Wiki Reflection
February 26, 2009This was the first time that I ever created and maintained a wiki, while I’ve used many wikis for information; the thought of creating one never crossed my mind until the YouTube video gave me a different interpretation of the purpose of a wiki. Ironically the topic we asked to discuss was Crowdsourcing and with my surprise we as a group were Crowdsourcing as we wrote about Crowdsourcing (ironic isn’t it).
Working in class with my group members I’ve discovered the great benefit that comes with a wiki is the ability to store and gather up information constantly in an astonishing amount of speed. We were able to come up with a ton of content within the time limit, because we sub-divided the work between the four of us. This experiment actually worked out extremely well, due to having a group of people work together simultaneously in the same room, each with their own part. Since we all sitting in close proximity it was easy to communicate with what each member had to contribute, and any topic that one had missed was quickly discovered by another, and when one of us posted anything the others checked up and made revisions with the others consent. As well we created a reference page that was consistently updated by each member as they had new links to add in proper APA style.
The huge drawback we encountered was that when two people were edited the same page the person who started editing second cannot save the changes to the page. We learned this the hard way when a group member posted his information in the near beginning of the class, and it didn’t save (even worse news is that he forgot what he just wrote). This research assignment was vastly different from what I’m typically used to, in the sense that someone was constantly looking at my work and modifying or bending the contents if necessary. Additionally it also differed in the usual style I’m used to because of the aspect of working together as a group at the exact same time. At other times when I worked with research projects in a group we usually tend just do our own part and then finally put everything together in the end. While in this assignment group members can see what you’ve come up with the moment you post or create information, making them aware of all your actions.
The experience of created a wiki in the same room was different because we were able to check everyone contributions instantly, while if we were at home everyone world probably come and check up on it when they have time in their schedule, or not feel obligated to edit it at all. Overall, creating a wiki was a great experience for me, and I look forward to utilizing it for any future group projects because of its easiness.
