Yoo,+Michael

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 * My major edits (*Roadmap of my major posts/edits)**

- Ethnography, Cultural Informants, Fieldwork on Prostitution in the era of AIDS (Example) are all of my original works (with Sources and Citations 629 words)
 * Oct 19, 2006** - Completed part 1 of Analysis and Reflection Questions
 * Nov 15, 2006** - Completed part 2 of Analysis and Reflection Questions
 * Dec 6, 2006** -Completed Ethnography for content of the Wikispace Assignment
 * Dec 6, 2006** - Completed part 3 of Analysis and Reflection Questions
 * Dec 6, 2006** - Added a paragraph on "Online Gambling" - "Making a living off Gambling Online"
 * Dec 6, 2006** - Added some horizontal rules and cleaned up my PAGES, Table of Contents stuff like that

=//**Analysis and Reflection Part 1**//=
 * When first encountering wiki at the beginning of the course...**
 * What do you think/feel about this collaborative learning environment**?

When I was introduced to the collaborative learning environment I had a good feeling. I really enjoy the idea of having a collaborative learning environment. It allows the students to help each other whenever things get difficult. They can post questions and anyone can answer them. I think it is a much better idea than WebCT, and WebCT Vista because Wikispaces offers a MUCH better and friendlier user interface. To me, WebCT and Vista respectively confuse me in everyway possible. It appears far to formal for my liking and is not very easy to use.I always walk away with a headache and ask myself why I have to use such a difficult program. Wikispaces in my opinion is the complete opposite of this. It comes off in a very informal fashion, and is very easy and simple to use. I personally enjoy using this space. Almost everything that is needed for this course can be found among the Wikispace.Lectures, definitions, various project outlines are all organized in an efficient and simple manner for retrieval. Also, it allows people to customize whatever they can about their own Wikispaces, and their user interface to make it a much more enjoyable process.

The expectations I have for myself is to build a good Wikispace with solid and concise content. As you have noticed, I have learned from my previous mistakes and I am not doing this assignment last minute as I tend to do all my other work. This is simply an assignment where that cannot be done. I expect to provide knowledge so when people read my postings they will be able to come away with some sort of insight. No matter what kind of feeling they have afterwards, as long as I can get that to happen, I am happy.
 * What are your expectations for yourself ?**

I was introduced to Wikispaces in CCT 205 and was all to familiar with the site. However, when doing my assignment for that class I blitzed it all last minute. That was a terrible mistake. This isn't a project where you can do that. I suffered academically on the collaborative web building, and the on-going process to build the Wikispace. I completely acknowledge these mistakes and I am currently learning from them. I believe I can expand my understanding by viewing other people's posts and comments and reflecting on them, concerning how they can help me in anyway.
 * If you have previously used wiki in another course, then describe what you have previously learned and how you want expand your understanding.**

The things that I can contribute as an experienced participant is to warn other users not to do this assignment at the last minute. I can also offer adding my own definitions and knowledge that is relevant to our course. If anyone wants to ask me any details, or anything in general I am more than happy to be able to assist them in anyway possible.
 * What can you contribute as an experienced participant?**

=Analysis and Reflection **//Part 2//**= The posting I choose to contribute to are postings that I have a certain interest in and knowledgeable as well. I can effectively write a good posting on something that I am interested in. It won’t sound boring, and it will look like I know what I am talking about. I can also effectively research a topic that I have an interest in. It’ll make the work process a lot easier.
 * How do you choose which postings to contribute or change?**

My thoughts about adding, editing or re-arranging to other people’s work is to take caution not to step on their toes. I read over people’s work a few times to make sure that what I am going to change will help out the overall posting. Whether it’ll help make sense or have a more effective message. If I wanted to delete an entire post because it wasn’t well written, I would ask permission of the user or leave them a message that it could use some improvement. If something didn’t sound factual I would do the same thing. I understand that people take time and effort to create a posting and that I personally do not like to intrude on other people’s work without a legitimate reason. I regularly check my postings. No one has so far made any changes. However, if someone changed my work I would take a careful look at what they changed and see if it helps or hinders my post. If I think it hinders my post I would try to think why the person would want to change my post to make it sound worse. I would also do the same thing if the post helps. I would greatly appreciate either way if they contributed to my post because they took time to make a contribution.
 * What are your thoughts on adding, editing or re-arranging other people's work?**
 * Do you regularly check your own postings for alterations? Has anyone changed your work and how have you felt about it?**

=Analysis and Reflection Part 3= After reviewing my initial post, I feel that my views towards Wikispaces are still positive. I particularly enjoy the collaborative learning environment. This can be compared to a 24/7 online chat room where help and resources as well as information is readily available. There is also an informal feel to the atmosphere of wiki where I feel comfortable. Even though it is in an academic setting, having all of these resources available so easily and readily is very convenient. However, I have a certain beef with the wiki. After being a lurker and just sitting back and observing what is going on, I noticed that it seems that there is some sort of competition that is going on within this domain. People are taking down banners and images by other people and putting up there own to say claim that they are “community building”. I personally do not like this notion of “community building”. Also, people are deleting text that was written by another person to insert their own text that is very similar to the one that was previously there. This again is not “community building. I see community building as fixing and changing things that need to be changed, or even adding things that are completely lacking in our domain. Simply destroying what others have created and putting up your own rendition of what was previously there seems only selfish and it is very destructive.
 * Have your views changed in regards to collaborative learning while participating in this wiki?**

The improvements I would like to suggest is adding a spelling/grammar checker in the wiki. Typing in the wiki is difficult to catch simple spelling and grammatical errors. Also, when formatting different fonts and styles of font (bold, italic, underline) it is very difficult to return to the normal font after you have chosen to change the font. Hopefully these glitches can be resolved. I believe fixing these glitches will improve efficiency and speed of completing the wiki.
 * Are there any ideas, suggestions or comments you could share for possible improvements?**

I found the most productive thing about wiki is being able to view much different iteration of people’s views and insights. I personally found it efficient that lecture and study notes can be downloaded with ease. As opposed to extracting off WEBCT Vista, the wiki is on another level of ease of use. I found that I could find almost anything that is course related for the test to be found on the wiki. It certainly helped me prepare for the test better than I could have done on my own. I found it to be much more efficient and allowed me to concentrate more on what was important, as apposed to me sifting through everything. __Back to top__
 * Things you thought were most productive or helpful about using wiki?**