Wikis

On to this weeks work - Wikis.

I haven't had much experience with Wikis, never having been a part of a collaboration project via wikis before so was quite interested in the theory behind the 'collaboration of the masses'.

I have used Wikipedia before and my kids use it for school also, but we have used is as Jimmy Wales suggests - a place to start not to finish.

With this weeks activity I chose to edit a page on Cake Decorating as I have been heavily involved in cake decorating in the past and do know my stuff. The Wikipage mentions that fondant icing comes in many colours which is actually incorrect as it actually comes in three styles one of which you add food colouring to in order to achieve the correct colour. I changed the Wikipedia article but on reviewing the alteration three days later it had been changed back, even though it is again incorrect.

Looking at the history it was not the original editor who made the changes but an administrator for Wikipedia. I did make the changes anonymously and wonder if I had set up an account would the changes have been accepted?

It does make you think about the accuracy of information even after hearing Tama's lecture and that Wikipedia has around the same number of mistakes as Encyclopedia Britannica.

Blogging

After having a go at RSS feeds I actually feel a lot better with blogging. I am a total skeptic regarding blogs but I think that's more to do with the fact that I don't have a lot to say rather than being against blogs in general. I know a number of my colleagues use RSS feeds to keep up to date in their field of work etc. I think I will do some digging and find some feeds that are appropriate for my work and see how I go.

I noticed on the discussion boards that people were saying they don't know how they will keep up with their RSS feeds along with their Twitter, Facebook etc. I was once told that these Web 2.0 tools are akin to meeting with friends in the staffroom at 10am everyday. If you are able to be there you hear all the latest gossip and goings on, but do you miss it if you can't make it? Treat your Twitter, RSS Feed etc the same way, you don't need to read or comment on everything. If you miss a few days it won't matter.

I really liked the idea of 'citizen journalism' and keeping the media honest, I think we could do with more of that. Cheers for now.