Prior to this exercise, my only other experience with Wikis was Wikipedia (cited as a 'very unreliable source' for research purposes by my former professors). And now I know why. There's a certain amount of trust that's assumed with Wiki sites. Its expected that users/contributors will only provide reliable information and should an unscrupulous act be committed, detection and correction is reliant upon site managers and users. On one Wiki site in particular, contributors are required to sign in as measure of security/accountability.
Nevertheless, Wikis are fascinating in that even a novice such as myself could potentially be a contributor---no knowledge of programming required! I was able to add my blog to the Favorites list as well as explore links provided by others. Wikis can be tailored for specific needs, events or periods of time---temporary or long term. In browsing several library Wikis, differences in layout, content and organization was evident. Some were very detailed in how information was presented and categorized while others were more loosely laid out. Everything from readers advisory and youth programming to research information categories are readily accessible.
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