Garbaczewska,+Anna

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Major Contributions
1. October 19, 2006
 * Started the Facebook page as an example of networking online communities
 * Added a variety of external and internal links

2. October 8, 14, 29 and 30th and November 7 > 3. November 8, 2006
 * Significantly contributed to the Hierarchy of Media Genres page:
 * Started the "Magazines" genre
 * Computer Games
 * Added bullets under music, television, internet and movies
 * Added external links to wikipedia, hotmail, yahoo email and documentary photography
 * Started the Radio page

4. November 11, 2006
 * Began the page titled Magazines

5. November 19, 2006
 * Began the Internet Radio page

6. Continuously edited other student pages
 * Formatted pages by adding in a table of contents, horizontal rules as well as bullets to indicate lists
 * Fixed typos and grammatical errors

1. October 30, 2006
When first encountering the wiki at the beginning of the term, I was a little confused as to its purpose. I had never accessed one before and therefore had a little trouble adjusting to its features and understanding its benefits. Once I got used to reviewing other pages, editing them and linking content to both internal and external sources, I realized just how effective they are in contributing to the growth and sustainability of an online community. By sharing and adding information about the various topics, I have gained a much more thorough understanding of media and its influences. I am enjoying the experience of researching and expanding our cct300 wiki so far as it is quite the educational experience. I expect that this collaborative learning environment will help me to understand the significance and usefulness of the Internet and therefore our ability to distribute knowledge. By reviewing my classmates' postings, I hope to obtain a better grasp of what it actually means to criticize media and its various genres.

**2. November 5, 2006**
When determining which postings to add to or change, I tend to review the pages that were most recently altered. I visit most of these pages first and see what I can modify or contribute before reviewing the table of contents. I frequently add internal and external links as well as additional information to what is already provided. For example, I incorporated many external links to the list of graphic novels that our class completed for the first assignment and to the Hierarchy of Media Genres page. On occasion, I format people's pages by adding a table of contents to provide efficient navigation throughout the page. The key thing that I look for when selecting which pages to edit are topics that personally interest me. Resultantly, searching for more data, images, and links becomes easier for me because I am learning more about aspects of media that I enjoy. I do not check regularly for alterations on the postings that I have originated until sometime after I create or add to another page. When I eventually revisit these pages, I do notice that many people have changed my work and edited it through reorganization and expansion. I am happy to see that others are reviewing my work and revising it. It is the only way wikispaces can grow as an effective educational tool.

I believe that adding, editing or re-arranging a web page significantly expands and therefore creates a valuable learning resource for all members. Adding information and links to a web page greatly impacts the amount of knowledge available to others; a key attribute of wikispaces that makes it such an effective learning tool. Accuracy is critical for any web page. By reviewing others' pages against reliable sources and editing them accordingly, wikispaces can continue to thrive as an informative and truthful online community. Lastly, re-arranging others' pages can aid in the ease with which content can be analyzed, such as using a table of contents and bullet points. Because I am the originator of my work, I feel more privileged to revise edits that fellow students made on any material I added to the wiki. Nonetheless, I do support other students editing my work in a positive and constructive way.

3. December 8, 2006
The biggest challenge that I faced when working on the wiki is the interference of projects and tests. Continually expanding the wiki can be difficult when trying to study for other tests. Nevertheless, I tried to find time to significantly contribute to the knowledge already established on the wiki. A personal limitation that effected the data I posted is my inadequate knowledge of Internet technologies and current events occurring in the media. Resultantly, I stuck to such safe topics as magazines due to their simplistic style as I was afraid to expand on unfamiliar aspects of media. I did not want to mislead fellow students.

Using wikispaces is an effective collaborative community that allows people to learn from one another in terms of their knowledge. Individuals that have a great comprehension or experience in a specific media genre can contribute their knowledge on the wiki for student viewing. Participating in this wiki has helped me to gain considerable knowledge about various media topics I did not even think to consider before this class. Also, when others expand my work, it is very plausible that it includes some new and intriguing information I left out; this is exactly how wikis establish an effective learning environment for students.

I would strongly suggest including a midterm in this course. Because we are assigned online readings as well as texts ("Understanding Comics" and "Reinventing Comics"), students are faced with a lot of material to cover when studying for the final test. Moreover, the tutorials could be improved by maybe introducing such activities as discussing the readings assigned each week thereby forcing students to read them. What I enjoyed about this course is the fact that we were informed about relevant and up-to-date information on what was going on in the media. Many students do not show up for tutorials because there is no incentive- holding discussions can help in decreasing the amount of absenteeism.

The lectures encouraged discussion and therefore allowed others to share their opinions with the class. Reading Scott McCloud's novels really opened my eyes to the possibility of diversity in comic books; that it could reach an audience of all ages and all backgrounds. I realized the validity of comics books when categorized as a media genre.