Media Exercise 3

Wikis and Tagging

Task

Setup your account on the class wiki and gain experience with basic wiki editing.
Use tagging with del.icio.us, a social bookmarking service, to bookmark and share web-based resources with the class.

The first part of this week's media exercise involves tagging and social bookmarking. The goal is for everyone to gain basic familiarity with using social bookmarking to manage and share web-based resources, and to use tagging in a collaborative way.
If you are new to social bookmarking and tagging, be sure to watch the short video posted below under "Resources." You might also want to review the following short Wikipedia articles: Social Bookmarking and Tags.
Early in the week, set up an account with del.icio.us, a popular social bookmarking website. If possible, select a username that others in the class will be able to recognize easily. Practice bookmarking and tagging several websites of interest.
Next, find a blog that you think might interest others in this class (and that is broadly related to the themes of this class).

Tag the website "lis5313fa09" and "blog" (without the quotes).
Make sure to edit your bookmark information so the "Name" field is correct, and so that the "Notes" field provides a short description of the blog and why you think it is interesting or useful.

The websites that have been tagged accurately should be aggregated here. It will typically take a few minutes for a website you've bookmarked to appear on this list, and there are some cases in which it might not appear (an unfortunate quirk). If the site you tagged doesn't appear on the list, feel free to tag a second site if you like... but please don't worry if for whatever reason your site doesn't appear on the list. This is an experiment in collaborative social bookmarking, and you won't lose points if your effort doesn't work perfectly.

Background Info and Wiki Help Resources

The second part of this week's media exercise involves setting up an account on our class wiki and editing your own user page.
If you are new to wikis, be sure to watch the short video posted below under "Resources."
To complete this exercise, you will need to use some basic wiki editing code. Refer to the following Wiki Help Resources as needed throughout the exercise:

Setting Up Your Wiki User Account

Begin by going to our wiki's Log in / create account page.
The username you select is what others in the class will see when you edit something or leave a comment for someone on the wiki, so please choose a username that follows the same convention that we have on the blog (e.g. your first name + the first initial of your last name). Example: Lisa T.
Your username is case sensitive and you cannot change it or delete it after you setup your account, so type carefully.

Editing Your Wiki User Page

To find and begin editing your user page, you must be logged in. Click on your username in the top right corner of the wiki. The first time you access the page, it will open in "edit mode" and you can begin typing and formatting your page. After you save your page, you can return to edit mode by viewing your user page and clicking the "edit" button on the top left part of the wiki page.
Edit your user page so that it reflects the same general information about yourself that you posted on the blog as part of Media Exercise 1 (your blog post introductions), but this time edit the text and reformat it for the wiki. It's fine to alter the information you provided in your blog post as you like to better fit the new format of the wiki.
Include the following formatting elements on your user page:

Use of header text (Note: this is called "Level 2 headline" in your editing toolbar)
Use of bold text
Use of at least two external links, with appropriate link text (Note: this means two links to other websites)
Use of at least one bulleted list
You may include other kinds of formatting as well if you wish.

Follow the directions on Wiki Images to upload an image, display a THUMBNAIL version of the image on your page, and include a caption for the image.

Be sure to save your page as you go so you don't lose your work, and to check it for errors before you finish.
See the wiki Users page for a list of all the user pages for the class. Check the pages of your classmates to get ideas for wiki formatting. If you see something you like on another page, you can click "edit" for that page and see what wiki code produced the formatting. Feel free to copy good wiki code. It's a great way to learn.

When you have completed the exercise, go to Blackboard > Assignments > Media Production Exercises, and follow the instructions to submit the assignment.
Assignments can only be submitted the week they are due (not before, and not after--unless prior arrangements have been made with the TA or instructor).

Are you new to social bookmarking? If so, watch Social Bookmarking in Plain English by the CommonCraft Show:

Are you new to wikis? If so, watch Wikis in Plain English by the CommonCraft Show: