Those Wacky Wikis

Wiki’s are not really my favorite tools. While they have a lot of flexibility and options for collaboration and growth, I think I’m just too much of a control-freak to feel comfortable with all the freedom other users have.

A lot of my friends and co-workers are very comfortable with technology, so a wiki has worked well for our Web projects at the office and I think a wiki about book reviews will be good for the group I invite. Some of my friend, well one, keeps a database of all the books she has read so that she doesn’t buy the same books again and again. She should be able to just import most of that information to the wiki if she wants to share. Wikis are a great place to share digital information in any format with a large or small group.

You’d think I’d like wikis since so much of my life happens in digital spaces, but that’s not really the case.

I work with a wide variety of ages and skill-levels in my job and I’ve found that the same is true in my classes. While it seems like a wiki is really straight forward and easy to use. One of the articles on eLearning Tools Wiki, also highlights the fact that some people will not feel at ease operating in this kind of environment. I’m working on a project right now with a group of other employees from across the district and we have tried out a number of online tools to help us collaborate. There are a few members of our group who have given-up using a few of the options and won’t do anything but e-mail.

A wiki would have been a great way to share ideas and work in progress, but if everyone isn’t comfortable with technology, I think it would be a scary proposition for them. I especially think the idea that they could delete or over-write someone else’s idea would freeze these people out of the process.

For those who are natives to the digital world, a wiki can be an engaging and creative environment. For those who are still making the emigration to the digital world, and there are many who are bring forcibly moved there, wikis are more likely to be frightening overwhelming than inspiring.