Re: [MLUG] Re: Wikipedia on /.

["Christian M. Cepel" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

Sorry for top-posting, but I'd rather not edit what I'm responding to in 
this post.

I must amend my post to say that my lack of understanding is more along 
the lines of the more abstract bits, and that I think I'm comfortable 
with the mechanics of it...

So to be more verbose...  I am a CS degree holder working in the College 
of Ed, and more specifically in the School for Information Science & 
Learning Technologies.  I am exposed to (despite trying to keep my head 
down) all sorts of people and concepts that are foreign to me on nearly 
a daily basis.  My boss, Dr. Gail Fitzgerald, Dale Mussler, the world 
famous Dr. David Jonassen (so I've been told), and others are constantly 
bandying about all these different abstract terms on things like 
learning constructs, networked learning strategies, and such.  A large 
portion of their classes deal with these abstract things that just leave 
my mind swirling.... I am so confused half the time that I'm inclined to 
throw what I do think I finally understand into the 'well duh, common 
sense' category, and the other half into the 'art for art's sake' or 
'pseudointellectualism for pseudointellectualism category.... I am not 
educated on the subjects and don't really have any authority to make 
such determinations.....

Anyways that leads to the following...  I've heard wikis talked of as 
something much more fundamentally intriguing in terms of how people 
learn and interact and how information is gathered, stored, shared, 
provided, updated, altered, etc...  Maybe it's all snake oil... maybe 
it's above my head...  I would throw memes into the same category as 
something I completely don't understand and wonder if it's good 
logic/reasoning, and intellectually beyond me, or something that is one 
of those things where someone gets so focused on this tower of bricks 
they've built, each conclusion based on the last, that they fail to see 
that perhaps there's no foundation underneath, or that it's going to 
(ala bugs bunny)  to defy the law of gravity until someone realizes that 
it's built upon air instead of solid rock.  Maybe a more apt analogy is 
the emperor's new clothes.

Anyways.. I accept that I'm no intellectual and there are things beyond 
me....

What I'm struggling with is just this.... people talk about wikis (both 
in SISLT-COE-UMC and elsewhere) as this marvelous new abstract construct 
_thingy_ that will transcend all we previously knew or practiced in 
those categories I mentioned above, sharing of information, ideas,  
learning, gathering of information, etc...

That's what I'd like to understand.  What is the phenomenon that some 
see behind the concept of Wiki.

A friend, Johann in the SISLT has tried to tell me why he's so excited 
and why he's pursued grants to study it, and such, and frankly, I'm 
lost... I can only nod my head and smile and pretend that I'm able to 
understand the language he's speaking (not english, and not german his 
native language, but some other odd foreign alien thing that a lot of 
people around SISlT know how to speak.)

Anyways...   is there something really revolutionary about wiki?  Or is 
it hype, or pseudointellectualism, or something else entirely.

It drives me nuts, wanting to understand but being someone too limited 
to make the leaps required by abstract thought.  I feel really stupid, 
though I know I'm at least at or slightly above average in most things.

Even calculus eluded me, causing three hour long fights with my wife in 
the car on the way to springfield until she figured out that she 
couldn't just say that something is zero, or a is b.... that she had to 
start me at the beginning, throwing out all the assumptions that must be 
made to finally arrive at the term where those who are proficient in 
calculus understand that when it is said that a=b, that the speaker 
doesn't mean that a=b, but that instead that a is close enough to b as 
to allow this usage to be made w/o altering the value, and at the same 
time allowing great advantages that would not be possible if one were to 
be constrained by concrete truth.

I hated it, and at the same time kept grasping at that ring that always 
seemed out of reach.. that ring of understanding.... and I'm jealous of 
those who can actually do it (and respectful)...  Folks in SISLT would 
say that I have a different "learning style" where I know this to be 
pseudointellectualism and the truth is that I'm stupid and limited *grin*.

Anyways.  That's what I wish to understand.  If anyone could explain the 
universe to me (and wiki theory), and heck, why not memes at the same 
time, I'll be extraordinarily grateful.  Oh, and if you could make 
recursion something that I understand fundamentally w/o having to really 
bone up before I attempt it and then actually write it out in something 
less abstract before coding it, I'd be grateful for that as well. :)
 //Christian M. Cepel


EMAIL:PROTECTED wrote:

>>I must say that I've never understood the concept of Wiki, even after 
>>installing and playing with TikiWiki.  It's too abstract and 
>>intellectual a concept for my small brain.
>>    
>>
>
>It's editable web content. Anyone can press the "Edit" button and type what they will. Think of it as a public whiteboard. It's about taking anyone who can type and giving them the ability to create content on the web. It's about lowering the barrier to creating "web pages". No fancy HTML to learn, no figuring out what the heck "FTP" is or where to get one. Just press "Edit" and type. It really is that simple.
>
>That said, /running/ a wiki is a bit different than /using/ a wiki. If you're just starting out, try KwikiKwiki instead. It's much simpler to get up and going. http://www.kwiki.org/.
>
>  
>
>>What is to prevent some malicious script kiddie on a mindless joyride 
>>[...] to mess with their content and links?
>>    
>>
>
>Three letters. CVS. Most wikis have some sort of version control implemented.
>That means that either anyone can "undo" someone else's grafitti, or an admin can if it is a restricted action for the wiki. On a mass scale, it's called a WikiWipeout.
>
>See http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?WhyWikiWorks
>
>And in particular, see http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiWipeout
>
>Also http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?WhyNobodyDeletesWiki
>and http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?WhyTryToDeleteWiki
>
>That site is Ward Cunningham's WikiWiki site, the original, so I'd say it's pretty authoritative on the subject of wikis.
>  
>
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-- 
||

Christian Marcus Cepel           | And the wrens have returned &
EMAIL:PROTECTED icq:12384980 | are nesting; In the hollow of
371 Crown Point, Columbia, MO    | that oak where his heart once
65203-2202 573.999.2370          | had been; And he lifts up his
Computer Support Specialist, Sr. | arms in a blessing; For being
University of Missouri-Columbia  | born again. --Rich Mullins

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