User talk:KZillwood02

Hello this is my user discussion page.

Ill be using this page to register my contributions to a wiki books project. I am also using this page for educational assignments.

Thanks (KZillwood02 (discuss • contribs) 15:49, 16 February 2016 (UTC))

Wiki Exercise #1: Educational assignment
My brother Ross studied as a freelance photojournalist at the University of Gloucestershire. During his time at University Ross started a blog called “Living with Autism”, as my little brother Murray has this disability. This helped to provide online visibility for those who may not understand the disability. By using a variety of technology like cameras which can take photographs, it can help people to identify with the topic. It can transform with the way people identify with autism. Photographs provide an accurate and realistic account of issues because it is difficult to hide a particular feature in a photograph.People with Autism is a disability that people are born with, however no two people with Autism are the same, and the severity of the disability varies from person to person. Those who may not have first hand experience of it, understandably, often misinterpret Autism. People who have this disability can often be stereotyped by society to be portrayed as “naughty” or “unusual”, but this is not the case. Many people with autism may struggle with everyday activities, however they can still live happy lives. Despite this Murray can often he can be overruled by fear of simple everyday tasks- walking up steep steps can be daunting. Ross tries to portray how our family copes with Autism through his use of photographs on his blog. He uses these photographs to demonstrate that while living with Murray can be challenging, it can also be rewarding. Murray also suffers from Hyperacusis, which means he is extremely sensitive to loud noises like sirens, dogs barking and loud bangs in the street and is unable to filter out the multiple noises that bombards our hearing system on a daily basis. These are unavoidable, and a photograph can be used to show the fear in his face over these issues. Murray was never seen as an individual in our family that we wanted to cure and make better, we know there is no cure, but with the right care and love we can help to make his life happy and easier. Ross often gives a new perspective and insight into what Murray finds attractive about various situations, and captures the raw emotion of what should be simple everyday activities, but also demonstrates moments of real happiness in Murray’s and our lives. Ross’s passion and love for his photographs and family can be inspiring for others to witness and connect with, and his blog about “Living with Autism” can provide personal, visual knowledge about our family and how we have adapted.

http://www.retinaphotos.co.uk/living-with-autism Ross’s Blog “Living with Autism” can be accessed through this website

What do other people think about using photographs to portray a particular issue in society? Does it overstep the mark and intrude too much into people's personal life? Or does it help to conjure up an image that people can relate too?

I would be interested to hear other peoples thoughts on this issue.

Marker’s Comment

 * really interesting post, well written and thought-provoking. I would have liked more explicit linking with the module's themes and concerns. There's an abundance of scholarship on the way creativity and acts of community sharing online are beneficial for those people with specific conditions for which communication in real-world contexts can prove difficult. There are benign effects of online disinhibition which aid these communications practices, for example. You could have made more use of the wiki markup by embedding links to reading and also to the sites under discussion - although I suspect this will come in time. There's real potential here.

RE: Comments on others’ work

 * These are on time and ok - lots of content, scope and there is some reference to module themes is there, even though I think this could be made much more explicit (e.g. an app telling you what to do - isn't that tech determinism?!). Remember that your comments on other people's work is weighted as heavily as your own post when it comes to grades - I think that you could have made more of the format and included citation and links to sources in your comments in order to engage discussion GregXenon01 (discuss • contribs) 17:09, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

Comments
I believe photographs are one of the best ways to portray issues in society today. Examples such as your brothers blog, and even more extreme examples such as photojournalism from war zones, offer a real, unedited version of the reality these individuals face. Imaged used in the news can be seen to be disturbing and distressing, but without them would we really have a clear understanding of the suffering and hurt faced by those who are on the frontline of the issue at hand? I believe that the use of unedited images allow for the everyday individual to understand the lives of others, through the eyes of someone close to the situation. Your brothers blog offers a real insight into your family's life and I think this an important medium in helping others to understand the condition which your little brother deals with everyday. Although you can your family rightfully understand the condition, unfortunately many don't and I believe insights such as your brothers will help in producing more understanding in the future. However I do also believe that photographs do not always effectively portray society, due to the number of people who choose to edit photographs before posting them online. Doing so gives an unrealistic image of this individual and their experiences. However this does give a representative image of society today, as the culture today has a norm of creating an idealistic online persona. The use of photographs has both its advantages and disadvantages but the use your brother has found is most definitely a positive for society, in terms of educating people on a very common issue in society. Christiejayne123 (discuss • contribs) 11:55, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

Hi Christiejayne123|, thank you for your comment. I think you make a very interesting point when you highlight that photographs can be used to show the public very serious examples like war Zones. When my brother was studying photojournalism they actually took a trip out to Istanbul within the fight zones there. It was very dangerous and the students were often exposed to "real" aspects of war, such as guns shooting, terrible distress amongst the public and tear gas! However the use of photographs really showed the true impact which the war was having on individuals and how distressing it must have been to have been experiencing the war firsthand. They were only there for a week and my brother said it was a terrifying experience that he will never forget, however that is what real people are experiencing everyday around the world and photographs help to highlight this. However I agree with you 100% when you say that it is easy to "edit" or stage a photo before it gets as far as the internet! Depending on the individual, and their bias opinion of a situation will directly have an impact on the picture which is produced. It can be easy to Stage the ideal picture that you want to use to tell a story. Despite this, I fully agree with yourself and feel that if the intentions are in the right place, and a photograph is used to inform people of accurate information, it can be a very effective means for communication. KZillwood02 (discuss • contribs) 08:54, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

COMMENTS
This is an amazing topic and article.In relation to your questions, I would say in instances such as the one you have illustrated in your assignment.I would say the use of photographs to educate or enlighten is more effective in a world where Instagram, snap chat and facebook have a dominant social impact.There have been numerous articles on Autism but the impact of photography based blog format that actually showcases the life of a child with Autism and the effects (good/bad) it has on those around him can have a much more lasting impression on those that choose to interact with the blog.I say choose because ultimately there is a choice being made.Whether it be to share the photographs or to view the photographs.As long as there is freedom to choose what and how we share information, then the question of intrusion remains subjective.do you feel the blog is an intrusion on your personal life?as this is your family.Pamela.nx (discuss • contribs) 09:29, 17 February 2016 (UTC)

Hi #Pamela.nx. Thank you for your comment on this topic the points you made are very interesting and it seems you are thinking along the same lines as me. You are absolutely right by saying it is a freedom of choice as to whether we share these photographs and whether people engage with them. That's why I do not feel that it is intruding on our family life because we choose to share the photographs online to help educate others on the issue. I feel the purpose of a blog is to educate or inform an audience about something that you are interested in, that is why I feel that this blog is a great way to give people a real insight into what living with Autism is like. Thank you again for your comment KZillwood02 (discuss • contribs) 10:59, 17 February 2016 (UTC)

KZillwood02 you're are welcome, and it was my pleasure reading it. Its nice to know we share the same views on the matter of photo sharing.Pamela.nx (discuss • contribs) 15:18, 17 February 2016 (UTC)

KZillwood02 (discuss • contribs) 21:59, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

This was a really interesting article. As the phrase says "A picture tells a thousand words" and that seems particularly true here, especially when every case is so different and people with autism may struggle to express how they feel with words. It is definitely important to share your experiences with others as it may be able to help them in a profound way so if photography is the medium that your family are happy to use then I don't see any problem. Jdwharris (discuss • contribs) 20:08, 17 February 2016 (UTC)

Wiki Exercise #2: Educational assignment Visibility Online
I would say that i am moderately visible online. I do have a Facebook, twitter, snapchat and Instagram. This would indicate that I am constantly linked up to the internet and sharing posts amongst friends and family continuously. However this is not the case which is why i feel i am only patricianly visible online. I often use these social networks sites to keep up with what everyone else is doing, but i rarely actually share anything myself- unless it is humorous and i think people will enjoy it. I do not feel that these accounts are the place to post things about my personal life. My close friends and family will know if there is something important going on.

On all my accounts, where possible, I have my privacy settings set so that only the people I want to see my posts can see them. I am especially careful when it comes to personal information like where I live and my photos on these accounts, and I will only add people who I know to be friends with on Facebook.

Facebook appears to be one of the safer social networking sites as it allows the user to be extremely strict with who can view their profile. You can even hide things from people who are friends with you... lets face it we have all hidden one particular post or photo from our mother to avoid being told off!

By allowing these limitations on Facebook to be put in place it can help to avoid the negative outcomes which may erupt from social media- like identity theft. You can also block people so they can not see your account at all. Twitter is very similar, but once again I keep what I am posting to a minimum.

Other social networking may not be as private- snapchat for example where you send your friends pictures. However there is also the fear that someone will screenshot your photo and leak it into society. Despite this once again you can control who you become friends with- therefore if you are only sending photos to your friends what is there to worry about? Deleting and blocking people can also be done on snapchat, so the user can monitor and select who gets to see their photos.

Instagram is a little different I have found. I would say this is my favourite out of the four networking sites I use. My account is kept very private in the settings, even though it is rare to see a post from me! But the people I follow come from all over the world! I mainly use it to follow fellow equestrians to see how they train and work with their horses all over the world, however it does make me wonder if they feel they have control over their accounts. Some accounts i follow can have up to ten thousand followers plus. However this is their choice.

On these four online platforms, accounts have be made as private or as open as the individual consumer likes. They can choose or they follow/ be friends with and a deletion/blocking option is available at any time.

This therefore makes them a safe private way of connecting with others who share these sites. KZillwood02 (discuss • contribs) 11:53, 17 February 2016 (UTC)

Comments

It is true that on facebook you can avoid some people to see what you post on your account, but they will still be able to see your name and your profile picture (even if they do not have an account) so an identity theft might still occur as you cannot block people outside of facebook. Also, there are some information we cannot be in control of, like the data used by facebook for targeted advertising. What is your opinion about it?GConcilio94 (discuss • contribs) 18:50, 22 February 2016 (UTC)

Hi GConcilio94, I agree with you when you say that people can still access your name and profile picture therefore identity theft is still possible. It is scary how much information the internet can keep hold of! I was just commenting on someone else's post saying that the information that is given out on the internet can be more than what the individual thought was being exposed to anyone. When I type my name into google, it informs the user that I have a Facebook account- showing my profile picture and name, my twitter name, and highlights that I have an Instagram account- although they can't be accessed by just anyone. However another link that pops up when I google my name is a site called "People, businesses and Places". On this site, my full name, my town, region and half of my postcode along with the names of my family members who also live in the house are visible. These records were released from the UK Electoral Roll and the company director data. This information is visible for anyone who wants to see it and it is quite frightening that information like that can be given out so easily. Therefore I think you're right when you say that although we think we might be in control of what we release on the internet, by making ourselves visible at all we can not always be in control of who has what information about us. KZillwood02 (discuss • contribs) 09:11, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

Hi Kzillwood02, I am similar to you as I consume social media more than I partake in actual posting. I use it more to keep up with people and what they are up to rather than share what I am doing myself. You made an interesting point about whether accounts with upwards of ten thousand followers feel like they have control over their information. I certainly wouldn't if thousands of people I didn't know had access to details about my life, especially as these accounts are very active and post frequently. This would mean a lot of information about them is accessible to anyone, since usually these accounts are on the public setting. It would be hard to manage blocking and deleting people who you did not want to view your profile if this many people were following you. There is also the issue of privacy in regards to companies using personal details for marketing and advertisement opportunities. Do you feel like this is a problem? Ihatewasps (discuss • contribs) 16:18, 25 February 2016 (UTC)

Hi ihatewasps. Yes I do feel like this is a problem. When you are selecting a job, you decide which one is best suited to you, whether you are interested in it, and whether you feel like you are going to be able to commit to it. This is the same i guess for marketing and advertising companies- they will look at the data that is of their best interest to use, then they will "show to off" to obtain their desirable impact. However with a job, it is the individual and employer who have a say in whether that person commits, whereas sometimes marketing and advertising companies will use selected information (that probably is not private) whether they have the consent from the individual or not. This is why I feel it is so important to keep privacy settings private, unless you are more than happy to have information about your life used for purposes you may not have initially intended too. KZillwood02 (discuss • contribs) 09:19, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

Apologies for such a late comment, but I found your points of view here very interesting and similar to my own. Like you, I would say that my own online footprint is relatively small compared to many other people. I too have a Facebook account, Twitter profile and an account on Snapchat. Despite being present on social media fairly regularly I rarely ever post anything myself. I agree with your point about using these platforms to keep up with other people, rather than express any thoughts or opinions myself. I use Facebook mainly to keep up to date with friends and scroll through pictures. I enjoy being tagged in photographs on Facebook as I like being able to look back through my profile and be reminded of memories. Unlike you, I find Instagram one of the hardest social media sites to fully buy into. I am yet to set up my own account despite friends constantly telling me how much they love it. I may have to experiment with Instagram after seeing how positively you write about it. I enjoy any social media that allows me to explore hobbies and things I love. EilidhNo.2 (discuss • contribs) 17:28, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

Educational Assignment- The stir girls discussion
Hey guys! I've set up this wee bit on my page so that we can start talking about the wikibook project. We've been assigned to discuss Technological and Cultural Determinism! so thought we could use this bit to just start chatting about some ideas :)

Also if anyone knows how I tag other users on this can you let me know!

KZillwood02 (discuss • contribs) 08:03, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

Hi!! thank you so much for creating this little section on your page, it is very helpful in deed for us. Technological and Cultural Determinism, yay! that is a great topic to receive and I am looking forward to getting started on it! I am not sure how to tag people myself, but is something I would love to be informed of too :D Purneet kainth (discuss • contribs) 08:37, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

Thanks Purneet kainth! I thought that this would be a good way to keep in contact with each other and we can start to discuss what we are going to write. I was happy when we got that topic too! Thank you, if i find out, or the other way round we can let each other know :) KZillwood02 (discuss • contribs) 08:45, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

Hi guys! Good idea to make a place for us to discuss our project. I don't whether this tags people or not but to get a user's name to appear as a link, you type (without spaces, and insert their name into where I've written username)- [ [ User: username | username ] ] For example, [ [ User: KZillwood02 | KZillwood02 ] ], (without spaces will look like this-KZillwood02). If you look at it while you are in the editing section it might make a bit more sense. Hope this helped! Ihatewasps (discuss • contribs) 15:28, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

Right, let me give this a go then :) thanks you Ihatewasps I look forward to meeting you all tomorrow to discuss this project!! Purneet kainth (discuss • contribs) 18:08, 28 February 2016 (UTC)

Purneet kainth, it works at tagging people! I got a little red alert message saying that I had been mentioned on this user talk page! Ihatewasps (discuss • contribs) 14:20, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

Ihatewasps you are right!! It does work, I also got a red notification. thanks for letting us know. Also, Greg has commented on my work now, so feel free to check out his comments in case Greg hasn't got back to you just yet. This way you can see what is required for this project and weekly blogs :)Purneet kainth (discuss • contribs) 22:13, 29 February 2016 (UTC)


 * Hey guys @Purneet kainth, KZillwood02. I'm just in my lab class and what Greg essentially is saying is that time is of the essence and we need to be really involved on our wiki project discussion page. I think we should maybe move our stir girls discussion to this page instead? Ihatewasps (discuss • contribs) 11:54, 1 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Also, @Purneet kainth, KZillwood02, was it "Harold Innis" I was given to look at for technological determinism and "Friedrich Schlegal" for cultural determinism? Should we tell the others on the discussion page that we have met up and organized some things in regards to the figures of interest in each topic? Just to make sure no one else starts to write about this section. It would be a bit annoying if we start to do work on this and then by the time we have finished, another group has already decided to write about this section on the page. I have already written a wee comment tagging everyone in our group. Thanks. :) -Ihatewasps (discuss • contribs) 12:17, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

hey Ihatewasps! thanks for letting us know! in that case it probably is best then that we inform nthe other groups what we are doing :) oh and I can't remember exactly what people you were given, but I got Sigfried Geidion and someone called Gothe, so maybe by process of elimination you can make sure who your people are :) Purneet kainth (discuss • contribs) 14:49, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

Hi User:Ihatewasps:Ihatewasps. I agree that we should get more involved with the bigger page so we can start posting our ideas on there, but can still use this page too if it suits everyone? Also yes it was Harold Innis for technological determinism, and Friedrich Schlegal for cultural determinism I think. Even if we can each find a few sentences that sum up their beliefs we can write it together in paragraphs later. I'm sure they were a couple of the key theorists for those topics but I may be wrong! Hope this is helpful. KZillwood02 (discuss • contribs) 16:15, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

Forgot to say User:Ihatewasps:Ihatewasps, we are also all going to research a bit about Karl Marx's view regarding both technological and cultural determinism as his name seems to come up a lot! hope this is okay KZillwood02 (discuss • contribs) 16:26, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

Ihatewasps, KZillwood02, Muir97 and Georgiamattie there has been a new layout put on the tech determinism and cultural determinism main discussion page and it is based on a first come first served basis. the choices are; Definition, History, Main Concepts, Opposition and Future. I think we should go for 'history' as we have been researching different theorists anyhow and it could tie in nicely. what are your thoughts? once we decide we can quickly put it in the table! Purneet kainth (discuss • contribs) 22:15, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

hey, I have found this link for cultural determinism, it is by Daniel chandler and really looks into what we are contributing to the wikibook! Purneet kainth (discuss • contribs) 11:46, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

Hi, Purneet kainth that link looks really good, I'll definitely have a look at that! I've just found this link that I've found quite interesting - one of the theorists I'm researching is Leslie White, who was publishing work around the 1940s; on this page a few theorists are compared, and they are talking about technological determinism relating to the tools used by humans and the environments they're in - it's interesting to see how technology back then was kind of anything man-made, while now we more think of it as our phones and laptops, basically anything that allows us to go online. I quite liked the idea here, so I might investigate a little further inti the other theorists mentioned after I've finished what we'd agreed on;
 * "'It is less tools and technology which define human beings but his cognitive ability which allows him to use tools to his greatest advantage'. Thus, Mumford continues, 'trapping and hunting call less for tools than for sharp observation of animal habits and habitats….'" Muir97 (discuss • contribs) 14:05, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

Hi KZillwood02, Purneet kainth, Muir97 and Georgiamattie. I was just wondering if you guys knew whether we can use internet sources in this project, or if we have to use books, ebooks and journal articles like we would an essay? Or a mixture of the two? -Ihatewasps (discuss • contribs) 16:45, 6 March 2016 (UTC)

Hey -Ihatewasps! so far all of my resources are from online platforms, however I am planning on reading academic sources to back up the sources I have from online. I don't think you would be penalized for using online resources, considering we are working on an online platform, but maybe the rest of the group will be able to confirm that :) Purneet kainth (discuss • contribs) 18:53, 6 March 2016 (UTC)

Wiki Exercise #3: Educational assignment Information Overload!!!
The Internet is a huge phenomenon composed of a massive amount of information, which is widely available to everyone who wants to read it. This is a stimulating but also intimidating concept that there is a massive amount of information- available for free- at our fingertips. However can the Internet be portrayed as a massive game of Chinese Whispers? How would we determine whether the information written we read is fact or fiction? Plus how do we know whether what we are reading is relevant for our desired knowledge?

The World Web is full of information…. Some may be true, while others can be made up, therefore completely irrelevant. Many people may believe that by goggling a topic they will automatically get access to the information they want, however not everything we read is accurate. Wikipedia is a perfect example of how information can be changed or warped, therefore incorrect. From our Wikibooks Projects, it is clear that we could go on and change each-others work if we wanted too. Therefore this shows how easy it would be to modify accessible information on the Internet, even if the information we were writing is inaccurate.

As a student, it can sometimes be difficult to use the Internet as a resource to obtain specific information because there is just so much out there! If you are already unsure of the topic, it can be difficult ourselves to eliminate what information is valid or invalid. Many websites written on the Internet can be very personal to the author- therefore it can be difficult to decide whether what we are reading is a biasopinion of information, or whether it is spot on. We’ve all heard lectures saying, “Do not reference from Wikipedia!!!!” By surfing through vast amounts of information, it can be difficult to determine who the author actually is, whether it is a published piece of work and when it was written. This can also alter whether information is important to the reader or not. Consequently it is very important to make sure what we are reading has been produced by a published, unbiased author. However, I do still find myself reading information off of Wikipedia in the initial stages of my studying to try to get basic grips on a topic!

Despite this, there are certain methods produced by the Internet to limit the amount of the amount of information that appears when we try to access information on the Internet. Firstly companies like Google, Firefox and Aol(which is famously linked to an America), are made available. When clicking onto these, you are faced with a search engine bar, where you can type in what information you want to find out. By typing in key words or specific topics to the search bar, the Internet will process what information is relevant, and reveal websites, which may produce the relevant information the viewer is trying to obtain. Despite this process of limitation that the Internet provides for the viewer, some irrelevant information can still appear in front of our eyes. In addition, this simple search may not be as straightforward as is sounds. Typing something very simple into one of these search engines can bring up thousands and thousands of results, therefore it may not be as clear-cut as first expected.

A simple web search can be time consuming, and the individual may have to bypass certain websites that are irrelevant. Sometimes (I know I have done this before) if the website that I want does not appear straight away then I will abandon the search! I may never think to scroll onto the third or forth page of Google. This may therefore show how irrelevant links/websites on the Internet can mask important information.

In addition the Internet can also be used to tempt the consumer into buying things that they may not have intended on buying. By typing something into a search, often advertisements can pop up, promoting a particular product alluring the consumer to buy. When I first got my Macbook, whenever I did a Google search I was bombarded by Ad’s from various different companies wanting me to click on their site and spend money, even though my search had no relevance to them at all.

However some apps have constructed to help to prevent this from happening. On my Mac, I downloaded an app called “Adware medic” ( Adware ). Once downloaded, these frustrating dominant ad’s stopped appearing all over my computer screen. So it is clear that some apps have been created to try to limit these unwanted ads from appearing.

This shows that the Internet very much so, provides “Information overload!” There is clear evidence that irrelevant, bias, or even unwanted information pops up from a simple, straightforward web-search! KZillwood02 (discuss • contribs) 23:40, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

Comments
This a very interesting point to bring up. Is the source we are reading Bias? If it is then how can we know that it is? This information could then become irrelevant and useless to us. Search engines like; Google, Firefox and Aol gives you thousands of results based of your key words and this can be frustrating due to the influx of information which is given to us.

Like you said Google is a search engine which allows businesses to pay to have their company advertised when a certain keyword is searched. This can lead to Google not leading us to the right information. Leading us more towards Biased or untrue information.

So how do you deal with influx of biased, untrue or irrelevant information? One way I help deal with it is Ad Block, just like you. This really does help filter out the fake sites, the pop ups with irritate us and hinder our research. As students we have access to a big library with many books at our disposal. So would you say it is easier to stay online and deal with this ‘Information Overload’ use the materials offline to help research information? RyanMurray96 (discuss • contribs) 15:55, 3 March 2016 (UTC)

Wiki Exercise #4: Educational assignment Wikibook Project reflective account.
We used Wikibooks in this project, not only to source together a mass amount of information about a particular important topic, but we also learned how to use it as a new method of communication.

Previously, facebook, twitter, Instagram and snapchat, as well as more “traditional” online platforms like emails had been the normal way of communicating with each other, however we quickly learned that we could also “tag” people in comments on the Wikibook page, which meant that it worked similar to facebook- a notification would appear highlighting that someone was getting in contact with you. This worked well and on the main discussion page of our section named “Technological and Cultural determinism” as it meant that I could engage with people in mine/and other groups.

However one problem we did encounter was that the comments were getting slightly confusing to follow and our discussion page was becoming messy because so many people were all commenting at the same time asking questions. My group resolved this by numbering our comments therefore we knew where each comment fitted into the page.

Before this project, I thought Wikipedia (which is an open source that anyone can comment on) was always “just there” to access information. However by creating our own wikibook I realized just how much effort goes into Wikipedia. We were split into smaller groups and five groups were each working on a particular topic within “An Internet of everything” each examining key contemporarily issues. We used our online platform as a way to bring information together and collect interesting sources that could be relevant. Often as I was reading around the topic, there would be information that would fit into another groups section, which I could just post in their section. I liked the fact that we used this online platform for our project because it meant that we could help each other out and if we had made a mistake on our section, others could help to fix it, or even add information to improve the section.

Nevertheless, one of the key issues that we encountered throughout the wiki project was crowd sourcing, which was an ongoing process where all the groups worked together to achieve collective intelligence in order write our chapter, and the whole Wikibook. However as so many people were working on the same topic, it did get confusing as to who was doing what section of our chapter.

To resolve this, each group assigned to have a group leader who kept in contact with the other groups, and amongst themselves decided which group was doing which section of the chapter- we split our chapter up into five sections, so each group worked on one.

This worked well because it meant that we had a focus then once we knew which section we were doing allowing us to split the workload between the five members of my group. Once we had established who was doing what, it meant by the end of the project by bringing together our collective intelligence, we had created a chapter full of relevant information, contributing to the whole book- “An Internet of everything”.

One aspect of the Wikibook project which I liked was it was very much like the social network platforms we are used too using- where you write about something you are interested in and others will respond to it. This made it more enjoyable because it felt like the “normal” way that we are used to communicating, and while we were all contributing parts of information into the project, it allowed us to finish with a book that helps to educate people further on our topic. KZillwood02 (discuss • contribs) 10:48, 5 April 2016 (UTC)

Comments
Although communication was a large part of this project, as it was important to cooperate with other group members and also the cohort as a whole to establish a plan and collaborate ideas and tips, I found this platform difficult to communicate on. You mentioned "traditional" online platforms that can be used for communication and I find these much easier to communicate ideas, than the wiki. Although there was the "tag" feature, I would have to check the wiki frequently anyway in order to see this notification. Whereas other online platforms send a notification straight to your pocket so it is easy to know when someone asks a question or wants a response. I find these much easier and quicker to communicate rather than the wiki. What are your thoughts regarding this?

I also found it hard to follow discussions and conversations on the wiki as the feed became just a mass of text. The resolution of numbering each comment made it far easier to tackle the discussion if members of the group had not been on in a while.

Furthermore, like you, I misinterpreted how much effort and work goes into creating pages on the wiki as not only does the information have to be collected, but it has to be formatted using the wiki markup system. The collaborative nature of this project did make it a little less daunting as work on collective intelligence suggests that "no one knows everything but everyone knows something" meaning that the ideas of all group members combined would be better ideas, and more in abundance. This also links in with the idea of cognitive surplus, where the actions of groups add up to more than the aggregated acts of individuals. This project was interesting to see participatory culture at work, however the wiki was not the easiest platform to communicate via, even though collaboration was a key part of the project. Do you agree? Ihatewasps (discuss • contribs) 15:49, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

Marker’s Feedback on Wikibook Project Work
Some very useful and detailed contributions made to the contents page of your chapter, including significant and important contribs to Intro and Conclusion sections, which made a big impact on framing the chapter, and your group's section in particular. Your work is fully referenced, and you include interwiki links and external links which enhance your text. The work you produce (Robert Barro and McLuhan in particular) and you use the time available (the last few days of the project period – this could have been extended, admittedly) to develop the quality of edits and skill in markup towards the end of the project period, clearly reflecting something of a learning curve.

Wiki Exercises


 * Good. Among other things, good entries will make a clear point in a clear way. They will relate concepts to original examples in a straightforward fashion. They will make effective use of the possibilities of the form (including links, as well as perhaps copyright-free videos and images, linked to from Wiki Commons). They may also demonstrate a broader understanding of the module's themes and concerns, and are likely to show evidence of reading and thinking about the subject material. The wiki markup formatting will be very clear.

Content (weighted 20%)

 * Your contribution to the book page gives a good brief overview of the subject under discussion in your chosen themed chapter. There is a good range of concepts associated with your subject, and the effort to deliver critical definitions, drawing from relevant literature and scholarship, and your own critical voice in the building of a robust argument is very much in evidence. The primary and secondary sources you found about the chapter’s themes cover a good range and depth of subject matter.

Understanding (weighted 30%)

 * Reading and research:
 * evidence of critical engagement with set materials, clearly grounded on close familiarity with concepts and ideas encountered on the module
 * evidence of independent reading of appropriate academic and peer-reviewed material through evidence of close familiarity with a wide range of evidence
 * Argument and analysis:
 * well-articulated and well-supported argument featuring appreciable depth of understanding
 * good level of critical thinking (through taking a position in relation to key ideas from the module, and supporting this position in discussion);
 * good level of evidence of relational thinking (through making connections between key ideas from the module and wider literature, and supporting these connections in discussion);
 * evidence of appreciable independent critical ability

Engagement (weighted 50%)

 * Evidence from contributions to both editing and discussion of content to an appreciable standard (i.e. volume and breadth of activity as evidenced through contribs)
 * Good engagement with and learning from other Wikipedians about the task of writing/editing content for a Wikibook
 * Reflexive, creative and well-managed use of discussion pages using deployment of judgement relating to key issues, concepts and procedures

Overall Mark % available on Succeed

FMSU9A4marker (discuss • contribs) 15:08, 3 May 2016 (UTC)