Wikis

I have learned that there are a lot of different ways that a Wiki can be used. Being a control freak, I think that I am more comfortable with the idea of using them in a "private" setting such as within in an organization for training and other collaborative efforts. Librarians conducting Outreach events/activities (ie a database class) could post their handouts and presentation materials to a wiki. Attendees (ie teachers) would then have access to current resources and information. Also, an area could be created for the teachers to share ideas of how they used the database to teach their students.

I am leery of using it in the general public realm because of spammers, etc. I know that the poster needs to know the log in information but, with so many people knowing that information, the potential for abuse is great.

If the library decides to have a public wiki, then an "AV Zone" would be a great idea. The AV Wiki could list new releases and be a forum for patrons to post their reviews of the movies.

RSS Pt. 2

I explored several other RSS feed search tools (Topix.net, Feedster, Syndic8.com, and Technorati) today. I found Topix.net to be the least useful to me. The site covers local news and, since the place where I live is small, there isn't much news to report. Feedster returned more hits on my search for Westies and West Highland White (terriers) than Syndic8.com, however, most of them were not relevant. All of the hits on Syndic8.com were on my topic. Finally, Technorati provided the most returns of all although it also had the highest amount of irrelevant links. A couple of potential advantages of Technorati is that it allows you to do an advanced search and to limit your results by language and "authority." In the case of my search, limiting to the highest authority didn't help.