I was looking through Meredith’s links for her SirsiDynix talk, and noticed that she was linking to my Wiki As A Research Guide post from exactly one year ago today. It’s hard to believe that one year ago I got a hair-brained idea to experiment with a different method of disseminating information to researchers. It’s even harder to believe how successful the Biz Wiki experiment has been. Here’s a look at what I’ve learned over the past year of using a wiki as a research guide.
How the idea started
Early last summer, I had been playing around with wiki software for some time on a testbed server, but never really set up a wiki. The software was fairly easy to install, but once I got it installed, I really had no idea what to do with it or how I might use it. My only experience with a wiki was with the Wikipedia, and I did not see how something like that could be scaled down for library use. So, the wiki sat unused for a few months. Then one day I read that Meredith had just set up a wiki for the 2005 ALA conference, and then shortly after she created the LibSuccess Wiki. After looking at both of these examples, I then understood how I might use a wiki application to meet my needs and the needs of the community I serve. Thanks, Meredith, for your fine examples. They truly were an inspiration that helped me get my hair-brained idea off the ground.
How I set it up
There are a variety of options available to set up a wiki, and Meredith has created a fine list or wiki options on the LibSuccess wiki. I decided that I wanted a locally-hosted wiki, which is a wiki that is hosted on your own server or server space. In my opinion, locally-hosted wikis (and blogs for that matter) allow better customization of things like the style sheets, the layout, user permissions, etc.
To run my wiki, I chose the Media Wiki software. I figured if it was good enough for the Wikipedia, it was good enough for me. I also figured that the growth in the Wikipedia would ensure continued development of the Media Wiki software. Media Wiki is not that difficult to install, although you do need your own server (or rented server space) on which to host your wiki. You also need to have the ability to create a MySQL database (or have someone create it for you), and the server has to be able to run PHP. I’m not a programmer, but I have set up a number of database-driven blogs. If you have set up a WordPress blog before, you can set up a Media Wiki installation.
After I installed the wiki software, I began transferring content from my old research guides to the wiki. I explained some of my frustrations with my traditional research guides in the post from a year ago. In a nutshell, having three different research guides—one for general business, one for marketing, and one for international business–was redundant and confusing to the users. So, I began by taking some of the best content from the guides and populating the wiki.
How I use the wiki
I use the Biz Wiki to refer researchers to business reference books, databases, websites, and other research guides. There are different types of pages in the wiki. Some pages are just about specific reference books or websites, and they explain how the resource may be used. An example is Demographics USA, which is a print reference book. In the article I give the location of the book and also explain the type of content found in the book (and occasionally, how one might use the content). While this example is for a print resource, there are other similar articles about web sites and databases. In my previous research guides, I just gave a small sentence about the book and linked the user to the catalog record, which in retrospect, was probably not the best approach. Hopefully the Biz Wiki makes the reference tools more findable and inviting to use.
Other types of articles are more instructional in nature. These articles, such as Industry Research Basics or SWOT analysis, show the reader how to find particular types of information. These articles mention specific resources in the wiki and are cross-linked with those pages. Instead of lists of resources, I try to tell the user why a particular resource might be valuable to them when researching a particular topic. Again, one of my primary goals with the wiki is to promote the valuable (and expensive) library resources that we have available.
With each wiki page that I create, I make sure that I assign a category to that page. Perhaps it’s the librarian in me, but I think things need to be well-organized. Assigning a category to each article allows the user to find similar information, very much in the way clicking on a database subject heading finds similar information.
The wiki currently has 99 different pages. Initially it was quite a bit of work to add content to the wiki, but additions have slowed considerably. I now believe I have the most useful resources in the wiki, but as I find other resources or tips, I can add them with ease. Also, as I use the wiki and find something that needs to be updated, I can do so very easily. Because the wiki is edited via a web interface, I can make additions and changes at my desk, at the reference desk, in the classroom, or at home. This ease in editing enables me to provide up-to-date and relevant content to business researchers.
How others use the wiki
With over 28,400 hits to the main page of the wiki, the numbers show that it has definitely been used. If one looks at the Popular Pages feature of the wiki, there are more than 50 articles receiving more than 1000 hits this past year. The Industry Research Basics and Company Research Basics guides, the third and fourth-most-popular pages, have received 5500 and 4800 hits respectively, and I only created these guides in January 2006.
I wish I had scientific proof about why this is working so well, but I can only theorize about these numbers. I believe that most users of the wiki (undergraduate and graduate business students) come to the wiki and either use the search function or browse by category. Either way, they find an article or page that looks good to them. They can then click on a cross-reference article in the page, or click on the article’s category to find more information. I have not done any usability testing with the wiki, but I am assuming that because it looks similar to the Wikipedia (same software, as described above) the Biz Wiki’s familiar interface and organization make it easy for researchers to use.
Promoting the resource
As we all know, we can build or create the coolest resources available, but if no one uses them, then the cool factor wears off very quickly. I’m very fortunate to talk to 300-600 business students each quarter, and I demonstrate the Biz Wiki to students in formal instructional sessions and while answering reference questions. I almost never showed students my old research guides because I thought they were boring and not very useful, and because I was not very proud of them. I am very proud of the Biz Wiki and I love showing it to students. I also really love it when a student stops me in the library or tells me via email or IM that they were able to find information because of the wiki. It’s great to know that you are making a positive impact on the student learning experience.
Challenges and things to consider
One of the biggest challenges that I faced with the Biz Wiki was coming to terms with how users might actually use the wiki. When I first built the wiki, I had grand ideas that faculty, staff, and other librarians would be more than willing to contribute content. As it turns out, no one has stepped forward to add or edit content. They simply use the wiki as a searchable, well-organized library resource. This was difficult for me to understand because I had hopes that the Biz Wiki would be a resource that would promote collaboration and community among business researchers. While no one else is creating content for the wiki or providing feedback, the potential is there for future collaboration and community building. In the meantime, I’ve grown to understand that users may actually use something in a different way than it was originally intended, and I’m okay with that.
Anyone with a blog or a wiki will tell you of the nightmares they have with comment spam. When I originally built the Biz Wiki, I set the wiki so that anyone could edit the content. I began to get flooded with comment spam, so I disabled anonymous edits and required users to register before making changes to the wiki. Unfortunately, spammers were still persistent and went the extra step to create accounts in order to post links to all kinds of dirty things that I won’t address here. As a last resort, I locked the Biz Wiki down so that only I can create user accounts. I placed a message on the login screen and in various places on the wiki inviting users to contact me if they would like an account. Thus far, no one has taken me up on the offer. More than likely has had some influence on the lack of community edits, but it is my only solution for controlling the content at the moment.
What the future holds
I have been very pleased with my experience of using a wiki as a research guide, and I can tell you that I have no intentios of returning to my old traditional html guides. Only time will tell how the Biz Wiki will be used in the future. I will continue to add and edit content on an on-going basis, while weeding pages that are no longer relevant or out of date. It is my hope that the wiki will continue to be a viable and useful resource to business researchers at my institution and beyond. And if the day should come when the Biz Wiki is no longer useful, I only hope that another hair-brained idea will come along.
Further reading on the subject
I’ve been very fortunate to talk to a number of folks about my use of a wiki as a research guide. Here are a few links to additional reading and presentations:
Ohio Digital Commons for Education (ODCE). “Using Blogs and Wikis to Promote Information Literacy and Library Resources.” March 6, 2006. (PowerPoint slides).
Computers In Libraries. “Wikis in Action: A Wiki as a Research Guide.” March 22, 2006.
Computers In Libraries. “Wikis in the Classroom: Powerful Tools for Library Instruction.” March 23, 2006.
HigherEd BlogCon. “Blogs, Wikis, and IM: Communication Tools For Subject Specialists.” April 12, 2006.
I’ve taken a new interest in gaming lately. It’s driving my wife a little nuts, and I can understand why. She’s wondering why in the world I’ve recently started playing my Playstation 2 again, after it sat dormant and dusty for quite a long time. I suppose part of my renewed interest in gaming has to do with the reading I’ve been doing. I’ve been reading such titles as What Video Games Teach us About Video Games and Literacy and Learning, Got Game: How the Gamer Generation is Reshaping Business Forever, and Don’t Bother Me Mom I’m Learning. These titles have helped me get a better grasp of the learning styles of our undergraduates, and I hope that this understanding will help me to be a better reference librarian and teacher. Playing games has given me a little insight into these learning styles as well, and I hope to incorporate some of the characteristics of gaming into screencasts and online tutorials.
Like many 30-year-olds, I grew up with gaming. I had an Intellivision, a Nintendo, a Sega Genesis, a Playstation, and now a Playstation 2. I never have been a video game junkie, as I also played a number of sports, was a skater, and a boy scout. Video games never dominated my life, but I always enjoyed playing games. Since growing older, gaming took a back seat to other things such as house maintenance, trying to be a good husband and father, and learning to play the guitar. My wife got me the Playstation 2 for my birthday in 2003, and I’ve played it off and on over the years. Unfortunately, my patience grew thin for a number of the games I was playing (frankly, I wasn’t very good) and I stopped playing it.
Since I’ve started playing again, I’ve gotten a deeper understanding of what made me stop playing in the first place. As I said before, I wasn’t very good a most of the games I owned, so I only played the one that I was good at. As much as I love Gran Turismo 3, I eventually got really bored with the driving game and therefore stopped playing the PS2 altogether. When I picked up the controller again a few months ago, I made a real effort to avoid playing that game. Instead, I played Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Burnout 3: Takedown, Madden 2004, and Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 (THPS4). All of these are older games and have been sitting on my shelf since I first got the PS2 in 2003. I initally avoided playing these games not because they weren’t good games (they are all excellent) but because I was not very good at them. I thought that I would just be able to sit down and play these games without any problems. As it turns out, I’m not as good as I thought I was, and I didn’t have the patience to learn how to play the games better. However, after taking the time to learn the games, I’ve become a lot more patient with learning the games. I’m now a lot more willing to get killed or fail a goal or lose a football game over and over again. In the process of my learning how to play these games, I’ve seen a lot of things that can be incorporated into how we design web-based tutorials and virtual learning experiences. The following games all present how-to-play-the-game information in different ways, and each way could potentially be modeled in future library tutorials and screencasts.
Burnout 3: Takedown is an arcade-style racer in which the player controls the race car. Burnout offers a variety of gameplay, but the main point of the game is to win the races at all costs. This involves high-speed racing through city streets and crashing opponents on your way to victory. The game is fairly easy to play as it only uses a few of the Playstation 2 controller buttons. As such, the game offers a traditional demonstration of how the game works. The demo shows the controls and explains the rules of the game, all within a demonstration of actual game play. Many library screencasts and tutorials have followed this method of instruction, as it is perhaps the easiest to do. However, I know that I have been guilty of giving the user way too much information. What I learned from Burnout 3 is to give the user/player enough information to know how to play (or use the database, catalog, etc), but don’t give them too much information that it keeps them from playing. Many users just want to know enough to get them started, such as which buttons to push. They’ll figure everything else out by playing the game.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is a game of tactical espionage action. You play as a character who has to infiltrate enemy territory to keep them from stealing a nuclear weapon. You are vastly outnumbered, so you have to sneek around without being caught. The gameplay is a little more complex and it takes advantage of more of the controller’s buttons. This game offers a different sort of instructional help. As the game opens, you are greeted on your codec radio by Otacon, your friendly support staff who is back at the base. As you walk around the game, Otacon (and later, the Colonel) offers advice on how to solve a problem or tells your character what he needs to do next in the mission. For example, if you find a new weapon in the game, Otacon will tell you about the weapon and how it can be used. Some of the conversations are initiated by Otacon or the Colonels, as they will call you when they think you need to know something about the mission. At other times, if you get stuck in a particular part of the game, or if you forget what your mission objectives were, you can contact Otacon or the Colonel. Unfortunately you cannot ask your question in your own words each time, but generally the advice they give will get you back on the right track. Imagine if we had this sort of help in a library catalog or database. What if the frustrated user clicked on the help button when he was looking at a subject heading, and the catalog told him enough information about how to use the subject heading? How might this point-of-need instruction give our users the weapons they need to understand the catalog?
Madden NFL is one of the most-popular video games on the market. Most gamers have one (if not several) versions of the game. I currently own and play Madden NFL 2004. Madden is easily the most-complex of the four games that I have discussed. In playing a game of football in Madden, the player has to understand the rules of football, comprehend offensive and defensive alignments, be familiar with play-calling strategies, and understand his team’s and opponents’ strengths and weaknesses. There’s a lot going on there, and then there are all the buttons. Each of the Playstation 2’s eight buttons is used in playing this game, and the button assignments change depending on whether the player is on offense or defense. Despite all of this complexity, Madden is a fun (but not easy) game to learn. Madden 2004 offers a variety of ways to learn the game. Built into the franchise mode of the game is a feature called Mini Camp. Before your team can start the pre-season schedule, you have to take them through the skill-building process of minicamp. During mini camp, you can choose one player to work on a particular drill. If you complete the drill successfully, you get an extra point to boost that player’s ability in a particular area. This is hands-on learning at it’s best as while you are trying to tackle the dummy, rush for yards, or complete a pass, you are learning about controlling the players in Madden. Another instructional method is the Football 101 feature in Madden 2004. This feature allows you to pick an offensive play, and John Madden will explain and demonstrate how to successfully run the play. After he shows you how the play works, you get the chance to try the play on a real defense. In this scenario, the player can learn by watching the play run and by running the play themselves. I think many librarians use this method in their classroom instruction, but I wonder how many are able to incorporate this into tutorials and screencasts. Finally, Madden 2004 also offers a point-of-need instructional support, as the player can “Ask Madden” for play suggestions during a given scenario. John Madden will tell you something like, “Try this play in this situation” rather than “It’s third and one and you’ve called six running plays in a row, so try a Play-action pass.” Once again, this type of point-of-need support gives the user enough information to get them by in a given situation, not burden them with too many details.
The final game I’d like to mention is Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4. In this game, the gamer plays as a skateboarder who is trying to accomplish skating goals. The gameplay of THPS4 is fantastic, as there is a pretty good variety of goals. I find this game interesting from an instructional design standpoint because it offers none of the features that I have already talked about. There is no point-of-need help, nor is there any type of demonstration. When I first started playing this game, this was really frustrating. How in the world was I supposed to figure out how to play the game? I would try to accomplish one of the game’s goals and fail over and over and over again. Finally, after reaching my wits end, I started skating around the level to find other goals. As it turned out, there were other goals that were more manaegable for my skill level. Accomplishing these easier goals was difficult as well, but I was learning how to play the game in the process. The satisfaction that I got after completing each goal is very hard to describe, because you feel like you have really accomplished something when the goal is done. I then understood the game a lot more. THPS4 is a game that is meant to be explored. The levels in the game are huge and encourage exploration. The goals themselves are pretty open-ended, as the player can do his own tricks to accomplish the goal (as opposed to duplicating a running play in Madden). It is through this exploration that the player becomes more familiar with the controls, the gameplay, and the strategies needed to be successful. Does this open exploration work for all learners? I’d say definitely not, as learning in this way can be particularly time consuming and frustrating. However, open exploration, or allowing a user time to explore at his own pace, is something that does need to be addressed in tutorial and screencast design.
I believe all four games contain certain elements that we can adapt as we design tutorials, screencasts, and even catalogs and databases for our library users. Our users are growing up with games, and these games are extremely capable at keeping the player’s attention while he/she learns how to play the game. Perhaps by understanding how players learn in video games, we can take advantage of this knowledge and create more effective resources for our users. What games have you played lately? How did you learn to play the game and how might that be applied to library instruction or tutorials? What games do you see your kids playing, and how do those games keep their attention while they are learning? The next time you, your friends, or your kids are playing video games, try to observe the learing experience in the games and seek to understand the learners who are playing them.
