Wikis for Health Librarians

147 FEATURE / MANCHETTE Introducing Web 2.0: wikis for health librarians Eugene Barsky and Dean Giustini Abstract: This paper is an introduction to wikis for health librarians. While using wikis in health is now well established, their gradual rise is similar to other Web 2.0 tools such as blogs and RSS feeds. The same principles of collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and socialization apply to wikis. Easy-to-use, interactive, and built on open platforms (though not all are free), wikis offer a number of marketing and teaching opportunities for health librarians. Ironically, owing to the prominence of Wikipedia, which paved the way for the broader acceptance of Web 2.0 technologies, wikis are moving beyond the collaborative writing of encyclopedia entries. Wikis are now used for all kinds of projects, from managing inter- nal library content to revising important reference sources such as the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). That said, some physicians and librarians express grave concerns about using wikis to create reference works—particularly, how questionable authority and editorial controls may result in medical errors. We argue that wikis were not necessarily meant to replace trusted print and digital information. When used responsibly as part of an overall content management plan, wikis can enhance our traditional collections and services. The authors predict that wikis will continue their rise in medicine through 2008, which will lead to other creative uses and applications in health libraries. 150 Barsky and Giustini Introduction velopment and evolution as a result of user interaction. Those who use these services assist in their development This is another article in a Journal of the Canadian and are part of the ‘collective intelligence’ which is har- Health Libraries Association series about Web 2.0 technolo- nessed to make the services better and more responsive” [8]. gies in health [1–4]. Several medical journal articles [5–8] By developing expertise in Web 2.0 tools, health librarians have looked at social software from various points of view can assert new social, technology, and teaching roles for since the series began. Taken together, these articles offer themselves within their organizations. considerable scope for those health librarians interested in deepening their understanding of Web 2.0 and its impact in The wiki concept health care. An important theme in much of the health library literature The idea of a wiki (“wiki” is a Hawaiian term for quick or is that Web 2.0 represents a transition of some kind, as well super fast) was first coined by Ward Cunningham in 1994. as a new way of working together. Some of the recurring as- Cunningham favoured the idea of sharing information with- pects of this discourse are the possible uses of wikis in file- out the kinds of encumbrances that normally inhibit peer-to- sharing, editing, content aggregation, and customization peer conversation, collaboration, and knowledge-creation. among disparate users. In a recently published article, Boulos Taking this idea one step further, participants can use wikis and Wheeler emphasize the potential of Web 2.0 to create to share and exchange ideas without the need for elaborate new knowledge in a distributed fashion: “[these] technologies coding languages such as hypertext markup (HTML). An- represent a quite revolutionary way of managing and other important feature is Web-based editing where partici- repurposing/remixing online information and knowledge re- pants create pages and, as documents evolve, changes are positories, including clinical and research information” [5]. tracked as “histories” in an underlying database. Moreover, Connor warns, “Medical librarians who lack un- According to Wikipedia, “a wiki is a type of Web site that derstanding of the Web 2.0 ecosystem risk marginalization allows the visitors themselves to easily add, remove, and within present user communities, and may miss opportunities otherwise edit and change some available content, some- to work collaboratively with colleagues and clientele” [6]. times without the need for registration. The ease of interac- As with blogs and RSS feeds, health librarians should ex- tion and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for amine the potential of wikis as they represent an important collaborative authoring.” But the social, open nature of wikis publishing trend. McLean et al. summarize this trend by is what makes them revolutionary, controversial, and occa- stating “social technologies are characterised by constant de- sionally problematic. While useful for many projects, wikis E. Barsky. Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]; Blog: http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/physio/. D. Giustini. Diamond Health Care Centre and Vancouver Hospital, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]; Blogs: http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/googlescholar/ and http://blog.openmedicine.ca/. JCHLA / JABSC 28: 147–150 (2007) 148 JCHLA / JABSC Vol. 28, 2007 may not always be well suited to, say, building drug, medi- has restricted editorial policies that allow only regis- cal procedure, practice guideline, or complementary and al- tered medical practitioners to add and edit content. ternative therapy (CAM) texts. In fact, any information source where accuracy and authority must be of the highest (iii) PubDrug (http://www.pubdrug.org/) is an “open-access, standards may be ill suited to the wiki concept. peer-reviewed, copyright- and royalty-free drug information database intended for the use of pharmacists and other That said, there are many wiki applications in libraries health professionals. PubDrug is being developed as a worth reviewing. Librarians use wikis to build repositories, wiki, making it possible to harness expertise from anyone manage intranets, and create dynamic content for Web sites, connected to Internet. However, PubDrug also provides pathfinders, and other library tools. Experimentation in- editorial guidelines and fact-checking procedures to keep cludes a range of uses, including sharing information and its drug information as error-free as possible.” As with the expertise with colleagues at reference desks and user com- above wikis, contributors must be approved by administra- munities “as events happen” (similar to informing friends tors, which include a pharmacy librarian. using Facebook, for example) [4]. The blurring of the original concept of a wiki has led to There has been a sharp increase in the use of wikis in some confusion as to what defines it (some Web sites are a medicine in 2007. To see the range of the more than combination of a blog and wiki, and are called “blikis”). Ac- 50 medical wikis in development, see David Rothman’s cording to Lamb [9], wikis have five characteristics that sep- comprehensive list of health-related wikis on his blog arate them from other social computing activities: (http://davidrothman.net/list-of-medical-wikis/). (1) Uniqueness – Wikis provide an opportunity to share original content in niche areas that might not be found Wikis in libraries elsewhere. Rather than duplicate Web content, wikis can Wikis are often used as starting points for users doing re- link to existing information beyond the scope of a project. search as well as a digital “town square” or shared (2) Collaborative – Wikis are designed to be free, open workspace. Their potential uses include brainstorming, pro- spaces for sharing. Rather than focus on a single au- ject and knowledge management, and a collaborative space thor’s contribution, wikis concentrate on the synergy for document creation, to name a few. Other possible appli- that comes from multiple contributers. cations are the following: (3) Open – Anyone can add anything to a wiki at any time. Although many wikis, particularly in health, require reg- (i) Subject guides – St. Joseph County Public Library, for istration or guest access for outsiders, most allow any- example, uses wikis to create, update, and maintain one to join in the journey. their subject guides (http://www.libraryforlife.org/ (4) Simple – Anybody can learn to create and edit pages us- subjectguides/index.php/Main_Page). ing the Web-based forms. In most cases, the tools are similar to a word processor. (ii) Project planning – A group of University of British Co- (5) Evolving – Wikis are in a constant state of change. They lumbia (UBC) librarians placed materials on a free are dynamic entities and reflect the evolution of a par- Web-based wiki to teach Web 2.0 tools ticular subject. (http://tots.pbwiki.com/). With that, let’s examine some of the wiki experimentation (iii) Policy manuals – The Library Success: A Best Practices taking place in medicine. Wiki (http://www.libsuccess.org) was created to share the successful implementation of new ideas and information for all types of librarians. Coordinated by Wikis in medicine Meredith Farkas, it has become a place to share policies, There are numerous applications of wikis in medicine. We success stories, and case studies. would like to mention three expert-moderated wikis in health (iv) Training resources – At the 2007 Canadian Health Libraries sciences: Association / Association des bibliothèques de la santé du (i) Ask Dr. Wiki (http://www.askdrwiki.com) is “a nonprofit Canada (CHLA / ABSC) conference, Giustini and Barsky educational Web site made by physicians for physicians, used the UBC Health Library wiki as a manual and starting medical students, and health care providers. Its purpose is point for training (http://tinyurl.com/yp9hsc). to serve as an online repository of medical information that can be accessed by anyone.” This is a wiki with a de- Wikis as knowledge base tailed editorial policy (http://tinyurl.com/3do9rq) where - authors must be approved as physicians before editing the In September 2006, a health library wiki was created to sup - wiki. For more information, see the AskDrWiki entry in port a health libraries course at the UBC School of Library, Ar chival and Information Studies (SLAIS).

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