User:Espen/gra6825
GRA6825 running assignment, due November, 2008
This assignment is intended to teach you something about social software (slightly different from collaborative software) - and what better way than to participate in the largest social software project of them all? Wikipedia is an on-line encyclopedia, written collaboratively (that is, by the readers). It uses wiki technology, and everybody can update everything. Order is maintained by common goals and common behavioral norms.
Assignment: (Be advised that this assignment takes time - especially getting used to the Wikipedia format and culture - so a good idea is to start early and work on it intermittently but consistently.)
- Register yourself as a user, read some of the documentation about what Wikipedia is and how it is to be used. You will find links to this on the Main Page. Remember: Wikipedia is, if anything, a community with its own rules and norms, which you should know before you enter.
- While logged in (if you don't log in, I can't see what you have done and thus not evaluate your activity), start editing and writing articles – anything you do will be tracked and the versions saved. Write on whatever you want, but make sure that you follow the intention of the Wikipedia. Incidentally, did I mention that it is a good idea to remember to log in? Otherwise your edits will be anonymous, which may be good for the Wikipedia but not so good for you....
- Go to this page and add yourself to the list of students, making sure you use the correct format. (The intent here is that I should be able to click on each student, and then see what articles the student has worked on.)
- Write me a memo (in Blackboard), marked with both your name and your Wikipedia user name. For a total of less than 500 words, answer these questions:
- What, if anything, surprised you the most about the Wikipedia?
- What uses can you see for this technology in a corporate setting? What does it take for it to be successful?
- For which kind of businesses and technologies can Wikis be a disruptive technology?
Good luck, and welcome to the ‘pedia!