Betty Blogger 2011: Task #7: Wiki up a bowl of potato salad!

Library Lady Says: It wouldn't be a picnic without potato salad. Dress up a traditional version with chopped hard-boiled egg, diced dill pickles, thinly sliced radishes, and chopped fresh wikis.

I can appreciate your theme, but chopped fresh 'wikis'?

*sigh*

*day dreaming*

When I think about the family BBQs of my childhood certain images come to mind: hot car rides to the beach, long days in the sun, and family games of horseshoes and ring toss. All of this, of course, a prelude to the late-afternoon cook-up. The tang of smoke hangs thick in the air; wooden tables dragged close to a charcoal grill; hot dogs and hamburgers pop and sizzle on the BBQ. Bowls and platters of potato salad, baked beans, devilled eggs, coleslaw, chocolate cake, fruit pies and half-melted homemade vanilla ice cream...

Snap out of it, Library Lady! What does your family picnic have to do with the Internet?

There was always too much food at our BBQs. We'd go home with containers full of leftovers, and I was left eating three-bean casserole with every meal for the next week. And let me be the first to attest: three-bean casserole can get pretty old, pretty fast.

*shifty eyes* Your point...?

Had wikis existed when my mother was planning these annual events, we would have avoided the excess (and my stomach would have avoided those beans...) Today, wikis are finding their way into our lives and our workplaces in many different ways, helping us to better organize our BBQs, events, parties, committees, teams, and much, much more. Who knows? They might very well be the key to your next successful event!

So what are these fancy-schmancy wikis you talk of, anyway?

†A wiki is a collection of web pages that anyone can edit. They're collaborative... A website that can be directly edited by anyone with access to it. And it really is that simple!

The WikiWikiWeb, created in 1994 by Ward Cunningham, was the first site to be called a wiki. The term was coined by Cunningham, who remembered a Honolulu International Airport employee telling him to take the so-called "Wiki Wiki" shuttle bus that runs between the airport's terminals. According to Cunningham, "I chose wiki-wiki as an alliterative substitute for 'quick'" (Wiki is a Hawaiian-language word for 'fast'.)

Our old friends over at Common Craft have drafted yet another easy to follow instructional video stream on wikis--an excellent explanation of how they work:

Wow! They really are easy. Mass emails and hitting "reply all" are a thing of the past!

Glad to know you approve! Now that you understand how they work, lets take a look where they're working...

Wikipedia is perhaps the world's best known wiki. Its articles are written collaboratively by volunteers from all around the world and, with rare exceptions, can be edited by anyone with access to the Internet. Wikipedia is an ongoing project to which, in principle, anybody can contribute. It therefore differs from a paper-based reference source (like a book or a magazine) in a couple of important ways:

A. Older Wikipedia articles tend to be more comprehensive and balanced, while newer articles may still contain significant misinformation, inaccurate content, or vandalism. Users should be aware of this in order to avoid misinformation that has been recently added to the Wikipedia article and not yet removed by editors.

Misinformation? You mean an encyclopedia could contain incorrect information? But I thought you could always rely on an encyclopedia for accurate facts?

True, but remember: Wikipedia is first and foremost a collaborative website, and an encyclopedia second. In fact, an article was published in the Dublin newspaper, The Irish Times, with a rather timely example of this very phenomenon. Click HERE to read ABC's coverage of the story, otherwise check out "Researching with Wikipedia" or the site's Most Vandalized page for further discussion of this topic.

B. Unlike a paper reference source, Wikipedia is continually updated with new articles, particularly those relating to topical events, often within minutes or hours of the event actually happening. Compare this to its printed counterpart which could take months or even years to be published. For a rather simple example of this power, try searching Wikipedia for the Toronto Blue Jays--you should be able to view up-to-date stats and figures (go Jays, go!)

C. Last, but certainly not least, Wikipedia is one of the few sites on the web attempting neutral, objective, encyclopedic coverage of popular culture. A unique and overwhelming task, indeed! The best example of this is the dedicatingly detailed Harry Potter page--there must be some very involved fans out there be this precise with the genealogy of a fictional character...

Indeed! And I totally understand the benefits of a well organized wiki--collaboration, up-to-date information, and convenience to name a few. A wiki is definitely the way to plan out my family's annual cottage schedule. Perhaps more importantly, however, how can I get myself your recipe for that yummy potato salad?

Oooo, just you wait and see! To complete this exercise, we're going to play with a much simpler version of a wiki than Wikipedia. And we're going back to that yummy potato salad...

Your Task

To complete this assignment:

1. Go to the Betty Blogger wiki found here:

http://bplbettyblogger.pbworks.com

2. Create a PB Works account by clicking on Create an Account:

3. Activate your account--sign into the email account you registered for PBWorks with, and click on the link included in their welcome email. Follow their instructions.

4. Continue to our workspace to edit the Betty Blogger page. Take a few minutes to read through our Potluck Picnic wiki and the contributions of your classmates.

5. In the section at the bottom of the wiki entitled "What would you like to bring to our family picnic?" add your potluck contribution (follow the example I've set out for you).

Don't forget! Click Save so everyone will be able to see what you are bringing.

6. Go to your blog and write a new post answering the following questions:

What dish will you be bringing to our family meal?
How was your PBWorks experience? Was it easy to use?
Do you have any need for your own wiki?

6. Click Publish Post.

For the teacher's pet: Go to the Betty Blogger wiki and edit the sidebar. Add a link to your blog, or a link to your published Google Docs story/recipe/etc. Have some fun with the features, and explore the website.

† Research from Canadian Gardening "Tips for planning a backyard potluck picnic" and Wikipedia.

Task #7: Wiki up a bowl of potato salad!

No comments:

Post a Comment