"Some useful knowledge can always be found" (INXS; Song: Heaven Sent; Album: Welcome to wherever you are)

I was already aware of Wikipedia (how can you not be when it is claims to be the largest and most popular reference work on the internet!), and use it mainly for finding information about books, films, tv series (useful for a quick summary of an episode if you missed one); and travel information. On reading up about Wikipedia it was interesting to see that the top 10 subjects referred to in 2009 consisted of famous people, bands, tv series, films, and web 2.0 tools; so it looks as though most people use it for similar subject areas to me.

For this task I looked up some information about a book I was thinking of ordering and also took a look to see if the Social Science Library was on there. I discovered via the 'Discussions Tab' that the page for the SSL had been put there as part of a Wiki project for Oxford University to improve coverage of the university on Wikipedia. There was more information that could be added to the page but I felt I would want to more research (check dates) etc before I went ahead with doing that. Other people may have just gone ahead, relying on their memory; so you can easily see why mistakes could me made; leading to inconsistency and accuracy problems.

Although there are negative points about Wikipedia; such as accuracy and possible vandalism of certain subject pages; I do think it is a very useful free reference tool. It is amazing to think that since its conception in 2001, millions of people have contributed and edited articles featuring on it. I can remember weekly trips to my local mobile library as a child to consult hard copies of the Encyclopaedia Britannica for my homework that week, I wouldn't even have to leave the house now (though maybe I would still want to check the validity of what I had read on-line, and you can't beat a trip to your local library!)

"Come together, right now ..." (Beatles; Song: Come Together; Album: Abbey Road )

I was aware of wikis because of the C&RD wiki; although I hadn't looked at it for a while as technical services is not really my job area, but because of it I understood what a wiki was. As I couldn't remember my log on details it was useful that you could still gain access via your Facebook or Twitter account.

The Web 2.0 wiki was full of useful information and interesting to look at now I've gained more knowledge of the web 2.0 tools out there. I was a bit hesitant about editing the work someone else had already done, so I looked at the case study for current web 2.0 tools used by the SSL and added some information about the iGoogle start page I helped to set up last year, as I felt this would be useful for other libraries.

Wikis seem to be a really usefuly tool. They are easy to contribute to and edit by multiple users (maybe to easy to edit as someone could easily write false information), and I imagine are much easier than trying to do the same via a web page. They are a simple way for groups of people to log information, discuss ideas, and provided useful comments and tips' all in one central point of reference. I would definitely refer to the web 2.0 wiki in the future before developing use of a web 2.0 tool for the library.