Wikis - Part 1

1).
While I did did visit some of the library wikis suggested in this week's assignment, I thought I would draw upon my recent experience with a specific library-related wiki. When preparing for the UK SLIS final comprehensive exam last semester, I frequently consulted the "Comps" wiki and found it to be very useful. The wiki contained listings of exam questions over the past ten years along with outlines from course notes, links and citations to relevant articles, page numbers in core texts, etc., all submitted by previous or current students in the program. SLIS faculty members also had access to the wiki, so information and suggested resources were reliable and relevant for study purposes.

2).
While I might not use more general wikis as "scholarly" resources for course-related work, I will admit that I have found some of their entries to be useful as "jumping off points" for more detailed research or information searches. One non-library related wiki which I have found to be helpful is "eogn" (Encyclopedia of Genealogy: http://www.eogen.com/Home), which was started in 2005 by columnist, lecturer, and genealogy educator Dick Eastman. Collaborators and contributing authors must set up an account (free of charge) if they wish to submit, add to, or revise an entry. On a personal note, I could also see myself using a private wiki at some point just to stockpile ideas, organize to-do lists, etc.