AnalysisReflectionFahad

=Use of Wikispaces=

Being a student of CCIT, I did not expect an assignment of this calibur that needed constant attention to various segments that felt a bit tedious. After a bit of use however it seemed that the software this program is running in is a double edged sword and this is due to lack of experience. In the professional setting, this tool is very extensive and efficient, as individuals would come to help and edit your work, but in the wrong hands misinformation can be provided and whole databases of information can be deleted with a click of a button. There is no re-assurance of edits actually saving; this happened with me while editing Table of Contents. Other problems can arise with the lag it takes with the browser functions and system capabilities when the edit button is actually clicked.

In my personal use for more than a week, I found the program to be helpful to those that did not provide much information beforehand as other people came in and hinted at adding in more. The problem lies however within the formatting and the editing skills of other students. Whereas some pages look properly aligned and organized, some of the subtopics however, were completely rearranged and did not look that professional due to how one student's subjective aesthetic sense clashed with another's. However, these are small gripes one can overlook. The best part about this though was the collaboration students used, to work with each other and make the community of 205 a bit bigger and better along time. But still this is outweighed by how many students are actively participating vs. the ones who weren't.

=Individual Contribution=

As a visitor of this place since Feburary 12th, there was barely any information until the 15th that did not warrant any kind of edit in the first place since the contributions made were pretty good and up to date with fixed links. The students who put up their work beforehand already knew what they were doing. This whole place did not pick up until the 20th when students got a bit more involved. The influx of work coming in the past week has been phenomenal but at the same time, students have been fixing each others work with minor grammatical errors, linking websites and horizontal bar organizations. Quality has also been a factor since most of the research in the Table of Contents looks unfinished. Mostly what I feel is that students have been vouching for Quantity over Quality. So I took the root of Quality over Quantity, with major edits, especially in the Opinions section by adding 3 seperate opinions on 3 different issues and opinions. Other major edits came into place inside the Table of Contents with the "Forums" heading which was compiled by me.

I have been an avid forum user for the past 7 years so my knowledge is extensive since I have moderated a few as well, therefore I did not feel the need to link many sources due to prior experience. Other smaller edits such as providing feedback on Test1 and Assignments were also given to moderate edits. The minor edits have been less since most students have been very active fixing up every nook and cranny; I fixed some minor grammar and organization issues in the MSN Messenger page, and gave an opinion about The Best Employers in Canada page as well. As an interest, I posted an article about HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray in the Current News Issues. More could have been done but I felt that major contributions to content is a better option to just maintenance alone, especially when the care taking is the responsibilty of so many eager students as well who need the mark as much as another. Other contributions can be looked to as well inside the "Manage Space" link for the teachers.

=Overall Analysis=

I personally feel that the assignment was a very well thought out effort, but it focused more on what a contribution one can make into this whole community of students following a certain ettiquete and respect for other people's work, which can get pretty hard knowing that you can tamper with someone else's work, and you may not know their reaction until it is actually known in class that certain people are actually not pleased that, their own formatting or style of words were not appreciated. From me, it is a very ambiguous feeling, since this is the first time I'm working on a huge collaborative scale. Like little nodes in a huge network, working together to keep a maintenance shift and the ability to keep on adding to what may be of interest. I liked working with students as well, even though a personal approach and social context wasn't the main objective in the sense that personal communication was never reached, so I believe a chat application would have really helped out with some problems students were facing.