Wikis in newsrooms

I also attended part of "Newsroom Wikis", with four different presenters, all news librarians.

I missed Jessica Baumgart's presentation, except to see that she had used wikis to set up games for her library users that are found around the world. She works at Harvard University.

Michael Meiners, of the St Louis Post Dispatch, explained how the News Research department has a private wiki for training and "how-to" materials for their usage. He deplored the lack of customization of their software they use, OpenWiki, but otherwise find it convivial. He suggests defining parameters for the content.

Susan Ebbs, of the Raleigh News and Observer, uses both blogs and wikis in her work. Their wiki holds dossiers on breaking and ongoing news. They are also preparing a wiki that would act as a expert database for the librarians' expertise and knowledge.

Last was Jim Hunter of the Columbus Dispatch. They did create three wikis in one year. One is titled "Dewey Answers". It contains published Dispatch articles along with the research done for them by the library. It also contains background info on recent events, people profiles, stylebooks, an almanach and welcome-wagon materials for newcomers to the department.

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