Your Weekly Report & Reflection #8 - Wiki

Hey it's been a great week so far as I wrapped up my Google Docs collaboration project and explored wikis! Some of you may not know what a wiki is, it is a website that anyone can edit easily using a regular web browser. You have probably heard of the wiki called Wikipedia. It is one of the most used wikis in the digital world.

I can definitely see myself using a wiki on a daily basis. In fact, I am already using a wiki called Wikipedia on a daily basis. It is one of my first sources for information before I look anywhere else. I think one of the biggest concerns with wikis is that it can be changed by anyone! This means anyone can add false information to a wiki and viewers may take it as a fact. However from my experience with Wikipedia, I have not encountered any situations where there were false information in something I read. This is mainly because for every person who adds incorrect information to the wiki, there is a hundred or more people who are there to correct it immediately. Wikis are similar to some collaboration tools like Google Docs and Evernote, however they can also be very different. This is because while the fundamental idea of a wiki and Google Docs is for people to come together and work on a topic, the purposes and situation in where they are used are different. Many wikis like Wikipedia is designed for the mass public, meaning it is accessible and edible by anyone and everyone. However in many situations, tools like Google Docs are meant for a target audience, a select group of individuals and not for the world at large. I think wikis are a great source of information and a great way to contribute to a topic that you are knowledgable about for the world to see. While I think Google Docs is a great tool to collaborate with a limited number of people. At the end of the day, which tool you prefer really depends on what your intention with that tool is. Depending on the situation, your preference can easily change.

I think wikis are a great and effective tool for supporting learning. This is because wikis can be composed of thousands and even millions of individuals' minds. This allows information to be widely available as there many sources available to add into the wiki. However the issue with wikis is that it may not be always accurate, especially regarding controversial or complicated topics. Wikis can be used as a source of information, however I do not believe it should be used as a sole source of information. It should always be corroborated with other sources whenever possible. By doing this, one can support their learning very successfully with wikis as it will act as one of their many sources of information.

Stephen Morton for The New York Times

This week in my Feedly reader, I found an article about how the U.S government cut food stamps to those who are in need. This article's headline really caught my attention because while I understand there are many people in the world who rely on food stamps to survive, I did not think that so many of these people would be in the U.S. It was a huge shock to me to learn about how dependent some people are on food stamps and how high the poverty level is. It really makes me sad to learn that there are people starving in the U.S and with food stamp cuts in recent times, it will be even harder on them. As a result, this article makes me think twice about wasting food next time and it also made me appreciate how lucky some of us are to be able to have enough fresh food every day.

Thanks for reading as always, please stay tuned for next week!

Billy