Have just finished running through the wikis module during quiet moments on the info desk today. Some of it is familiar, of course, but I found Peter Blakes's article interesting ("Using Wikis for information services: principles and practicalities") especially as my
slv@swanston project group which looked at establishing a Service Desk Intranet Portal, recommended, among other things, setting up a wiki as a means of managing policies, procedures and other relevant material for desk staff. I think a wiki, with clearly delineated editorial practices and guidelines, would lend itself really well to this and would be a great improvement on those dusty old hard copy Policies and Procedures desk manuals, and certainly would be easier to navigate than the present circuitous intranet route to the electronic versions. And most importantly, the information would be up to date! No more floating copies of emailed versions of changes which seem to disappear when you need them most.
Also, found the various comments on the validity or wisdom of using Wikipedia as a reference tool interesting. As a current trainee in the slvchat service I've come to the view that Wikipedia can be useful to get a handle on a topic, especially if it is unfamiliar, and then I would look for backup from other more authoritative sources.
