Wikis in Binghamton University Libraries Abigail Bordeaux Erin Rushton Marcy Strong

Binghamton in Brief 13,000+ students 700+ faculty 100+ library staff

Background Staff intranet in place for several years Remotely hosted wikis in use since early 2005 Momentum post-CIL ’05 to organize and develop wiki locally

Implementation Process I Formed task force in April ’05 Researched and reviewed wiki options pretty quickly Recommended implementation of MediaWiki in May ‘05

Implementation Process II Installed in July 2005 Migrated content from other wikis Populated with some intranet content Added help files in August/September Took break in early fall Conducted training in November

Now Adding to help files Writing style guidelines Developing templates Considering role of the intranet Conducting further training

Committee Page Agendas and meeting minutes Collaborative editing Repository for documents Committee descriptions Committee members

Current Events Home

Future Plans More content –From intranet –Ideas from staff –Ideas from CIL 2006 Public wiki –Waiting to see what computing centre does

Creating Help Files Based on WikiMedia Foundation files ( tents) tents Modified for BU staff needs

Creating Help Files Based on WikiMedia Foundation files ( nts) nts Modified for BU staff needs Included a glossary of software- specific terms

Benefits of Creating Help Files Files reside on local server Local decision on what to include Great way to learn the software

Training Sessions Designed as an hour-long, interactive session in the computer lab Asked participants to bring a file to add as practice

Training Outline What is a wiki?

Training Outline What is a wiki? Used help files as training structure

Training Outline What is a wiki? Used help files as training structure How does the software work and what can it do for the user? Lots and lots of practice!

Staff Concerns about the Wiki Idea of collaborative editing Making mistakes Security Appropriate content

So, What Did We Learn? Information overload: basic is better Need more time for hands-on learning Need additional training Start with content already on wiki and seek further suggestions