Internet Librarian: Using Wiki Software in a Newsroom Environment
[These notes are my draft notes. I will polish them later.]
Internet Librarian: Clements: Using Wiki Software in a Newsroom Environment
Everyone comes to Maureen Clements’ talks because we’re all big fans of National Public Radio, her employer. But really, what NPR is doing with wikis is really cool.
Maureen works at two of the three reference desks, focusing on the audio reference desk. Their collection is huge, but not all of the audio materials are cataloged. Much of their reference service depends on people just knowing what’s in the collection.
The library is going through a transition. The used to have a clipping library dating back to 1977. Maureen believes the transition is part of a trend among news organizations to change to embrace many new technologies. Anticipating questions before they’re asked is key, but staffing limitations often means they can’t do that effectively. The NPR librarians are trying to figure out how to become absolutely essential to NPR so they can keep their libraries and their jobs while serving NPR.
The wiki came about after Maureen was at Internet Librarian 2005. She went back to her job and suggested getting one. A few days later, a tech person called to let her know he had downloaded and installed wiki software. Since they now had one, she felt like she had to do something with it. She likes it because it’s fast, easy, and cheap. They use MediaWiki, which is the software behind the Wikimedia Foundation’s projects.
A wiki could replace an intranet site and serve as a central repository for librarian-approved information. When they had to get rid of their clipping files, they realized the wiki could store some of the same material that was in the filing cabinets.
The wiki can also serve as a 24/7 library, since their own library isn’t staffed all the time, but reporters often work overnight and on the weekends.
While working for the News Division, Maureen has noticed that some NPR shows often overlap each other in content and sometimes contact potential guests minutes apart for interviews. The wiki can eliminate some of the confusion and overlap because the shows can indicate whom they’ve contacted.
Using pages on the wiki, they’ve been able to create pages about experts whom they can interview. She’s also working on a giant directory of NPR employees, shows, and librarians. She wants to expand to include all of the NPR member stations. That way, when it’s 2 am in Iowa and there’s breaking news in a small town, they know whom they can contact to get coverage.
Maureen realized the first step to getting the wiki going was to train herself. She didn’t have a lot of time to do it at work, so she learned on Wikipedia at home. She spent about an hour one-on-one with each of the librarians. She wrote documentation for the NPR reporters.
They’re working on pulling RSS feeds into the wiki. She showed us some of the feeds that are coming in, though she admits it’s all a little buggy right now.
She showed an example bio page. As well as basic information about someone, it includes links to NPR content.
She was surprised at the immediate positive response the wiki received. They launched the wiki before she was really ready for it, but it still worked. She believes marketing is very important.
Shortly after launching their internal wiki, the Nature study comparing Britannica and Wikipedia came out. As news librarians discussed the topic on Newslib, Maureen’s boss, Laura Soto-Barra chimed in in favor of Wikipedia. Jimmy Wales saw Soto-Barra’s e-mail and contacted her to offer to come to NPR. His visit boosted the popularity of the wiki.
To combat scope creep on the wiki, Maureen has been working with the various NPR departments who want their own sections on the wiki, like audio engineering.
The wiki raised the profile of the library because it’s a concrete way they are able to add a valuable tool to the organization, especially for departments they don’t often directly servce.
Wikis are not content management systems. Understanding the technical limitations of the wiki is good. She mentioned Dan Bricklin’s project WikiCalc. Bricklin is the man who invented the first spreadsheet software.
It’s important to recognize that not everyone wants to use the wiki. It’s important to know the limitations of the library’s users. Organizational change is a big challenge.
More than 200 people in the organization have logged onto the wiki, including the president. They want to use the wiki in very important ways for a new series and for election coverage.
Maureen gave a tour of the Election Book, which is now on the wiki. It’s a very comprehensive compilation of information about the November elections.
Q: What are the limitations of the wiki?
A: We have problems uploading pdfs on the wiki, so we upload them elsewhere and link to them from the wiki. Spreadsheets and databases are also probelmatic.
Q: Does someone review edits? What about wiki spam?
A: We don’t have to worry about wiki spam as much because it’s a private wiki. They keep stats based on people’s logins. They don’t review the edits because they know who’s using it and they trust the users.
Tag: il2006
