Week 9: Wikis

I handily did a presentation (along with Helen and Laura) on this very subject, just a few weeks ago! As we are stationed in different libraries, and to help us get to grips with the technology, we also used a wiki to collaborate on the project. Helen has written a very informative entry about it here, as well as a lot of insight into how wikis are used - to great effect - at the Bodleian Law Library.
I have previously contributed to both Wikipedia and Wikiquote - and, despite a quite solid background of other mark-up languages, found that the one used by these sites could be occasionally rather tricky. This seemed to lead to a lot of messiness - where someone has had the urge and content to contribute, but not the mark-up knowledge to present this content in the correct manner.
Pages flagged for "clean-up" abound on Wikipedia - and with strict layout / presentation rules differing from subject to subject, it's not that hard to see why.
The majority of controversy surrounding Wikipedia however, and an issue which was discussed time and time again during my undergraduate studies, is Wikipedia's accuracy and reliability. I personally find it to be an immensely useful resource, though people question the fact it can be edited by anyone. It is worth bearing in mind Wikipedia's drawbacks, but for a quick overview of a subject - and for finding links to alternative sources - it can be very helpful indeed.
I have previously browsed the Oxford Web 2.0 wiki, and found it to be very informative - and helpful for providing ideas of how Web 2.0 can best be utilised within a library environment. On looking again, it was quite heartening to see how our list of technologies used has expanded. I did not manage to find any "OULS" - but this is surely a testament to the diligent efforts of other 23 Things participants!