TECH2002 Lab Week 6: Sharing Ideas and Collaborating in the Module Learning Community

‘Ideas take life when they are shared. That is why the web is such a potent platform for creativity and innovation’

(Charles Leadbeater, http://www.wethinkthebook.net/home.aspx).

In this lab there are two tasks to complete that are about using the module blog and wiki to share ideas and information and open up the possibility of collaborating or acting collectively as you work on the Web 2.0 projects individually or in small groups.

The aim of the lab is to communicate your initial ideas about what your project will be about and to set up a space where your project can be self-organized and monitored by others.

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TASK 1

Create a new entry in the Broca Blog on the module website on Blackboard. This entry can be written individually or as a single joint entry if working in a group.

The entry should be about communicating to the rest of the module learning community what your initial ideas are for your Web 2.0 project – the participation parts and the communication parts, and how they will relate to each other.

Blog your project proposal using the hypermedia and hypertext affordances of blogging technology such as links or embedded media. Make your writing enjoyable to read and encourage comment and feedback from others.

Write about what you will be doing, experiencing, observing, what and how you will be recording or documenting the project and what you intend to reflect upon. What is it that you want to find out or investigate about the way that social media gets brought into everyday life?

Later, as a second stage, when there are several entries that have been written, try to read a few and leave a comment. Blogs need readers as well as writers to be effective communication.

TASK 2

In the Wernicke Wiki on the module website in Blackboard create a new page that will become the homepage for your Web 2.0 project within the wiki. Link to this project homepage from your ‘playing card’ avatar page. If you are working in a group for the project you only need to create one homepage for the whole group (if you like you could have your own personal area linking from the homepage as well). Group members can then link from their individual avatar pages to their group project homepage.

What should this homepage be used for?

The Web 2.0 project homepage can be used to start constructing a mini-site within the wiki where people can find out about your project through the information and links that you put there.

This mini-site within the wiki can be used as part of your project coursework communication portfolio about the participation project. You can use it to co-ordinate your various activities and link outwards to the online communication media that you are using. Importantly, it will be possible for everyone on the module to track the progress of everyone else by sharing this information and allowing the possibility of collaborating across different projects if they have overlapping concerns and interests.