College life is full of surprises, but it's easier with the know-how of upperclassmen. Now students at UVSC can share their knowledge and horror stories about campus via UV wiki.

The site is just like Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Utah Valley State College has embraced the wiki concept, not for research papers, but to communicate with the masses.

"We're doing it as sort of an experiment," said Anne Arendt, the Web resource director at UVSC.

A wiki is computer software that allows people to easily create, edit and link Web pages, according to wiki.org. The UVSC site, UV wiki, is available on the UVSC Web site. It is based on a similar project done at Columbia University. UVSC's experimental version was launched Oct. 20. As of Oct. 29, there had been 279 users and 327 visits.

So far there is information about campus resources and things to do in Utah County.

"I'm hoping that there will be more student-to-student types of things happening," Arendt said.

Arendt said the school created UV wiki to connect with students and see what they need. UV wiki can be accessed and edited by anyone, provided they register and create a user name.

Already the library and information technology help desk have entries.

"We were just hoping to use it as another means to get information out," said Lesli Baker, a reference librarian who created the entry that includes phone numbers and library hours, as well as information about the new library under construction.

Jo Ann Innes, director of the information technology help desk, had no idea UV wiki existed until she got a call from the Daily Herald. It turns out that Paul Nuffer, who built UV wiki, put up the site about the help desk to explain what it is and how students and staff can use the resources.

Arendt said administrators of the site, like herself, can control content and watch for things that may be inappropriate -- like bashing professors. Arendt said there are other places students can do that. The good thing about a wiki is that it is a living body of information and that it can be changed, she said. Her only real concern is getting information that is incorrect, but that can be fixed.

"The whole point of wiki is that you can change it," Arendt said. "If you see something you think is erroneous, fix it."

Wikipedia is obviously a wiki, but also the bane of many college professors. Its anyone-can-contribute nature makes it an unruly scholarly resource. Arendt isn't worried about that kind of criticism hitting the UV wiki.

"This is more of communication channel. I think they're kind of two different things," Arendt said.

Baker, who teaches students to research, isn't worried either. She teaches students that starting with Wikipedia is fine as long as it's not the end of their research.

"I always make a point of telling my students Wikipedia is a great way to get information, albeit you have to evaluate it carefully," Baker said.

She said she would never accept Wikipedia as a source.