LIS 9763

All the readings emphasize a wiki's usefulness for sharing information and working collaboratively on a project.  When a small group of people with a common goal (think project) need to share information, a wiki is a great tool.  The common goal makes it necessary for everyone to contribute and also acts as the reason for consulting the wiki. 
 
Meredith Farkas describes some uses for a wiki.  A library could use it as a subject guide.  Farkas says the wiki format is easier to update and can illicit user input.  Is this necessarily true?  I think most if not all organizations use content management systems (CMS) to manage their websites/pages.  CMSs allow you to modify content using features very similar to word processing applications.  You're not writing code to format or add content.  If all you have to do is log into a wiki and use some simple formating tools to add content, how is that different from updating a subject guide using a CMS?  In terms of recruiting users to help udpate the subject guide, I really don't think this is a practical expectation.  As a user, if you come across a dead link in a subject guide, how likely is it you're going to search out the correct link and update the guide?  Similarly, if you find a good resource, I doubt you're going to think about checking the library's subject guides to see if it can be added.  These types of behaviours are not typical of users who are information browsing on the web.  As a librarian, it's not realistic to depend upon users to keep the subject guide current; therefore, I don't see how wiki subject guides are any better than traditional ones. 
 
Annotating catalog records with user reviews, recommendatiojn of books is another possible use.  I'm a little confused-is wiki functionality the same thing as a wiki?  Do systems that allow user additions (e.g. Amazon customer reviews) make them automatically a wiki?  I don't think Amazon's website is a wiki.  Luis Suarez asks those thinking of implementing a wiki whether the technology is appropriate for accomplishing the needed goal.   If you can add wiki-like features without adopting a wiki as your base system, then why make the change?  I guess I'm just a little confused about Farkas' comments about wikis and catalogs.  It doesn't seem like she's suggesting replacing an ILS with a wiki just so you can get some user input, but then you're not actually using a wiki, rather you're applying wiki concepts to traditional technology.