User:Staggering Implications

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WIKI ANALYSIS - COMMUNICATION & COLLABORATION
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In creating a wiki, I learned several things. It is a great collaboration tool that can be used for work with several people in different locations. Whether you use it in internet or intranet communications it leaves the site open for new ideas and instructions. People can leave their ideas and instructions for others so that they can easily read what others have written. One person can be the group facilitator to bring together ideas of all kinds. When using email the idea is to keep it as short as possible and is meant for one-on-one communication, unless using a group email meant for all people doing the same project. Another online collaboration tool is a collaboration map, which can be used for groups over 100 people. With a single person being the group facilitator, the project gets pared down to several groups coming up with their own ideas within the group. These are then put together and form one single project, specifically designed for the main project. Document sharing and web conferencing are other tools that can be used with a wiki to find more ideas and instructions for specific groups within a work setting. With web conferencing and document sharing you get 2 very different ideas. Web conferencing is more live with several people in a group. The cohesive nature of the conference can be less than the wiki. Everyone is in one session. Wikis can be used more effectively with ideas being thrown out in small groups. The time factor on wikis can also be used more effectively. Document sharing can be used with email and sent in an email, but then you have many voices going back and forth in email. It can get to be more cluttered. The wikis I sampled were done more on personal levels than a business level. My wiki is for forming a band. It clearly states what is needed and who is needed. I have left it open to new ideas and general posts that can be read by all people who visit the site. I looked at several wikis at this network: .The bands I looked at most here were Barfly; Second Hand Ska Kings; Owen Sartori; OCEANS; and Second Class Citizen. I was attracted to these wikis because they had graphics, wrote more than a couple of lines and included a link to their own site. None of them were proper wikis: they were actually blogs or promotions for the respective bands that posted them. These musicians aren’t interested in collaboration, the wikis just say; “Check us out, we rock!” The network apparently does not allow ads, so there were none on any wiki that I sampled. There was no About the Site info on any of them, other than info on the band. These sites are apparently aimed at potential audience members and fans, rather than other musicians with whom they might collaborate. They did include links to personal websites or the band’s MySpace page. Another site I found that was a little different, for a group called I-Band, was at: .This wiki had the group’s touring schedule and lyric sheets subject to editing, as well as information on its members. The About the site info included gig dates, how-to on editing pages, a list of site members with links, and much other useful direction. This site had live video of the band, and photos of some of its members, including what instrument each one plays, and a little band history. This was an entirely more professional looking wiki, being used as wikis were intended. It contained no advertising. Wikis were intended to help people bring together the collaboration of ideas and instructions so that people in the business world and others could have more access. Wikis being used to form a band or for band members to collaborate have proven to be hard to find. There are so many wikis on the web that it seems incredible to me that more musicians aren’t using them for their intended purpose. Am I the first musician to come up with the idea? In my wiki I presented what I would like to have and what is actually needed in my field; putting together a band to make a CD. I want to make recordings, but need other people to do this. As musicians come forward, with new ideas on arrangements or other matters, the CD would change with the wiki itself. While I have not used this particular collaboration tool in the past, I can see the merits of using it on future projects in the future.