Week 9 (Written by Teresa Petzel)
Well, the deadline for this assignment draws near and everybody is working on getting their content online, asking for some final confirmations re the content and supporting each other through minor content and technical issues. Though we did agree on a particular date for final drafts most of us needed more time and everybody has been supportive of other team members in their dash to complete last minute tasks.
During the week:
Kate's Weekly Report
A brief note only from Kate -
'Thanks! This all sounds good. Best of luck in the final push!'
Other significant activities during the week
- Queries regarding referencing and glossary entries have been hashed out and sorted amongst the group. Natalie has been very supportive here in regards to APA styling.
- Our wiki guru Michelle has been supporting some last minute requests for help in inserting images etc
- Uploads of content have been staggered due to time demands, illnesses and the need to sometimes see other parts of ‘the story’ before finalisation eg summary infographic but everybody is online communicating and checking up on each others requests for help.
- The staggered approach of final uploads does not seem to have placed any undue strain on the team, if anything it seems to have created a very energetic and enthusiastic final lap to the project!
- Some team members have acknowledged that they have missed particular posts, or have asked questions that have already been answered some time ago but again this has all occurred in a positive manner and everybody seems to be happy to remind each other of all the little bits that can get a touch muddled in this more ‘stressful’ phase of the project.
- Several team members have noted that they have found it a challenge to write in this ‘team’ style and I think that most of us would agree it has been a challenge both with methodology and also ‘time & tracking’ issues…after doing three units independently myself and then all of a sudden having to work with 9 others it has been a learning curve.
- Interesting to note that many of the team have been a little unsure of where and when to cross-link within the wiki (asking each other, rather than doing independently)…is this due to the inexperience in this type of team work or inexperience with multiple page creations? Maybe the team can give some feedback on this after this journal entry is posted…
The last piece of the puzzle rests with the finalisation of the homepage and site structure – nearly done now.
Week 8 (Written by Nicholas Gaff)
This week our group members are preparing the drafts of their chosen topics. The team had previously agreed to set a deadline to complete a draft in order for the team to be able to provide feedback and allow members to adjust their work before the due date.
Significant events that occurred during the week were:
Kate's Weekly Report
- Kate felt that a wiki page is a good choice. But wanted to ensure we thought about its flow, and whether the wiki was going to be one or more pages.
- Kate believed that images or diagrams would be “going in the right direction”, leveraging the use of the medium of the internet.
Other significant events during the week
- Clarification of the direction of the assignment was discussed. This was purely to ensure that members were indeed on the agreed path with the content in their chosen topic.
- Natalie wanted to compare her understanding of “The Knowledge Economy” with other team members to assist in the drafting of her chosen topic of “The Kindle”.
- Michelle and Colin offered an explanation of their interpretation of “The Knowledge Economy”.
- Teresa has offered to provide either a video or infographic as her submission for the group assignment in order to better “leverage” the medium of the internet.
- The team’s previously agreed draft due date occurred Friday 20 July.
- Some team members have asked for additional time to ensure that their topics are given the attention that is needed.
- Agreement that the glossary should be a one directional resource from the word or phrase to the glossary item, but the glossary item need not hyperlink back to each occurrence of the word or phrase within the assignment.
- Hyperlinks to extra information from the glossary okay. Example: Glossary item Amazon can link to Amazon.com as a reference.
This week was the week where most members where ensuring the completion of their drafts, whilst there was communication from most of the team during this week it was more about clarification and ensuring people where on track with their tasks.
Week 7 (Written by Rachel Lester)
During this week group members mainly focused on gathering information and writing content for their topic.
Significant events that occured during the week were
Kate's feedback for assignment outline
Kate suggested
- Re reading assessment criteria to ensure criteria is being followed.
- It would be better to focus on content relating directly to the assignment topic rather than making the assignment too long.
- Think about how themes covered are related to each other and how Amazon is an example of these themes.
- Formulating a group thesis statement to help focus the assignment on assignment question.
Kate also questioned what form the assignment was going to take - Angus will inform Kate that the assignment will be presented on a wiki.
Kate's Weekly report
- Kate's weekly report indicated a little confusion regarding what was mentioned in her last weekly report. The contents of the previous weekly report were mistaken for the assignment feedback. This issue was quickly resolved.
- Kate questioned if the group considered 400-1000 words enough to cover the assignment. (Angus suggested that Kate may have thought the plan was to have 400-1000 words for the entire assignment instead of for each topic - Angus has informed Kate that the aim is to have 400-1000 words per topic).
Other significant events during the week
- One group member suggested pages with a smaller word count could include video, audio, diagrams or images.
- Theresa asked if we are intending to provide links within our pages to the glossary. This was considered to be a good idea by other members of the group. It was suggested that an entry in the glossary could also contain links to all of the pages within the assignment which discuss the particular word or phrase. This would prevent the need to explain a concept each time it was mentioned and provide an easy way for the audience to easily find more information on that topic. It was again suggested that we finish our writing a week before it is due so that we are able to work out where pages should link to each other.
- Michelle reminded group members that we are using a wiki as our medium and because of this each page should contain a number of headings to assist the audience to skim pages.
- Natalie shared a link to a paper she found on the knowledge economy.
- The idea of a summary page to act as a conclusion for the assignment was discussed.
- Michelle wrote a proposed topic outline for the assignment and encouraged other group members to make suggestions.
- Angeline posted a draft of ther topic thesis and asked for other members opinions - Michelle responded that she thought Angeline was "off to a great start" and made some suggestions, for which Angeline thanked her.
Week 6 (Written by Colin Lim)
This week, the group submitted the project outline to Kate to await feedback regarding how we were progressing. All 10 members have checked in with the group and have been assigned to their topics. Members will now begin to split up and work on their individual research and return on 20 July with their final draft for proofreading and feedback.
Member Statuses
- Teresa has made contact and caught up with the group's progress. Her topic will be 'Gift Economy'.
- Michelle will be travelling back to Melbourne this week and will take some time away.
- Nicholas will be travelling for 2 weeks and is estimated to be back by week 8.
Word Limit
There was an important discussion on how the group should interpret the word limit requirements as advised by Kate and this is what we have decided on:
- We need to write to suit our medium/channel - a 'wiki' page.
- It will depend on whether we include supplementary information sources like videos/pictures/timelines etc.
- Between 400 - 1000 words per topic.
- Minimum of 400 to justify the 50% assignment weightage.
- Maximum of 1000 so as not to overload the reader.
Technical Issues
- A few users experienced issues logging in to Wiggio as well as Wikidot over the week. Wiggio outages were mainly due to it going offline for maintenance.
Notes
- Nicholas will make the mind map available before the due date to be embedded in Wikidot.
- Link to play around with the wiki's look: http://internetexplorers.wikidot.com/admin:manage Site Manager » Appearance » Themes
Week 5 (Written by Angeline Hildreth)
Moodean Tung had successfully join us but his internet access is not very reliable. We are still waiting for one more member.
Progress:
- Wikidot page was set up and members have been invited to join.
- Amazon.com was chosen as a business to base our assignment 2 on.
- Michelle set up Project Outline and Journal entry pages on wikidot site.
- Journal entries: Colin; 2 - 8 July, Rachel; 9 - 15 July, Nicholas 16 - 22 July.
- Angus will prepare point-form report on how we are working as a group by Friday 29 June.
- Angus has volunteered to do Amazon timeline.
- Outline to be finalised/agreed by Friday 29 July. Topics so far are;
- Home page/Introduction - Nicholas
- Amazon timeline - Angus
- Knowledge Economy - Colin
- The tangible and intangible goods - Rachel
- Business model - Sam
- The Kindle - Natalie
- Attention Economy - Moo Dean
- Network Economy - Angeline
- Innovator's dilemma - Michelle
- Glossary - Everyone
- References - Everyone, Angeline to check
- Team report
Each topics are to include a brief description.
Week 4 (Written by Natalie Paine)
Wiggio became more active with participation this week with all but 2 members joined up. Mindmeister has all but one member joined up. Moodean Tung seems to be missing from both Wiggio and MM.
Nicholas started discussion on what our skills were to try and get an idea of what we can all do, our strong points, weaknesses etc. This was a great way to start, by finding out what people are comfortable with and are good at we can match the best person to each task.
Nicholas has shown immediate leadership skills by initiating alot of ideas and suggestions. We have nominated him Project Manager. The additional skills that people have within the team are:
- Writing
- Research
- HTML/CSS coding
- Organising
- Blogging
- IT
- Web design/development
- Graphic design
- Administration
- Brainstorming
- Troubleshooting
Angus suggested that we think about what internet business that we would write about for A2. He suggested Amazon. Nothing has been finalised yet but from the comments I think most people were happy with that choice. Most people are still getting a feel for how we are going to actually do this assignment. Angus suggested that once we choose on a business to research we can then allocate different parts of the project to different people, I thought this was a good idea.
Now we should be thinking about our first draft and how to put it together. We will have to come up with a plan for this in the next week.
Angeline was contacted by Moodean Tung who is having problem accessing Wikidot. Angeline had asked Moodean to sign up to Wiggio and MM and is trying to do what she can to help.
Week 3 (Written by Natalie Paine)
Assignment 1 was due and each team member researched and tested out their online tool of choice. Each team member had to set up a Wikidot page, each naming it in the required format for the assignment. Each member of our team successfully posted their reviews within the required time frame.
Nicholas and Natalie started the 2 groups for Wiggio and Mindmeister through posting on Wikidot and sending out email invites. Almost everyone quickly signed up to both applications and joined within that week. Nicholas and Natalie started contributing to the mindmap for assignment 2. Everyone still communicated on Wikidot until they joined the Wiggio group. Most people were still going through the readings in this week.
Weeks 1-2 (Written by Natalie Paine)
Our first assignment for NET205 required us to join a team and each write a review on an online tool. We had to organise our team first and then make sure we were all reviewing a different tool to each person on the team. Our communication was initiated through Wikidot.com, there we constructed a team and called it 'The Internet Explorer's team' (founded by Michelle La).
The team started to build and each person chose a different tool to review, all communications were through Wikidot. With much help and organsation from Michelle and Angeline we constructed a team and collaborated a list of what each team member was reviewing.
Members of the team and each tool reviewed:
- Angus Pye - huddle.net
- Natalie Paine - wiggio.com
- Nicholas Gaff - teamlab.com
- Colin Lim - diigo.com
- Michelle La - vyew.com
- Angeline Hildreth - posterous.com
- Moodean Tung - springnote.com
- Sam Moore - Facebook.com
- Rachel Lester - Sosius.com
- Teresa Petzel - OpenZine.com
Michelle pro-actively started a new discussion on Wikidot about Applications to use for assignment 2. Suggestions included Mind Meister (an online mind mapping tool) and Wiggio (collaborative tool to communicate, set tasks and share documents). Eventually it was decided that we sign up for both as just one would not give us all the tools that we needed.
