I have taken a look at several Wikis, and, of course, have used Wikepedia, for good or bad, these last couple of years (have also chided many a History Day student for Wikepedia-ing) ... Although I am all for the ownership of ideas, especially my own, in a controlled environment I can see Wikis being useful. And the ability to put a webpage up quickly and easily is certainly a big plus. I will admit that I wasn't bowled over by many of the Wikis I did take a look at, but perhaps they were still in their infancy. What I like best is the outline format many take! :) I am not creative enough to see them being used for groundbreaking work amongst patrons, except for Readers Advisory, Book Clubs, other groups or clubs. I can see them being very useful internally for staff training.
A large part of my job is warning patrons about sources and instructing them to check their sources, trace their sources, evaluate sources; on that front an editor-less Wiki puts the fear of the Almighty in me. While in some communities they may be self-controlling, in fields where so much information is hard to prove as it is, genealogy and local history, I don't see that happening.
Perhaps someday when all users understand them and know what they are they will be less of a concern for me, when the day comes when all researchers know that just because it is on-line don't make it so. :)
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