Analysis+and+Reflection+(Anielyn+Benasa)

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Main Content

 * Yaoi
 * Japanese Drama
 * Section called "Access It"

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 * Organized the navigation into sections (Main, Assignments & Tests, Help and Other CCIT Wikis).
 * Added FAQ pages for the Graphic Novel Analysis, Wiki, and Culture Jamming/Social Influence Project**.**
 * Resized the CCT300 banner on the home page, as it was partially covered by the ads.
 * Added genres on the Hierarchy of Media Genres page (TV-anime; manga-shoujo-ai, shounen-ai, yuri, yaoi) and created links for Comic Books and Manga.
 * Added possible topics to the Table of Contests: Movies (Romance, Comedy, Drama, Horror, Action), Cartoons, Reality TV, and Soap Operas
 * Answered the fourth question on the Wiki FAQ page
 * Resized the banner on the Wiki Assignment page, as it was partially covered by ads
 * Answered question three on the Project FAQ page.
 * Cleaned up the Table of Contents by fixing the bullets and reformatting.
 * Cleaned up the Hierarchy of Media Genres page by fixing the bullets, reformatting, getting rid of excessive arrows, adding a table of contents and adding links for blogs, chat rooms, reality tv, emo music, game shows, manga, graphic novels, hip hop, cartoons, Japanese drama, movies (action, drama, romance, comedy, horror), photojournalism, soap operas, video games, vlogs, and wikispaces.
 * Cleaned up the Hierarchy of Media Genres page by adding horozontal rules and removing excessive arrows. Added external links for Sudoku and Windows Live Messenger. Added ICQ to list.
 * Made a note of the Virtual Community page about an Online Community page already exists and suggested that the two pages merge
 * Fixed Tim Snortons - Zainab & Megha's link on Lab 4 (4-5 pm) page
 * Created the alphabet links on the A1: Novels Picked by Class page
 * Worked on the on the Critical Media Issues page by creating the table of contents, adding alphabet links, and posting links to Music Piracy and Online Pornography
 * Removed Music Piracy and Online Pornography from the navigation (since they are now on the Critical Media issues page) and removed excess space
 * Fixed general formatting on the Table of Contents; resized Table of Contents banner as it was too long and covered partially by ads
 * Rezied the Analysis and Reflection banner as it was too long and covered partially by ads
 * Created a Final Test page and a Final Test FAQ page; posted links for the Final Test under **Assignments & Tests** and the Final Test FAQ under **Help** in the navigation
 * Answered questions 11 and 12 on the Wiki FAQ page
 * Answered question 13 on the Wiki FAQ page
 * Cleaned up the table of contents by removing excess space, random equal signs, and fixing all the genres and subgenres undermusic
 * Removed the "[[file:Untitled-1.psd]]" text on the Wikispace Alias page
 * Fixed the lack of uniformity in the navigation by adding spaces and making the titles the same font
 * Removed the large, unnecessary gap between the banner and the table of questions on the Wiki FAQ
 * Resized the Project FAQ banner, as it was partially covered by ads and removed the excess space between the banner and the table of questions
 * Removed the links under the topics of interest heading on the navigation. Moved the links to a separate Topics of Interest page and placed a link for topics of interest under the Misc. heading on the navigation because the list of topics of interest was gettting very long
 * Editted the Online communities page by editting the content, shortening the titles (as they looked too long on the table of contents), and adding links where necessary
 * Editted the Reality TV page by shortening the headings (as they looked too long on the table of contents) and made their format uniform, fixing links, editting grammer and spelling, and removing excessive arrows
 * Added Word versions of the lectures in the Lecture Notes page
 * Removed excess space and arrows in the navigation; added links for Pop (music), Superheroes (movies), Crime (movies), shoujo, (manga) shounen (manga) and yaoi (manga)
 * Moved The Kramer Incident, Buy Nothing Day, and Comedy Central vs. Youtube from the Misc. section on the navigation onto the Topics of Interest page
 * Reformatted the Sports title on the Fun Video Links page, as it was not in the proper format
 * Removed excess space between the banner and the letter links on the Table of Contents
 * Removed excess space between the banner and the table of contents on the Hierarchy of Media Genres page
 * Reformatted the space between the sections in the navigation, as they were inconsistent
 * Removed the Classified sections in Lab 1 (1-2 pm), Lab 2 (2-3 pm), Lab 3 (3-4 pm) and Lab 4 (4-5 pm) as it is no longer necessary
 * Removed excess space between the banner and the description on the Alias page
 * Removed excess space between letter links and A heading in the Analysis and Reflection page
 * Created links for MySpace, internet, Facebook and CraigsList on the Social networking websites page
 * Created links for MSN on the following pages: ICQ, Instant Messengers, and Chat Rooms.

Beginning
I previously used wiki for CCT205. I quickly realized that wiki was an extremely powerful tool for collaboration. It had a user-friendly interface, which made it easy to edit other people’s work. The wonderful thing about wiki is that the final pieces of information look like a seamless flow of information. However, when you look at a page’s history, you would probably see that there were many people who edited that page. I don’t think anyone in our class realized that our wikispce would take a life of its own and grow so much. Not only did our class use wiki for the wiki assignment, but we also used it to help us in the course as well. We created things like a Test Notes and Questions page, which was basically like a study guide.

For this assignment, I want to find out how students will make sue of wiki It will be especially interesting since I know that I’m not the only one who has experience with wiki. Since more of us understand how wiki works, I think we may become leaders and be able to help others learn how to use wiki effectively. I’m sure that less people will “reserve” sections, as they us to do that in out CCT205 wikispace. I basically am curious to see how our past experience will effect or present behavior.

As an experience user, I’m going to help others and make use of wiki’s features. I’m going to live in the FAQ – both asking and answering questions. As an experience user, I can show people how to do neat little things, such as creating a table of contents. I’d also like to start a Study Guide page for our test in the future.


 * Middle**

The postings that I choose to contribute or change depends on my knowledge and interest level in the topic of that particular posting. Thus, I look for topics that I understand and enjoy. If I have a high level of knowledge about a topic, then I feel the need to contribute to the posting. If I don’t’ contribute, I feel like I’m being a miser – someone who’s just keeping all her information to herself. I also feel counter-productive because not adding information is against what wiki is all about. In contrast, if I have a low level of knowledge about a topic, then I don’t feel confident (or right) to add onto it. It’s like me trying to edit a French-written document. I know nothing about French; thus, trying to edit a French document would only make that document worse.

If a wiki topic is something I am interested in, then I want to add onto it because I have a willingness to learn. In other words, since I am interested in it, I will go out of my find to discover additional, accurate information. Similarly, if I am uninterested in a topic, then I have no desire to go look for information about it, least of all ensuring that the information is accurate.

I should also mention that topics that I am both knowledgeable about and have an interest in often go hand in hand. Usually, I am knowledgeable about a topic because I was interested in it to begin with.

I think adding, editing or re-arranging other people’s work is essentially beneficial. Adding to someone’s work makes that topic more in-depth. I guess if the information added was bad, then it would be a bad thing. However, I think most people in our wiki understand that we need accurate information, so it shouldn’t be a problem. I especially support editing other people’s work. I’ve taken many writing courses in the past, and I’ve learned that constant peer-editing is important if that person wants to create a polish, written document. This is especially relevant in wiki, since many people write their information straight onto wiki without editing. Students easily make spelling and grammar errors, and it’s important that his or her fellow classmates edit the piece. Re-arranging other people’s work is also beneficial because often times, wiki does not format a piece properly. For instance, wiki might add excess space or arrows. I think it’s good that fellow students can fix each other’s pages.

In the beginning, I used to regularly check my own postings for alterations. I’ve stopped now though because most people don’t edit my work. It’s probably because the topic I chose (Yaoi) is obscure and not many people know about it. It makes me a bit sad because although I am surrounded by other students, I’m almost sure that no one will contribute to my page because they do not know about my topic. I wouldn’t blame them either. Going back to how I only add to pages that I am knowledgeable and/or interested in, I do not think other students will add to my page because nobody else is knowledgeable or interested in shoujo or yaoi. It makes me feel alone, which is weird since wiki is suppose to have a collaborate environment.


 * End**

One of the biggest challenges I experienced while working collaboratively on wiki was simply trying to get some of the functions to work. It was a bit peculiar, especially since I’ve used wiki before, but I had so many strange problems when formatting a page. Sometimes excess arrows would appear or bullets would randomly change and/or disappear. It was very frustrating trying to make everything look neat and organized. I didn’t know how to fix it at time and simply gave up after a few tries.

The main advantage with wiki was that it was used heavily as a source of course information. This is especially important since WebCT Vista was not working. I loved how I could check the FAQ for some many answers to question I had. I also thought people were fairly quick in responding to inquiries.

I thought using McCloud’s book as a course textbook was an amazing idea. I wasn’t too happy with the online readings, as I sometimes felt they were too long-winded and written badly. However, McCloud’s books were incredibly clear and engaging. To be honest, his books were one of the reasons why I wanted to take CCT300. They were just so insightful and fun! I highly recommend using McCloud’s books against te next time this course is taught. I think using the wiki to create a list of genres was also an incredibly good idea. I love the “Hierarchy of Genres” page. I thought it turned out very detailed.