LM_Net

I realize I am also behind on my LM_Net reading. I usually catch up on the weekend and this weekend there were more LM_Net postings than usual, so I dug in and what I found was that after first starting LM_Net and then leading it for 15 years Peter Milbury and Mike Eisenberg are stepping down and handing over the reins. I have only been on LM_Net for the last 4 or 5 years but it has meant so much to me, especially when I started my first library job 3 years ago. I agree with Doug Johnson who says that LM_Net is the original Read/Write Internet. Peter and Mike were ahead of their time and many other listserves have benefited from the good example of LM_Net. I think the most important part of the announcement this week is that LM_Net is going to continue, and it is a good thing. School librarians are usually alone in their buildings or districts. It can be exhilarating to have that kind of impact on a school but it also can be intimidating with no one to bounce ideas off of, no one to listen to the unique problems of doing the many jobs a library has to do in a single school day. LM_Net listens, understands, and responds. Thanks again Peter and Mike for having the foresight to create a group that has become so special to so many of us.

Which Wiki is Right for Me?

Shonda Brisco is one of the most techie librarians I know. Well, I don't personally know her since she is in Texas and I am in Pennsylvania, I virtually know her from my great library list-serve LM_Net. She wrote a wonderful article for School Library Journal about choosing the right Wiki. Since I am interested in starting a Wiki, I loved it. If you are just starting out with Wikis, maybe you would like it too. I think my favorite Wiki for elementary students is pbWiki and I want to introduce it to my students next year. So, I will be playing with it quite a bit this summer. What is your favorite Wiki?