Ending of EIR

I been using internet for a long time, don't know some things covered in the syllabus. I would relate myself to a light bulb, and this subject is like the switch that turned on the lights.

The skills to search websites for information using keywords and Boolean operators proved useful, I learnt new techniques such as using a thesaurus to find more keywords, my “cheat” to find similar keywords. Spending time on this has been worthwhile, as would save a lot of my time in the future as I would be able to find more, with less time on the internet.

I knew there are bogus sites on the web, however did not have a checklist for a proper evaluation, it was only by feeling that I decided if the site was bogus. Learning about search engines was helpful, I did not know about subject directories, it was a useful source when I got stuck at my project.

At first I felt that the activities were troublesome and unnecessary, however after doing them, I enjoyed them. Previously, I would never have thought of creating a blog and posting, or posting threads on a  forum, much less wikiing away through the night.

I am glad that I took EIR.

Posting on a public forum

Posted a thread about my research topic, I was surprised to see someone reply to my post just within a few seconds of me posting the thread. I enjoyed reading the many posts that followed and gained new perspectives about the issue. If it were a technical issue, an expert about the topic might provide some invaluable advice or help, forums would be a very useful tool in the future when I encounter problems in my projects or studies.

Reflections on Wiki

I thoroughly enjoyed wiki specially turning the wiki into a work of art. I would have to say it is the most fun part about EIR, learning from others, and sharing with others. Most definitely, some people would be peeved when they see their work edited, or broken apart to be clustered together with others to form a unified body of knowledge. I would rather not step on anyone`s toes however when the information is repetitive or misleading, the wiki would not be functional. It would be the lesser of two evils to do edits. Though it is sometimes uncomfortable to edit other`s works, it not right to just leave the information in a state of mess for public viewing.

The wiki is not an information dump, I hope that people would have a bit more respect the wikis in the future and not directly paste paragraphs from websites without first paraphrasing in a simpler language. While doing wiki, I learnt many things I would not have if I were just searching on the internet alone. That is possibly because different people have different viewpoints and will contribute to the different aspects of the topic. There are many ideas from other people as to where to start the search from as well

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I would think a really good wiki would be one that is clear and easy to understand, and covers much about it without the need for long wordy language.