Wikis: an exploration

Very interesting to see the variety of uses that Web 2.0 tools are being put to use in the Oxford examples, all centred round the central issues of how best to communicate with service users in a relevant and engaging way. I like the video and audio induction tours that the Social Science library provides, and am getting more of a feeling of what has worked, and what was not succesful. Del.ico.us for subject bookmarking seems solid, and we are already using Library thing here at St. Hugh's to display new accessions on our Facebook page.

My first experience of Wikis was one used by the Learning Institute's Selection and Recruitment online course, which was great for extended discussions around HR issues.
Students seem a lot less willing to get involved in Wiki-type discussions on library matters.

I've added my thoughts on raising the library profile with customised searching of blogs and e-news media to the Ox23 Wiki.

Del.icio.us

I can see that the ability to access bookmarks anywhere is a useful tool, but I was more interested in tagging to open up routes to unknown sites. It's not perfect without controlled vocabulary, but is near enough to gather a good armful of useful leads. A search for the tag 'Lake District' brought back an interesting selection, but it would be neater if Delicious gathered together identical sites rather than listing them separately.

Gratifyingly, a shot in the dark with 'St. Hugh's' as a tag brought back the biography of one of the first women to read mathematics in the university.