Megha+K+analysis+and+reflection

The Wiki assignment was enjoyable and intellectually enriching as it is a fun and collaborative way to learn and keep building on existing knowledge. I had a good time working on it, and everyone seemed to be keen on contributing something valuable which added to every piece of information. I contributed by posting one Wiki page close to 3 pages long on the Cyber Optimistic View of Breaching India’s Digital Divide. Since I had researched a good deal of it for CCT260, I knew what main points I wanted to make. I expanded on that information and related it to CCT205 tying it in with Cyber Optimism. I collected information from previous CCIT courses, brainstormed on what I remembered, and expanded on the previous material. I then replied to the stubs on ‘E-commerce’, ‘The Facebook’, ‘Msn Messenger’, ‘Copyright Infringement’ and ‘Impact of media: Stereotypes and Generalizations’. This helped me compile and make sense of everything I had learnt so far in CCIT courses and expand on that. It also helped me gain knowledge from other people and put my place my opinions in public. Initially I was wary of Wikispace perhaps because it is human nature to not want to be judged, corrected or disagreed with. I thought that it may churn out unreliable and contradictory information which could lead to confusion and arguments. However, I was wrong because in all the pages I saw, no one misused wiki or abused it to pompously prove a point or argue with the other person and ruin their ideas. Everyone simply added on or expanded on their peer’s information and it became like one big team working on the same project trying to enhance it with their input. Initially I wasn’t sure about how to use it and was somewhat intimidated by the whole concept. But I realised that it was actually straightforward and simple and enjoyable to work with as well because the navigation bars were very simple and it was very user-friendly. Everyone seemed to respect other’s work by inserting a horizontal line after each one’s work and adding their own thing after it. It was impressive how everyone respected each other’s work and ‘privacy’ of their work even though Wikis are meant for changes. More than changes there were expansions which in a way was better. The history bar is useful because one could see who had commented when and what and the original piece could be retrieved. Since I don’t use Wikipedia and have never used Wikispace before the concept was new to me but I realize now its an amazing tool and luckily, for people like me, requires little technical skills and can be for everybody. I would advise future CCIT students to start ahead and keep posting comments on it like one would on WebCT because it should be cumulative in terms of effort and time. Something like this cannot be done last minute, and I feel if I had started earlier I would have been able to benefit more from the tool especially to see more people comment on my work. Since Wikispace is archived in nature, start early I would tell future students, and if you are adding something draw a line and add a subheading to make it clearer it’s your work and to make it more reader-friendly. I would love to work more on Wikispaces and leave this posted for the rest of the year because it’s a valuable source of information and a great way of keeping in touch and contacting with your fellow peers about CCIT work. It also brings together students of a certain community in this case the CCIT community and makes one feel like one big family. Most importantly workspaces is quick as the name ‘Wiki wiki’ implies in Hawaiian. On the whole, Wikispace is a very useful and straightforward tool for any class.