WIKIS

I knew very little about wikis before this class assignment. Although I am aware of Wikipedia I hadn't really investigated it either, so this assignment was new territory for me
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What did I learn? Wiki means quick in Hawaiian.
Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to create and edit a web page using any Web browser. Wikis support hyperlinks and simple text formatting rules. I found this website explaining the rules. http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?TextFormattingRules. A wiki page doesn’t require knowledge of HTML. Usually, web pages have Webmasters who control the content of a webpage, but Wikis are open web-pages that allow anyone registered with wiki to publish, change or amend the page. Therefore, the website becomes a collaboration of many people’s thoughts and ideas. Some wikis are open to everyone whilst others are open only to specific groups.

Meredith Farkas’ article "Using Wikis to Create Online Communities" is very interesting and insightful and as usual Common Craft put Wikis in a simplistic way. I looked at all the suggested resources for Wikis in the Library. I liked what SJCPL had done with their subject guide page. I visited Wikipedia and looked up patient safety. The results were interesting with numerous links to related information.

In my workplace I can see that wikis would be useful in creating manuals, applying for grants or any topic where input is needed from all Mayo sites being that we operate in the same manner in each location. I understand that some committees in my workplace are using wikis, but I have not been involved.

In summary a wiki would be used for Group collaboration or as James Surowiecki in his book The Wisdom of Crowds suggests "the process of taking into account the collective opinion of a group of individuals rather than a single expert to answer a question". There are obviously problems with wikis in the public sector such as duplication, lack of control, and the information that has been added could be inappropriate or incorrect. It would obviously not be wise to add personal information or copy righted material.

Flickr picture

Keukenhof offers you the opportunity to see millions of bulbs in flower, fantastic flower shows and the largest sculpture park in the Netherlands.

I visited these gardens a couple of years ago whilst visiting family in Germany. To see eight million bulbs in bloom is something I will never forget. I created an account in Flickr and assigned tags to this picture e.g. Holland, Lisse,Keukenhof, gardens, bulbs, daffodils,tulips, grape hyacinth etc. I took the picture above but I did find pictures on a website of these gardens that had tags and I found I was in keeping with the tags that I had used. I would think I would use 'groups' for family/friends picture sharing. I am not sure how it would be used in my work environment. I didn't find this assignment easy. I kept doing Flickr tests and ended up with a few unwanted postings. I also get a little concerned when I keep signing up and creating accounts. I am overcoming this.

RSS feeds

Today I viewed the video RSS in Plain English. Common Craft explained RSS feeds in a simplistic way. I also read/viewed the other suggested resources. I understand that RSS is an acronym for “Really Simple Syndication” or “Rich Site Summary”. Using RSS requires both an RSS reader and an RSS feed. Readers can be desktop or web-based. Web-based readers are free and accessible from any computer connected to the internet. One article I read explained RSS in the following way ‘these feeds will push content to us rather than make the user pull the content to them. RSS feeds are small files containing information about the Website content. When you use your reader it looks for changes in these files. If the content has changed the reader will display the new content.
I created a Google Reader account as suggested and added David Rothman’s Blog, MedlinePlus Health News and Clinical Alerts and Advisories. There were only three alerts listed. In MedlinePlus Health News there was an endless list but the new items were in bold print as were those new items in Rothman’s blog.. Now that I know what to do I will add other URLs of interest in the future.
I like this web technology as it automates the information gathering process effortlessly making it a big time saver. In my personal life I could use RSS for gardening sites, an interest of mine. I haven’t had time to investigate this yet. In my workplace I note that many databases offer RSS feeds for journal tables of content. In some instances you have to create a personal account. I see also that you can create RSS feeds when searching in PubMed. Another advantage would be that feeds could be shared and forwarded to colleagues.

del.icio.us

I have been procrastinating yet again by failing to post to my blog. I have accomplished viewing/reading all of the suggested materials concerning del.icio.us. and now feel that I understand how it works. I have signed up for a del.icio.us account. Its strength, it seems, lies in the fact that one can share bookmarks with the world from any online computer. You can add new websites to your collection by clicking on the bookmarklet on your Web browser.del.icio.us .A window opens allowing you to add notes about the website as well as to assign keywords known as ‘tags’. I have read often that descriptive meaningful notes are the key to the bookmark. The ‘tags’ are words of your own choosing. You can assign as many as you like. If you are sharing your websites with other users of similar interest then you would ‘tag’ the shared Websites with words that have meaning to that group. This is known as Folksonomy – a shared vocabulary. An excellent example of this was accomplished by librarians for our library home page. All of our “How do I’s” e.g. ‘Using EndNote’, ‘Sign up for a Library classes’, etc. were copied and pasted into del.icio.us and assigned tags. 107 tags were used. These tags can be viewed as a list or as a ‘cloud’. Within the cloud the importance of the tag is shown with font size or colour and usually the tag is hyperlinked leading to other collections associated with the tag.

I intend to bookmark and tag Evidence- based websites to share with nurse educators and Clinical Nurse Specialists, a group I work with a lot.

Week 2 Blogs

Found this picture and actually managed to import it. I hope to visit Sydney in the New Year. I have family there and a vacation in Australia has been a dream for a long while.

Today I went to Tracey's blog and posted a comment. You can view my comment at the following http://traceyfromkc.blogspot.com/. I have encountered the same problem that she has experienced.

Week 1 Lifelong Learning

I am at last participating in this class - it is the first step, the most important one for it means I have made a commitment to my self. I have started this class before but for various reasons did not complete it. I have little problem with the #7 1/2 - play, but lack confidence in seeing myself as a competent effective learner when it involves technology. I am oftimes overwhelmed and intimidated by the technological challenges presented on a daily basis. I do believe that getting out of ones comfort zone is good for you. It forces you to analyze your situation to be creative, to stretch yourself to learn and adapt. Hopefully this class and its resources will aid me in becoming more confident when given new challenges.