Stevens County and The Wiki

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Contents 1 Introduction 2 Web 2.0 3 Wikis 4 The Libraries of Stevens County 5 The Libraries of Stevens County Wiki [1] 5.1 History 5.2 Support 5.3 Participation 5.4 Challenges 5.5 Benefits 6 Notes 7 References 8 Resources

[edit] Introduction

Stevens County is a rural county in the northeastern corner of the State of Washington. The 42,632 residents of this county live in an area about twice the size of Rhode Island. While the people of this small community may not live physically close to each other, they have been brought together via Web 2.0 to participate in a community wiki project.

Welcome to Stevens County Digital Story

[edit] Web 2.0

There has been a lot of talk in the past few years about Web 2.0. In fact, many online technologies today are being marketed as Web 2.0 technologies, but what exactly does it mean? In 2005, Tim O’Reilly, CEO of O’Reilly Media, coined this definition:

Web 2.0 is the network as platform, spanning all connected devices; Web 2.0 applications are those that make the most of the intrinsic advantages of that platform: delivering software as a continually-updated service that gets better the more people use it, consuming and remixing data from multiple sources, including individual users, while providing their own data and services in a form that allows remixing by others, creating network effects through an "architecture of participation," and going beyond the page metaphor of Web 1.0 to deliver rich user experiences. (O'Reilly 2005)

From this definition it is clear that the main characteristic of Web 2.0 is participation. This participation does not mean merely viewing static websites. That would be Web 1.0. During Web 1.0, most websites (at least the most visited websites) were designed by companies who could afford to put the time and money toward creating and marketing their sites. Internet users would visit these sites, read their content, and wish they had the time and money to create their own websites. Today, with Web 2.0, those people are participating on the Web by easily creating their own content without knowing HTML. Web 2.0 has brought online publishing to the masses.

[edit] Wikis

One of these new Web 2.0 technologies is the wiki. But what is a wiki? If asked this question, many people will respond that it is an online encyclopedia where anyone can edit everyone else’s articles. These people are thinking of Wikipedia, the largest and most famous wiki, but their definition is very close to what a wiki is in general. In the book Library 2.0 and Beyond, Chad F. Boeninger (2007) defines a wiki as “a website in which the content can be created and edited by a community of users.” Wikipedia works exactly that way. A Wikipedia user has the ability to create encyclopedia articles as well as edit everyone else’s articles. "As a result of this democratic approach to creating an encyclopedia, the focus, length, and content of articles is... different and... more up-to-date... than in an encyclopedia produced in the usual way" (Long 2006). But there are many other uses for wikis than just encyclopedias. “Wikis work great as shared online sketchpads or as spaces for brainstorming. They are perfect for creating perpetually updated lists or collections of links, and most users can instantly grasp their utility as informal bulletin boards” (Lamb 2004). Ultimately, a wiki can be used for any sort of information that needs to be stored, shared, or edited.

One institution that has taken a keen interest in wikis is the library. In the past few years, libraries have begun implementing them and utilizing their benefits. Matthew M. Bejune (2007) in his article "Wikis in Libraries," states that library wikis are used in one of four ways: "(1) collaboration among libraries; (2) collaboration among library staff; (3) collaboration among library staff and patrons; and (4) collaboration among patrons." Library staff like wikis because they are easy to set up and easy to manage. New content can be created quickly and existing content can be easily restored to an earlier version if necessary. Patrons like wikis because they are easy to search and modify. Wikis as items in a collection... are almost certainly part of the future of libraries" (Maness 2006).

[edit] The Libraries of Stevens County

The Libraries of Stevens County, which up until recently was known as The Stevens County Regional Library District or SCRLD, consists of 8 library locations serving the 42,632 residents of Stevens County Washington. These libraries serve a very rural population where the largest town has only 5,500 people. The county is filled with mountains and trees but very few roads. Many parts are very, very remote. Despite the smallness of the population and the vastness of the county, the Libraries of Stevens County effectively utilizes their small budget to provide innovative and relevant services to their patrons.

[edit] The Libraries of Stevens County Wiki ^[1]

The Libraries of Stevens County Wiki is a community wiki with the goal of being an online encyclopedia of anything and everything in Stevens County. There are sections of the wiki about Stevens County housing, schools, and businesses. County residents can use the site to find out about upcoming events. Visitors can visit the wiki to find out places of interest. Everyone in Stevens County is invited to participate in and contribute to this project.

[edit] History

Because of its remoteness and small population Stevens County has never exactly been on the cutting edge of technology. While DSL has recently become available in a few of the towns, for most county residents, dial-up Internet is the only option when it comes to accessing the World Wide Web.

Two years ago a group called the Telecom Steering Committee was formed. This committee consisted of people from various businesses and non-profit organizations in Stevens County. This committee was formed to bring high-speed Internet and better technology services to the county. This committee soon began working on a wireless corridor project, geared toward creating various high-speed wireless hotspots throughout the county. As this project progressed, a discussion arose about creating a community website. After some research, it was found that there were no websites about Stevens County. A website seems like the perfect opportunity to host information about Stevens County both for citizens as well as visitors. But what would such a site look like? The steering committee decided they wanted a website that was easy to search, easy to maintain, easy to add links, possibly interactive, and largely text-based to accommodate the dial-up users of the county. It sounded like they wanted a wiki.

[edit] Support

The libraries of Stevens County offered to take responsibility for the new wiki. They decided that this fit exactly in line with their mission of bringing innovative informational services to Stevens County. The library creates content for the wiki, maintains it, promotes it and even helps residents learn how to use it. The librarian in charge of the wiki uses RSS feeds to track all the changes and posts made to the site. If something is posted that doesn’t fit with the goals of the wiki, the librarian can easily catch it and restore the page to a previous version. Two other groups are also involved with support of the wiki. The first is a member of the steering committee who takes care of hosting the wiki and updating the MediaWiki software. The second group consists of other steering committee members. This group is mainly responsible with the appearance of the wiki. RSS feed are used to monitor this activity as well.

[edit] Participation

The wiki has now been around for about a year and a half. Participation was slow at first, but as the libraries began advertising and giving presentations about the wiki, participation has grown tremendously. The library is still the main contributor to the wiki, but new users are posting regularly. Community groups and businesses have also begun getting involved. These groups find the wiki useful for creating a web presence without having to build their own site. Organizations like the food banks and youth advisory groups can all post their contact and meeting information on the wiki without having to build and maintain their own web page.

[edit] Challenges

Overall the wiki project hasn’t had too much difficulty. There is always maintenance and advertising that needs to be done for the wiki, but that can be expected of most wiki projects like this. When the wiki was first created the staff ran into a little difficulty with people creating new accounts. However, once the wiki software was updated to the latest version these problems evaporated. Today, if users encounter any difficulties with the wiki, such as problems logging in or complications when formatting something, the library staff is always ready to help. People can email, call, or even visit the libraries to have their wiki questions answered.

[edit] Benefits

In the last two years, the Libraries of Stevens County Wiki has given the people of Stevens County a community bulletin board and community encyclopedia. Local organizations and businesses now have a web presence where they didnâÃÃÂÃ�