Introducing Web 2.0: wikis for health librarians

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 internal 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. Barsky and Giustini 150 Introduction This is another article in a Journal of the Canadian Health Libraries Association series about Web 2.0 technologies in health [1–4]. Several medical journal articles [5–8] have looked at social software from various points of view since the series began. Taken together, these articles offer considerable scope for those health librarians interested in deepening their understanding of Web 2.0 and its impact in health care. An important theme in much of the health library literature is that Web 2.0 represents a transition of some kind, as well as a new way of working together. Some of the recurring aspects of this discourse are the possible uses of wikis in filesharing, editing, content aggregation, and customization among disparate users. In a recently published article, Boulos and Wheeler emphasize the potential of Web 2.0 to create new knowledge in a distributed fashion: “[these] technologies represent a quite revolutionary way of managing and repurposing/remixing online information and knowledge repositories, including clinical and research information” [5]. Moreover, Connor warns, “Medical librarians who lack understanding of the Web 2.0 ecosystem risk marginalization within present user communities, and may miss opportunities to work collaboratively with colleagues and clientele” [6]. As with blogs and RSS feeds, health librarians should examine the potential of wikis as they represent an important publishing trend. McLean et al. summarize this trend by stating “social technologies are characterised by constant development and evolution as a result of user interaction. Those who use these services assist in their development and are part of the ‘collective intelligence’ which is harnessed to make the services better and more responsive” [8]. By developing expertise in Web 2.0 tools, health librarians can assert new social, technology, and teaching roles for themselves within their organizations.