Lester+Carreon

=Major Contributions=

Nov 9th - >
 * Created Participatory Design **(Content Contribution)**

Nov. 10th - >
 * Edited some content for Mapping
 * Created Fun Video Links for Table of Contents and Navigation
 * Added Content to Participatory Design

Nov. 13th -
 * Edited format of Efficiency
 * Added table of content, and subheadings, and a reference heading
 * Added content and edited Virtual Reality
 * Added the table of contents and added content about the tools involved
 * Edited format and added pictures for Digital Divide

Nov 24th - >
 * Edited format of the e-commerce page
 * Added anaysis using Porter's model in e-commerce
 * Created Porter's Five Forces Model **(Content Contribution)**

Dec 3rd -
 * Added Banner for Fun Video Links
 * Edited link for Government Testing of Usability and Safety

Dec 6th -
 * Put up a comment in Test Feedback

Dec 8th -
 * Added linkage between End-Users and Participatory Design
 * Finished adding References Participatory Design and Porter's Five Forces Model
 * Added a link for Fun Video Links

1. Beginning
I really enjoy having a project like a wiki in a university course. I previously worked on a wiki in CCT205 and found it an enjoyable experience. I enjoy using a wiki because it is an interactive environment that allows people to go through other people’s work and edit their work or contribute their own information. When everyone is collaborating at their peak, it allows an information flow that is constant and always changing. For example, last year’s wiki even though it was not part of the project, somebody put up a study guide for the upcoming test while others contributed to it and resulting in an organized study guide that was very useful. Another example is that some users posted up topics of interest that were loosely related to the course and interesting to read about.

The expectations I hold for myself is that I will research content that I’ve had an interest in but want to expand my knowledge of it. I want to contribute to any page that piques my interest so that not only will I learn more about it, but also I’ll feel that I’ve accomplished something by interacting with other people’s previous data. Also, I plan on setting up a page in which displays links to different videos on the web (on youtube.com or metacafe.com) that are funny or interesting, and I hope that people add their own video links to keep the page growing.

2. Middle
One of the best parts of a wikispace is not only the ability to read other people’s work but also the ability to edit it. The way I choose the pages in adding my own contributions or changing are by looking at pages that I feel that I am interested in. I like to put in the little extra effort of learning something new and researching if there is anymore data available to add onto the page itself. Another way that I choose to contribute or change pages that I have some background knowledge in especially from past CCIT courses. By being taught the concepts from a previous course, I can be assured that it is a reliable and trustworthy source to cite. Therefore, all my information will not be false information, but from an accurate academic source. The last way I choose to change or add contributions is by looking at random pages and finding the ones that have improper or incomplete formatting. Usually improper or incomplete formatting (in my standards) are pages that do not and maybe should have a table of contents, subheadings, references, pictures, and line breaks.

I find that adding, editing, and re-arranging other people’s work is a very welcome ability. I cannot speak for everyone else, but my experience with this is that it actually creates an environment of more productive and accurate information. Nobody can be perfect, but allowing other people to add onto, edit, or re-arrange your own page with their own knowledge allow that goal to become closer. Sometimes I do not notice my grammar errors, or I miss out on some relevant info but through a wiki, people can effectively edit it for me and make my page a much better place to be. Overall, I find it a helpful process and am glad to be part of it.

I check my postings for alterations periodically. I do this because I like to see what people have added or edited from my page. Nobody has edited my page or changed it yet, but last year in CCT205 people edited my work constantly and I remember how excited I would be to check whether it was an edit I approved of or not. So far, I have not had my chance for that in this course but I expect for activity to pick up relatively soon and I look forward to it.

3. End
Since the beginning of the course my view about wikis has been that it is a powerful tool for collaboration and that view has not changed since then. As seen through the entire semester, the wiki has grown from a small little thing to a massive environment rich with information and other interesting little tidbits. I expected this growth from the beginning and I am glad to see that my predictions were correct. Although I did not manage to participate as much as I did for the CCT205 wiki, I was still quite happy with the content provided and that I could still add some useful content of my own. However, with that said I do have my own ideas and suggestions to improve the experience.

The major problem I had with the wiki environment was that I did not have enough time to edit as much as I wanted to, or contribute as much as I wanted to. This course had too many other things happening including a separate wikispace of our own. Having so much to do, focus on the actual course wiki became a lesser idea on my mind and sometimes almost a chore. I really do enjoy playing around and editing on a wiki but my time was spread too thin which is why I felt this specific wiki has not lived up to the experience standards of CCT205. Perhaps maybe, if there were more deadlines to the wikispaces then just the analyses, then we could be able to find our time to edit more. We need some kind of focus and hopefully in the future you will realize that.

Finally, the most productive and helpful aspect of the wiki was definitely the study guide. Those that created the study guide or posted up summary lecture notes have really helped me study for the final test. Without those notes on the wiki I wouldn’t know how I would survive this course because I was busy with many other commitments including course work for this class. In conclusion, working on the wiki was once again fun but it could have been better and you should look at not just my suggestions but you should look at everyone else’s ideas as well and then apply it for next year. Thank you for your time and good luck in the future! =)