This Is a Wiki On Your Mind. Or As Your Mind.

This Is a Wiki On Your Mind. Or As Your Mind.

This morning when I was checking my blogline feeds, I read the above article on ResearchBuzz. Out of curiosity (necessary for a researcher), I decided to check out Wikimindmap Be sure that when you do the search to change the search to en.wikimindmap.org if you are English speaking.

A search of Pierre Trudeau produced a "mindmap" with links to wikipedia. - gives you a variety topics concerning him. The wikipedia article (Although we are never sure of the authority of these articles) may give you leads to areas to research. Then I tried Ipod. Click on Ipod to bring it to Center. If you see a plus it will expand further. Some of the links will take you to other websites.

Some articles on Wikipedia have good citations of where the information has come from so that you can follow through yourself. An example is the article about mindmaps.

Similar to mindmaps or mind maps are concept maps and idea maps. About a year ago, a library patron asked to see a concept map for a topic that she had to prepare for a college assignment. At that time, I was not familiar with the idea. I suggested she would have to create her own but I gave her suggestions that I hope helped her to develop one for her topic.

When I look at some of the examples, it looks like the rough diagrams a person might sketch out when working on a problem - very important for a visual learner. There are software programs designed specifically for this purpose.


Try it. It may help you with a research project or with problem solving.

Library 2.0 - final week of this current learning adventure

On July 17, I began this learning adventure with library and adult learning centre staff. Now it is the time to reflect on this learning adventure.

I have enjoyed the experience -- especially because it has been a shared experience - through:

• talking with other participants
• reading the blogs and discovering what they have accomplished during the week's activities and celebrating with them their successes
• wondering - how did they do that especially when I was unsuccessful
• knowing that there was help available when it was needed
• learning more about the interests of other staff members

This learning experience has given me the opportunity to explore some of the features of Web 2.0 that I likely would not have tried without this more formal structure. It gave me the impetus to start a blog. Trying different things with the blog has given me the confidence to make changes with the three web sites that I design, administer, update etc. After embedding a Google map on my blog article, I added maps to two of the web sites.

I was not aware of many web 2.0 features. I will now go back an read two articles in Internet Genealogy magazine with better understanding

Marian Press, "In search of the Web 2.0" May 2007, p. 46-48
Marian Press, "In search of the Web 2.0: Part Two" July 2007, p. 51-54.

Internet Genealogy site A companion site is Family Chronicle

Having experienced creating and authoring a blog, it has lead me to wonder if a blog would be a useful tool for communication for organizations to which I belong.

I found that it is fun and easy to share photographs with others using both Flickr and the blog. I will continue to do this.

Now that staff members have had the opportunity to participate in Library 2.0, I believe it is important we follow through. We need to determine what have we learned through this experience that we could apply to our own library or adult learning centre. Changes do not have to be done quickly but through thoughtful considerations there may be initiatives that may benefit our current and future clientele.

What could be done differently, if this type of learning experience would be offered again? Perhaps a different time of year? I found the private wiki worked well for getting assignments and messages concerning winners, advice on passwords, etc.

I have enjoyed being able to participate in this activity. Thanks for asking me. When I began this, I didn't know I would be back filling in some shifts at the reference desk. If I was given the opportunity to join staff on future learning experiences, I am sure I would say yes.

Activity 17 - wikis - part two

I played in the sandbox and shared some favourites. With the wysiwyg interface, it is much easier to add information than it is for wikipedia. Wikipedia uses coding for different formats e.g. italics is done by putting single quotes around the title. I have never added information to wikipedia but I looked at a help file.

The pages were set up for us so that gave a start to the process. I had a bit of trouble adding the photo but in the end it worked out. I read the help file. I just needed to scroll down the page to get to the section I needed.

I added my favourites for a book, a place and food.

Activity 16 - Wikis

I visited the various wiki sites mentioned. I skimmed a study done by John Walker where he studied the differences between wikis and blogs. His 99 page work (I skimmed parts) includes a study he undertook. He concluded that wikis depend on activity participation by individuals who support the aims of the wiki for them to be successful. Walker felt that they were not easy to use if one wanted to make a "meaningful contribution".

Where could they be used in a library setting? staff only on a private wiki- proceedure manuals could be developed using a wiki. Staff could work on this together

for the public - the subject guides at St. Joseph's County Public Library gave a good example of a use of a wiki. Reading clubs for adults where not everyone was reading the same book. At Princton Public Library - booklovers wiki - participants reviewed and rated books. The titles were linked to their catalog.

In Walker's study he included a chart with the comparisons. Wikis were shown to be best for documents with a longer life and that you would expect to edit and refine as more is learnt.