I’m very comfortable working with wikis. They’re simple, easy to use and fun to work with. One aspect I would like to add is color; wikis are a bit bland, so I do agree with what Lawley said on the ‘ugly’ aspect.
I didn’t know there were two ties of ‘documentation’, i.e., ThreadMode and DocumentMode. I’m more comfortable working in DocumentMode in the academic process; ThreadMode makes me think of IM’ing or text messages just because they contain bits and pieces, so they seem incomplete to me. I know ThreadMode is a conversation, and when I hear DocumentMode, DocumentMode seems to be a better fit in an academic setting.
The idea of returning to a wiki to edit it and expand it is very collaborative. It gives other people the chance to add to the topic or touch it up; it’s a good way to accept change and be more open.
Levinson has a section of Chp. 4 that discusses Wikipedia and libraries. There are lots of pros and cons to both. Libraries provide book and articles that can be outdated, and Wikipedia users can mishear something or be misinformed, and give out incorrect information (like the ‘deaths’ of Kennedy and Byrd). The thing I like about libraries is it’s a public place, easy for person-to-person interaction, which users don’t get in using Wikipedia.
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