My Midterm Reflection
The Beginning
I never thought I would have a reason to use a wiki, until I began thinking about a big project for this class. When the idea of making an online scrapbook came to me I knew the wiki would be the best format
for this type of project. I knew wikis had their purposes, but I hadn't really had any reason to use one outside of class. I chose PB wiki because I liked that they offer a few choices in templates and it's free. I
chose the bright orange template because it is cheery and fun.
Very early in the semester when Dr. Morgan had us examine wikis these were my findings: I enjoy playing with templates and colors, backgrounds and tables. Granted, they can be extremely frustrating at times, but it is a part of writing and publishing on the world wide web that I look
forward to.
Wiki's strip this option away and in the beginning (two classes ago) I found that unbelievably frustrating. Now, in my third semester of using a wiki I can fully appreciate their uses. Wiki's are great for
classes, especially writing classes, because students don't get caught up with templates and such. Their simplicity puts the focus on the text, though images may be included. (I love pictures!) Another bonus, as
Dr. Morgan mentioned in class on Wednesday is the ability to go back to previous versions and it's almost impossible to "break them."
A combination of Dr. Morgan's view of the way a wiki should be, the original creator's view (combined with the original intention / idea of the world wide web) have brought me to a set criteria for looking at
wiki's:
1. The background of the page should be white.
2. The majority of the text should be black, with colored text reserved for links.
3. Ability to add to and edit the site should be open to the public (or a select public as in a classroom experience).
4. Easy html coding such as OpenNewPage? and and for easy working (after all "wikiwiki" is Hawaiian for quick)
5. Images are allowed but are not essential.
6. Style guides, sandboxes, and ettiquette information are included somewhere.
That said, I must also admit that there are wiki's out there with colored text and other fringe. Dr. Morgan seems to prefer the simpler method. I know last semester in
E-Rhetoric we were allowed to experiment with blocks of colors and colored text. The resulting pages resembled a more
traditional web page, not the traditional wiki way...
Several questions have been scrolling through my brain as I browse these wikis:
* What happens when you add colors and fonts and other design elements to a wiki?
* When you block it to one person or a very select few?
* Is it still a true wiki?
* What makes a complete wiki? Just the simple editing?
It's interesting that my wiki does break a lot of the wiki-tradition such as open editibility, lack of color, and it relies on images. Some of the questions I asked have been explored in my scrapbook wiki. When
you add color and other design elements to a wiki it makes a bold statement. It adds energy. Of course I don't think it is appropriate for every wiki, but I believe it adds to mine.
Problems
I have hit a few snags along the way, as you do with technology. I had problems finding a host site for my videos that would work with PB wiki. I finally went with a very old Yahoo Geocities account of mine.
I also had to adjust to differences between the format of the PB wiki and this wiki. They are small, but proved to be a bit annoying at times. Thank goodness for style sheets and being able to go in and look at
existing pages to compare formats. I was also without a computer for almost two weeks when my laptop decided to go wonky and my new computer was late arriving. (The joys of technology! :)
Organization & Mapping
It took me some time to figure out the best way to lay out my site. I finally decided on breaking the trip into portions of my trip (Before, Student Teaching, Australia.. etc) and then having subsections organized
by date. When I realized I could have a sidebar (even though it's not very wiki-ish) I decided to add one to aid my visitors in navigation. I had a couple of friends check my
site after I had the basic structure laid out to be sure it was easily navigated.
Content
I wanted to start this story in the begining. WG totally got my point when he said: "The choice to include back story – as it is truly where any story starts – is an inspired one. The reader is able
to see how her live progressed from the inception of her idea to abscond to New Zealand for her student teaching, way long ago on January 24th of 2003."
I was also happy to see he approved of my choice to include other events in my life, not directly related to my New Zealand trip, but which altered my perception... things which changed my life in other ways.
"*includes items and occurrences from her life that aren’t directly related to her experience in NZ that one may ask to what relevance? Aspen puts it quite simply, 'Because it's life. It's all interconnected.
This experience altered me, my perception… It was life changing and significant.' I love when one can see that no matter how distinct any experience is, it’s only so because of every other experience one
has." Yay! He gets it! :)
Just as my prior experiences add to this scrapbook, so do my reflections now. If I had a paper scrapbook and was going over it with friends I would add bits here and there. This format allows me to go into
more detail. To show them with pictures, video, sounds, and words what my experience was like. I think it is much more powerful.
I knew I wanted to include images and video from my trip so I did a test page (which proved to be an excellent idea) where I tested different hosts for video and images. I also have plans to scan parts of my
journal and things like train tickets and include them in my wiki.
I was pleased at the response of my test videos. SP said: "The videos are great; it literally puts the reader in the passenger's seat!"
As my group noted: "By using movies, different colors, and pictures, she was able to use
different media to express herself creatively and to support what she wrote."
Examples of video I have added to my wiki:
The video and links to outside content (including my blog) are things that you cannot do in a paper scrapbook. They are unique to this format and add to the scrapbooker and viewer experiences.
Wikis by nature are open to editing and group work. I chose to keep my wiki closed. This is a personal experince for me and I want to build it myself, without fear of other people altering it. I have had
requests (posted to my blog) for the ability to comment on my wiki. I would like to find a comment program that works (I've tried a couple without success). PB wiki does offer a limited number of discussions
per page if you are a paying member, but I prefer not to pay. For now I am encouraging comments to be directed to my blog.
As JH noted: "She gives her own experiences, but she also provides a ton of information about New Zealand." I'm trying to include information about New Zealand, it's geography, it's
people... I learned so much when I was there and I want to share that knowledge. Things which are truly unique to NZ like the haka.
Adapting Writing Strategies
The conventions of the wiki required me to alter my writing style at times to fit the project. For example, when I wanted to make a bold statement I could not use all capital letter because that would create a
new wiki page. So, I would add spaces between the words like: D R I V E or bold them. I reserved italics for when I was quoting from my blog.
Wiki words, to open new pages, had to be chosen carefully so they did not overlap. I selected random letters to capitalize, but kept the main pages named by month, in order to aid navigation.
Readers
From the beginning I have been very excited about this project. I looked forward to assembling all of my material and putting together in one format. I was a bit nervous as to how others would respond, since they weren't there with me and didn't share my excitement about this adventure. When I started getting responses from Sharon and then from the Studio Tours I was quite pleased. Everyone seemed to enjoy my wiki and actually felt like I left them hanging since it isn't done yet.
Future Plans
I'm going to keep on plugging away on my wiki. I can spend 5 hours in one sitting, easy. But I'm trying to spread my time out a bit more. I've found other videos on the internet and will be adding links to those on my wiki (I only have a few good videos). As I mentioned before I will be scanning items and adding them to my wiki as well. I've only found a couple of online scrapbook sites... and only one of them is a wiki. I'll keep looking for other examples to compare in my Graduate portion of this project.
I'm happy with where my wiki is heading and that my initial idea is working
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