Wikis

"Those who are clever, who have a Brain, never understand anything."



Wikis have been talked about a lot recently and it has been assumed that we all know all about this tool and we were never given any training or explainations about it. Well, at least not to me. I have watched HQ personnel get excited about it and supply us with this great tool to assist us in doing our job better. That is all wonderful and I do appreciate it, but I really wanted someone to take the time and explain how this tool is going to better me and my work performance. Am I going to just start playing around with this tool and see what I can do and see what all that it has to offer? No. That is not how I am made. I need for a one-on-one approach to explain what the tool is, what it can do, what are the benefits, what are the downfalls, how I can incorporate it in my work, and the list goes on.

I am happy that this is one of the topics being discussed. Finally, I am starting to understand a little what this Wiki phenomenon is all about. I am discovering what this tool has to offer. Is it something that I will immediately start using? Probably not. If I were working with a small group of individuals that really liked this tool and got me excited about how we were going to use it, then I could easily change my opinion. The video is great on giving it a practical application. There is a program that I really want to incorporate and I can see that this tool could be a bonus. We will see.

I did enjoy checking out the Wikis that are selected as examples. I really liked the book list on the Book Lovers Wiki, which was developed by the Princeton Public Library. I decided that I wanted to see which books had a 5 star review. I am really not a non-fiction reader. I have to live in the real world. Books are my escape. I just want to live in a fictional world for awhile each day. (For those who know me, I am sure that this comes as no surprise.) A book from the list that caught my attention was The Tender Bar: A Memoir by J. R. Moehringer. So, I searched our catalog and found that we had the book on CD and I checked it out. The book is being read by the author. I put the first disc in and was not for sure what to expect. It immediately starts out with, “We went there for everything we needed,” and then lists all that this bar has to offer from the necessities of quenching your thirst to developing a friendship that can last you a lifetime. It made me smile because it is very comforting to find a place that gives you what you need, and most importantly, a sense of comfort. He continues and states, “While I fear that we’re drawn to what abandons us, and to what seems most likely to abandon us, in the end we’re defined by what embraces us.” I found myself intrigued by just the prologue and was ready to let the story evolve. So far, I believe that The Tender Bar was a wise choice and would not have been made aware of it, if it hadn't been for this Wiki.

I hope that after this course is finished, I will continue to watch for the various Wikis available and will continue to discover and learn.