Assignment 11: Michael Triche

I went to Jamesville-Dewitt high school in Dewitt, NY. I know alot about the high school and have alot of the current information on what is happening there. To be a small high school, I never realized that it would have that many edits. The page consists of a description of the high school, Location, Notable Alumni, Alma Mater, and references. I played basketball during high school and my younger brother played this past year. He has played himself into being the best player and most decorated to play at my high school and in my area. I expected him to be mentioned which he is.

Although there was no discussion, it can be noted that each user input data to fit into a certain place. This has inadvertently lead to collaboration of information put into the wiki. Each editor saw the previous information input and decided whether or not they wanted to add to the content or not. There has also been many updates as recently as March 23, 2009. Editors have maintained the integrity of the wiki by fixing data other editors input maliciously or mistakenly. This included the replacing of a racist comment with the name JDHS. An editor quickly deleted the racist comment. This demonstrates the notion of "cooperation and conflict" described by Bryant, Forte, and Bruckman where mistakes or vandalism is shunned upon and fixed immediately. The references have continued to be updated as well. Two of the three references listed included those from recent data illustrated on different sites stating that JDHS has won the state championship twice in the past two years.

Bryant, Forte and Bruckman mention that users involvement change over time. This is evident where editors go from being creators, editors, or updaters of the wiki to protectors of the document. They want to make sure that their hard work was not for nothing and that their high school and my high school that is shown in the best light, truthfully, and with the utmost respect. As time goes along those editors also become experts on the high school and what is going on as they look for more references and information to put on the page. This can be dubbed as a collaboration of knowledge and learning. The editors have allowed for those who come after them to add more information rather than constantly edit information since they have already done that. An example of this is there is a mentioning of my brother by one editor and an input of the reference to articles in which his information is shown. This is all shown in the history of the document.

I would allow history to show exactly what the editor changed and when. I would also all clear rule to be stated for example there has been numerous pages wikis created for my brother by one user but he did not specify why it was important which lead to speedy deletion. I would also allow a chat messenger to be implemented where users will be notified if someone else is editing the document and they would be able to collaborate on the new information they will input. This would reduce redundant posting and allow alumni to meet each other and network.