Lenczuk,+Grzegorz

=Grzegorz (Gregory) Lenczuk A.K.A. "glenczuk"=

This is the first time I'm using wikispaces. Before I took this course I've never even used wikipedia (other profs. are not so fond of it). I was told that it is not the best source of information and "real" scholarly work should use sources that are "better and more credible" in terms of their validity. I know that Wikipedia has been thought to be a place where everybody can put whatever they want and due to that some people claim the information found on wikipedia is simply rubbish. What I believe now is quite different (and my view changed after I started to play with wikispaces and wikipedia). I've learned that a wiki is a place that is constantly in the process of upgrading and rebuilding itself thanks to it's users, therefore if it contains something that is wrong it will soon be corrected by other users (therefore I believe the information that can be found here is valid).

I have to admit that it took me some time to start to use wikispaces as I found it a little bit overwhelming at the beginning but now I think it's actually fun to play with the content of the course-page and interact with others in terms of what each of us knows and shares. At the beginning I didn't like the idea of posting my information and letting others change what I've done. Similarly I felt weird about changing or adding something that someone else has written. It took me some time to understand that the whole process of altering each other's work is what the wiki is all about. After I understood that I felt comfortable with altering and changing things on the wiki. I believe that it's a new experience to interact with other students in that way. It's actually great to have somebody proof-read your work. I expect myself to continue to play with the content of the 300 wiki and add new information (mostly in the Table of Content and Topics of interest, sections).

I wish I could use wikispaces in other CCIT courses. Other course websites are simply there to deliver information to the students of a particular course and wikispaces is much more flexible and in fact accessible (after you learn your way around). I certainly believe that all CCIT courses should use a wiki as a course website as it allows students to interact with each other. What I think the wiki is missing is an internal e-mail or a different form that would help to communicate directly with a specific user. Since we are working in groups on our A3 project it would be useful to communicate inside the wikispace. Besides that I'm quite fond of the fact that we can develop the project in the wiki (My group is creating a website for the project so the advantages of posting the information on the project and following our progress are obvious).

Since it took me some time to learn to participate and create in the wiki environment the contributions that I've made where not very meaningful but now I've actually learned to like the whole collaborative process and I'm doing more and more to update our public space. I've contributed by adding some information on the most important graphic novel authors. I know that this is perhaps not the most important aspect on the media genre section but still I think that these information go well with the notion of comic book and graphic novel which we discussed quite a lot about in lectures and tutorials. Moreover, I'm working on developing a section of how media technologies developed (starting from the early radio days to modern internet and the information society).

Overall, I really enjoyed working with the course wiki. I believe that the online community that the class created has helped in understanding the course material and was also a great example of communication that is mediated by the internet. As for suggestions about the course I believe that it would be better to have the wiki content prepared earlier than at the end of the term. I think that everyone polishes their content right before the deadline which misses the point of the wiki community because when the it is actually getting to be interesting the course is over.


 * My contribution:**

1. I've added some new terms and names in the Table of contents section (Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Art Spiegelman, and Steampunk). Also I added some pictures and assigned them to the terms and names- I did it because I think pictures help to memorize information more efficiently. 2. I've made some minor changes to the table of contents section- mostly by adding external links 3. I've added a brief paragraph about Microsoft Zune in Topics of Interest. (The one about the competition between Zune and iPod)- i think it's and interesting topic and I'm planning to develop it even more. I find it important due to the fact that we live in an "I-have-an-Ipod-therfore-I-am society". Also I believe that the digital media are highly related to our course. 4. I've added the De Stijl in the painting section in Hierarchy of Media Genres. 5. I've added new sections to the Table of Content- Kitsch, Pastiche, Homage and Cyberpunk (I'm kind of surprised that no one added these before me). 6. I've added some short Animations in the Hierarchy of Media Genres. The Animations are under Movies-Science Fiction and Movies- Animation- CGI, Check them out, they are really amazing and also they are a good example of the genres. 7. I've added some information to the Independent Film section (Sundance Film Festival and some titles of independent films as well as their directors). 8. What I've noticed is that people have been creating sub-sites on the same topics and posted them either in the Table of Contents or the Hierarchy of Media Genres. I've linked some of the headings and sub-headings in the Hierarchy of Media Genres sections to the already existing definitions in the Table of Contents Section. That way people who will browse the Hierarchy section will not be creating a sub-site on a topic that is already created in a diffrent part of the Wiki. 9. I've added the last paragraph in the Pastiche definition. Also I've added information, a picture and some edits in the Cyberpunk definition. 10. I've developed the De Stijl section in the Hierarchy of media genres: created a brief defintion, added a sample picture and references. 11. Just added some content in the CGI section. 12. Created new Content in the Steampunk media genre.