Chapter 4: Wikis

I always wondered where the word wiki or wikipedia came from. It was quite interesting that it was the Hawiian word for quick, from wiki-wiki. I learn quite a lot about Wikipedia that I did not know. I did know that anyone could change something on any page, I just didn't understand, then, how they wouldn't be so sloppy with terrible inaccuracy. I found the idea that for the few people who intentionally or unintentionally put inaccurate information of Wikipedia sites that many, many more people are on top of that and correct it to a much accurate information. This is really amazing to me. It is self regulated and it works amazingly well. I can not help but to see the people who mess with the facts on Wikipedia as human virus or bacteria, and the onslot of correctors as the immune system. This metaphor just blew me away at how similar the science of global technology could be to our biological system. It is just so amazing to think of the web as a working organism..

I have not done enough on my wiki yet. I have enjoyed the blog because I feel that I can be more creative on it. However the information sharing on the wiki is good for following up on classes and accessing outside sorces like RSS feeds. The blog feels more interactive and personal than the wiki, but I did put a chat feature that I like on my wiki. I think the collaborative effort is quite fascinating and the wiki has things that I still need to learn about. I think the rest of this chapter was focused on actually being on the computer and learning in a hands on way. I need to work on the wiki a lot more to be able to understand the usefulness of it in relation to the work I am doing with my students.