Update for 9.18.07

Goal: We have to choose an area and identify what we want to identify.
Start by categorizing the wikis by the functions that they serve (for educational purposes) For example, which wikis are best to use in a teaching setting, which are better for archival information and why?

We want to create a page that people can choose tools from a page and customize it so it based on their functional needs and audience.

Also, outside of class is this the way people choose to communicate? What social tools are they using?

These are the key functions our cms/wiki must have and points we must evaluate:

• Provide a model for research grants, outreach (College Alumni Association Portal), and teaching
• Why does the user come to and keep returning to the site? Each portal will have some overlap as well as unique answers.
  

We discussed MediaWiki and whether the user interface is easy for the user. For non-technical users pseudo-programming is required. Ease of use is important. From our observation, we found this style of wiki is great for looking up archived information or research articles (i.e. Wikipedia), the search function is excellent; key words are highlighted as well as listed in context. but may not be as great for conducting class through.


We also looked at ned.com as a good example of an outreach portal. It is powered by http://sourceforge.net/projects/open-qon

Updates:

• Received an account on MSU's server to practice with MediaWiki
• Have a meeting on Wednesday with WIDE center
• Received more replies on my mini-survey
• Will be making follow up calls this week to people I have received no response from

Questions

• Should I be thinking about making a student survey to find out how they use wikis/cms inside and outside of class?
  

Notes

Things we are trying to find out:

• Principles supporting the wiki/portal.


• Resources available for project to be initialized.


• Who would be interested in using the wiki/portal?


• Resources on who to ask
  
  I either sent out an email or directly spoke with most of these people (some I am in the process of trying to reach) with the following questions




• Do you have a wiki of preference?  


• If so which one do you use and why?


• What features does it offer that you like?  I am doing research for a project and any feedback you have would be most appreciated.








 








• Matt Koehler




• Uses mediawiki


• http://oms.educ.msu.edu/vidiawiki/index.php?title=Main_Page




• Scott Schopieray Media Resource Group




• http://oms.educ.msu.edu/wikis.html


• OMS.EDUC.MSU.EDU is a server setup to explore the possibilities of electronic type for teaching and research. The three main applications run on OMS are Mediawiki, DSpace and CMap Tools. All of these programs are open source projects supported by a vast user community.


• Many using wikispaces for ease of use.




• Cherice Montgomery
  
  TE Tech Support Team Leader




• Uses wikispaces for ease of use.




• Douglas O’Dell –
  
  Adobe


• Lars Torres -
  
  Researcher, Non-profit sector
  
  My preferred hosted service was http://www.jot.com/ until google bought it. waiting to see what the new version looks like. I used it because it had a very web2.0 interface, could import documents, and integrated with project management tools.   (Jotspot can’t be accessed right now while google is integrating it with their services).
  
  I don't use a hosted wiki right now. If i need to collaborate on a document or use wiki-likeness i go to ned.com and use their plone implementation. not so easy for newbies (bad) but super fast, clean and stable for me (good :).  if i had to install my own wiki tomorrow, I would use mediawiki -uses all the good wiki convensions, can be easily skinned, and is stable.


• DC Web Women


• Thom Gillespie                       
  
  Professor, Indiana University




• Uses mediawiki for ease of use




• Nicold Pittman  Tech Support Media River




• Uses wiki that is incorporated into a customized CMS




• Jeff Garbill Rhetoric and Writing (WIDE Center Staff)




• Has their own wikiserver (awaiting followup interview)




• John Walber – Partner, LearningTimes.org


• Theresa Redd CETLA – Professor Howard University


• EPET Students


• Cheryl Spears – CS Professor Auburn University


• Curtis Lovett, Independent Contractor/Programmer

Packages (Don’t focus on the packages, but what features they offer from a user’s standpoint).

http://www.wikimatrix.org/index.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wiki_software

Meeting with Dr. Johnson

Projects he mentioned

• Journal of Deaf Studies/Deaf Education


• Research on Child Abuse and Neglect


• TIE Internship (Language Assessment with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students.  All students have i-visit. http://www.ivisit.com/ which is integrated in to wikispaces.




• Ivisit info - Combine video conferencing, voice calls, instant messaging, AVMessaging, filesharing and web co-browsing for richer online meetings with family, colleagues or customers.  Transfer files and folders in the background; share your albums and movies with family and friends. Bypass email and experience the benefits of iVisit security


• Use problem based learning approach via case studies


• Analyzing how students in the space become better learners.  Meta-analysis occurs and is documented by participants.  Participants function as a community of learners


• Wikispaces is used for sharing information (between 5 students across the country)  felt it is




• Collaborative


• Easy for learners to use


• Works cross platform


• Assessible






• He felt mediawiki was not intuitive enough for his core audience which includes people from the community (Parents, teachers, students)  People need to be able to do the basics in 5 minutes.