I think the presentation went really well yesterday! A crazy number of people showed up — 120 at one point. So of course with that many people, the co-browsing didn’t work and I think we may have hurt a few servers trying to all hit them at once, but I was able to talk about what wikis are, how they can be used by librarians and what to consider before starting a wiki of your own. If you’re interested, there’s an archive of my talk (in MP3 and WMA) and the text chat here on OPAL’s site. Also, my presentation slides are located here on my wiki.
I haven’t done a lot of public speaking. It’s something that gives me a lot of anxiety (I usually feel like Albert Brooks in Broadcast News when I have to speak to groups of people). But in spite of the sweating and the rapid heartbeat, I really enjoyed doing it! It was great to be able to offer useful information to interested people. A lot of people came into that presentation knowing nothing about wikis and I’ve got all this information stuck up in my head, so I should share it, even if it makes me a little anxious. It feels good to be useful like that. I never really used to think I had much to offer other people in the profession, but blogging has changed that for me. If I felt that way, there are probably lots of other people filled with useful knowledge who don’t realize how much they could help other people by sharing that knowledge. Even if it’s scary to get up in front of other people (or even to give a talk from your office!) DO IT! You could really make a difference for other people in your profession.
Oh, and to the woman who asked for practical advice on how to edit wikis, I’m working on it. I don’t know if any articles like that exist, but I’ll try to find one. If I do, it’ll be in the further reading section of the wiki presentation. 🙂
It’s just nice to see that so many people are interested in wikis!
Hi, Meredith. You may not remember me, but I contacted you a couple months ago with some questions about Library 2.0 and wikis. Since then I have used PB Wiki to create a wiki on trends and issues affecting the library profession. It is http://environmentalscan.pbwiki.com.
I have also showed them to my husband, who works in the IT department at a university. He now has one and is showing the technology to many professors, and teaching them how to create wikis. I also have one that I am using as a project management tool for my next project, and will be creating yet another one too! Everyone I show my wiki too loves them, wants to have one, and often begins creating one of their own within a short timeframe!
I just wanted to say “THANK YOU” from the bottom of my heart. These wikis are great for internal, collaborative projects, as well as a number of other applications. Thanks for turning me onto them. I am now a “wikiphile”!
Have a great day and a better tomorrow!
Cindy
Of course I remember you Cindy. 🙂 I’m so thrilled to hear that discussing this stuff with you set off such a wonderful chain of events! Once people see all of the practical uses for wikis, wikimania soon sets in. 😉
Your wiki is terrific, by the way! You really made the most of PBWiki and the content (which is really comprehensive!) will be tremendously useful to people.
Thank you for telling me all this! It’s hearing stuff like this that makes me want to continue trying new things and telling people about it.
Pssst. I was in the OPAL room, and didn’t even notice your nerves. (But can completely sympathize with the internal nervousness when public speaking.)
Thanks, again,
Stacy