Let's play in the sandbox

I've always loved playing in sandboxes. There's something so relaxing about the movement of sand but this is so different. So much of 2.0 is about playing that I'm not sure how you can define this step as The Sandbox plus it's not really relaxing.

That said, I do like PBWiki. We have started a branch wiki using this site and going through this Thing has helped me understand how we can better manipulate it. However, knowing how to technically use something and discovering how to use something to improve what you do really is the difference. I think that wiki's can have real potential but it's not playtime in the sandbox. As we discovered with our branch project, we need to find the REAL useful application of this to get everyone on board and actually make it useful.

Wikitriguing

Wikis are one of the more intriguing and potentially useful Things of this program so far. I feel that the best description of them is that they are a web page which can be easily manipulated by anyone who can type. This lends to many useful applications. I really liked St. Joseph County Public Library's one for subject guides. Their librarians are able to take what most library's do on paper and make them organic and linkable. I checked out the HP page and ended up right at their catalog when looking for more information on a read-a-like. How useful is that - to be interested in a title and be led right to where you can actually locate a copy?

http://www.libraryforlife.org/subjectguides/index.php/Main_Page

Examples such as this are showing how this technology is being implemented as a tool to improve what we do. Our branch has a brand new wiki and we are exploring what we can do with it. So far we've used it to coordinate a branch brunch so everyone knows who's bringing what or changing their mind. We've limited ours by password so it could potentially be used to track problems or discuss issues we are encountering. Most often we use email but this process can loose the train of thought so I think the wiki might be of use if we can get everyone on board. This is another drawback of technology though - it's only helpful if it's actually used and doesn't create more work.