Hi Art
I have been teaching and helping various groups in applications, software and hardware issues for quite some time.  The training courses that I give whether scheduled or on-site, have allowed me to transfer knowledge and know how to close to 200 people since July 2000. However, this only goes so far.  Whether for the training courses or the IsoWiki idea; the old adage, modified from an Abraham Lincoln quote, which states: "You can please some of the people some of the time, you can even please some of the people all of the time, but you cannot please all of the people all the time" rings true. Of all the people I have trained over the years, it is not possible to please all; but the greater response has always been favourable and thus I continue.  
However, even here, as anyone who has taught a course knows, you have to limit what you can give in the time allotted.  This is where your idea comes in.  Once a user has attained a minimum amount of knowledge, further knowledge is usually picked up through anyone of the following: articles, books, lab visits, Isogeochem, phone, e-mail...  The first two are good but often cannot keep pace with current developments.  Many of the little individual lab tricks will not publish because they do not warrant enough for an article and we learn of them through things such as lab tours (e.g. the Canadian Continuous Flow Workshops, conferences etc.)
Here is why I think the IsoWiki idea is brilliant:
- Unlike Isogeochem, pictures and diagrams can be attached.
- Articles can be updated quickly as addendums or add-ons by primary or secondary authors.
- Correction can be made after the fact.
- Tips and tricks can be added
- Pointing to articles outside our normal field of study is a great way to finding things fast (Forensic, Geology, Food, medicine, etc.)
- Using a search engine that can cluster the data (E.g. www.vivisimo.com) at some point will help to organise the search in the growing database.

What to be careful with on the IsoWiki site:
- Any troubleshooting that involves high voltages or dangerous chemicals must have disclaimers.
- Need of a safety disclamer that would "legally" prevent the owner of the database or a submitter from criminal prosecution should a user "screw up" the instructions on a procedure... You ARE in the States Art. 
Here is an example of the only incident that happened to me from one participant in one of my courses.  It only takes one.  After the part of the training course where we physically measure all the parameters in the source using multimeters (trap, source, extraction, Y etc. etc.) this user went back to his lab and repeated the tests on his source board with no problem.  Then 6 months later decided to redo the tests to see if anything changed and blew the source board.  He blamed me for teaching it wrong and insisted that the board be replaced by the course organisers. It was obvious to me that this person had the meter in Ampere mode and blew the board trying to measure voltage.  Even though one of his e-mails indicated the successful measurement 6 months prior, the board was replaced reluctantly and forced me to put a disclaimer in the course indicating that the measurements are only for understanding purposes and NOT TO BE DONE AT THEIR LABS BY UNQUALIFIED PEOPLE ECT ECT.....

This will never replace the need for service engineers and support from the makers of the equipment or third parties.  The amount of people who can troubleshoot and handle tools, multimeters (volts vs. amperes) or oscilloscopes are very limited.  Many are simply there to follow a recipe (e.g students) and that is where it ends.  Many cannot afford qualified personnel to run the labs and that is what support contracts are for).

The Isogeochem website alrady has pointers to other labs and there are just too many when you are looking for something specific.  Many labs have names that do not convey there field of expertise.  Others are multidisciplinary with "pointers" to their users where the search would need to continue.  The Wiki idea brings it all together in one spot with hopefully a great search engine.  Short time pain for long term gain.  I'm all for it.
This is a super idea and the advantages outweigh all the disadvantages

Great idea Art, it should be investigated further.

Best regards
Gilles

Gilles St-Jean
Chercheur / Research Scientist
Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Sciences de la Terre / Earth Sciences
140 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 6N5
Tel: 1-613-562-5800 xt 6830 (Bureau / Office)
                    xt 6839 (Bureau / Office Lab)
                    xt 6836 (IRMS lab)
Téléc. / Fax: 1-613-562-5192
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