LIS 9763

 
My project was to create a wiki that compiled various information and resources that would be of assistance to anyone considering/attending the MLIS program at the University of Western Ontario. To see my final project, please click here.
 
The wiki guide consist of two part, one, a general information guide and the other, a bunch of personal experience stories from current students and recent grads of the program. 
 
I came across the idea of creating the guide when my supervisor's supervisor asked myself and another MLIS co-op student from UWO to speak with an undergrad who was interested in learning more about the program. While my supervisor's supervisor was also a graduate of the program, she graduated decades ago, so she wanted someone with more current information to speak with the student.

This highlights some of the problems with speaking with alumni to find out about the program. Not all are recent grads and their experiences may not be reflective or helpful for someone just entering the program.

Also, even with currency, people's experiences with the program and rationale for entering can be quite diverse. For example, the other co-op student had an entirely different background, personality and interest area. While we were talking to the prospective student, one would mention one thing and the second would remember something the other forgot to mention. Between all the back and forth we did about our experiences so far, the student seemed to have gotten a better idea of what being in the program would be like. Therefore, the more people document their experience with the program, the more likely you are able to suss out issues that would be of importance to you.

Due to the program structure and first term required courses, people are likely to form strong bonds early in the program with their cohorts. Since about 2007 or so, most of the cohorts have created their own Facebook groups, and activity on these groups may vary depending on the cohort. However, while these groups may facilitate in-group closeness, as a resource it may not be as useful or reflective of the experience of all students and does not facilitate inter-cohort interaction or knowledge transfer (aside from occasional Q&A wall posts, etc.). Also, infrequent or non-users of Facebook will not benefit from knowledge shared on such groups.  

As an out of province student with no UWO MLIS acquaintances, I relied on the internet to supplement my research into the program before I applied. While the three main and most useful sites are still on the web (mainly the UWO and Western Librarians LiveJournal communities, and this blog post from Jason Hammond), many of the other blogs and such have disappeared or have been deleted. The best informal information about the UWO MLIS program is scattered across numerous facebook posts, blogs, message boards, email messages, etc. Having a central place on the internet where key information is already gathered would be a good resource to direct people to.

Also, while Jason Hammond's blog is the most comprehensive informal resource of the UWO MLIS program on the web, he graduated from the program in 2006, so some of his experience is already out of date and more information will likely become so as time passes.

The guide I created is mostly functioning right now as a basic website in wiki format. A wiki software was chosen for the following reasons. One reason was because it is very easy to set up. The second reason was because it is easy to edit and add content. This wiki requires minimal technical skills to update and upkeep, allowing for collaboration of content across successive cohorts of students. It is very WYSIWYG, so it allows even the most low tech person to contribute and mistakes can easily be fixed by reverting to an earlier page. It also allows for flexibility in customizing access (private vs public) and edits such as sole authorship, group authorship, or the entire www. This customizability makes it a useful tool and will allow future owners of this wiki the freedom to determine what the best means to use this resource is. Although it is currently closed to outside comments, if future owners enable it, it can also allow dialogue between users.  

Difficulties:

In order to populate the personal experience portion of the wiki, I contacted select groups of people who were current students or recent graduates from the program and asked them to submit their personal experience stories to me. People were vocally enthusiastic about helping out at first in terms of submitting stories for me, but due to classes and assignments, once crunch time rolled around, it was difficult to get people to actually write something up and have it to me before the deadline. Some problems with earlier submitted stories were that they were mostly short posts with little elaboration, and so I asked if they could add specific examples to their posts. Some posts mentioned information that could easily be traced back to the individual, so I needed to inform them (and remind them that it was going to be posted on a publically accessible wiki) and get permission either delete the reference or edit the wording a bit to protect identities of the authors, etc. before posting. 

Future of the wiki:

Right now the guide is closed to outside edits, since I wanted to retain creative control until I get my grades back. When I return to London in the summer, I am planning to contact student council and see if they would like to take ownership of the wiki after I graduate (and they can determine access control for the wiki).

If the wiki becomes a student group's resource, things that are critical of aspects of the program may have to be taken down. Therefore, if such a thing should happen, the personal experience part perhaps should be removed from this wiki and spun off into another format, such as being turned into a blog that allows outside comments and resists edits to the posts. Also I am thinking that some parts of the personal stories that were submitted can be encoroprated into the main wiki site.
 
PS: The guide is by no means comprehensive, so if you would like to add more content or submit a personal experience story, let me know either by comments or sending me an email.