Thursday, October 22, 2009

Wikibutt - Learning 2.0

I thought the term 'wikibutt' was amusing. I checked it on Google and found a guy who's Facebook page is Wiki Butt, so maybe that's his name, or at least nom de guerre. Through Google I also found some images on Photobucket of the rear-end of a hedgehog whose name, presumably, is Wiki.

Perhaps it's my age, my horrible childhood (joke - I don't do emoticons), my lack of hair, or my shoe size but I really, really have problems with the 'lack of control' many of the sites described in the Learning 2.0 Wiki lesson when they discuss the downsides to making a Wiki. I just don't see the point in putting something together, especially something involving planning and collaborative effort, that any idiot with access to a computer can mess with or mess up. What am I missing?

I'm a latecomer to Wikipedia but have embraced (sic) it only because now I understand the editorial process.

All that said, to create and use a wiki in a controlled (there's that word again) group sounds absolutely brilliant. I wonder if they would be better places for our teams / groups to work together assembling our final project web sites? Better, say, than group chat rooms, like Meebo, or Google docs? Wait - did I say there was no 550 Wiki? I DON'T THINK SO...BUT NOW THERE IS @ http://sci550.pbworks.com

Questions, questions, questions...

And I'm still trying to come up with a clever definition for Wikibutt: perhaps it's someone who always wants everyone to do whatever he / she is up to at the moment but then goes off to the next thing with no warning and begins the process all over. Kind of like 'scattered 2.0.' Example: "I'm really frustrated with Paul: first he put together this group of us to go to Ireland and research our Irish roots there, all together to see if there were any overlaps so we could compare those to the connections we have made here. Then, without warning, he dropped this for a project on poisonous frog encounters in Brazil. What a wikibutt!"

2 comments:

Terri said...

I enjoy the Wikibutt phrase...I plan to start using it. But I also agree w/ your frustrations about putting together a large website just to have it "messed up" by someone else. I think wiki's are much better for collaborative efforts than for actually posting information. But that's just me, for now. (Who knows where I will be as all this technology evolves.)

Akearns said...

Love it! (Are you saying you're frustrated?!)

You don't have to use a wiki as a wiki i.e. as an open site anyone can come along and mess up - you can close it up and lock it down and just make it into an easy website! NOT for your final project of course!:-)