Information Services & Technology recently launched an enterprise wiki service for MIT. Carter Snowden, lead developer of the wiki service, paired up with Jim Cain and Molly Ruggles of OEIT to offer the course "Effective Use of Wikis". Since this service is geared toward administrative and research groups and for use in MIT classes, Carter focused on basic planning to make the use of the wiki space more effective and beneficial. Issues covered included scope of the project, goals, organization of the space, and target audience. The course also stressed what a wiki is good at and what its limitations are. There were about 25 people in attendance, both students and faculty. Many wew teaching assistants interested in using class wikis.
ISDA also offered "Introducing Thalia", facilitated by Janet Riley Bowker, leader of the Thalia development team. The course gave a basic overview of Thalia as an image management tool, illustrating how to store, organize, and share photos and files. Participants were able to have accounts set up ahead of time so that they could work with Thalia during the demonstration. There were approximately 55 people in attendance from a variety of departments. Thalia is preparing to be released to the departments in the Spring of 2008, so stay tuned!