Introduction
Why Wiki? Well I wanted to present my work in a different approach than previously used. Prior to the forming of this Wiki I have solely been using blogging websites (Blogger, to be precise). My previous work and blog can be found
here.
Blogging vs Wiki
Blogging is easy and intuitive to use, it offers a simple and effective approach to displaying the progression of work and research. Whilst this is very appealing, and for the most part all that is required, it is certainly not the only approach that I could take in collating an invaluable resource of information for myself, as well as portraying my work to tutors and other students. I believe a lot of my scepticism towards blogging comes from a lack of experimentation with other forms of digital sketchbook. Wiki's have time and again proven to be a fantastic way of keeping an easily managed and updated collection of research that can be manipulated with ease by any number of authors, as well as being much more advanced in what can be achieved with them than your average blog. I feel although a Wiki may not be the best way to convey the flow and connections of my work to others, it is however much more useful as a research tool for myself and can be quite easily manipulated to work in whatever fashion I should so chose.
The Wiki
In it's raw form the Wiki is a tool for collecting information without emphasis on the journal approach, which is what blogging is best known for. This makes the Wiki much more powerful to use as a research tool, but does have certain limitations as far as college projects are concerned. It can however be tailored to just about any style of data presentation that should be required, including using some pages as a time stamped reference of progression (such as a blog would work). I feel that if used correctly the potential usefulness of the Wiki over blogging sites may repay itself far more for the extra work and time that it requires to setup and enter information into.
How Far Am I Taking This Wiki?
This Wiki is in essence a test drive. I have no intention of completely abandoning my blog until I am sure this is the direction I want to take my online research portfolio. To that extent I am going to be creating this Wiki for the sole purpose (at this time) of managing my Final Major Project and any project that I start as a result of the FMP.
If this is indeed how I think it would be best to progress my work into the third year then I shall be trying my hardest to merge the blog into my Wiki.
Any Concerns About Wiki?
There are certain limitations to the Wiki that I am discovering more and more as I use it. The thing that I am noticing the most as I use the Wiki is that while the Wiki itself is a fantastic platform for creating an online research database, this particular Wiki, as powered by Zoho, is of course still under the all to familiar Beta tag at this stage. There are certain issues with the layout and functionality of this Wiki which are causing problems, minor as they are, it is in my hoping that Zoho will continue to improve their system so that I can continue to use it and be impressed by it.
Other concerns include the organization of my Wiki. This is my first attempt at a Wiki and I have to the best of my abilities tried to set out and manage the site in such a way that it is easy to read, easy to update and easy to navigate. However I can foresee some issues with my system rising in the near future. Until then however I can only proceed in the manner in which I started and hope that it isn't something that will cause catastrophe later on.
I would also like to note that while this is a great way to show research online, it isn't such a fantastic direction to take a project that will at some point need to be printed or mounted to disk in order to submit. I am still working on a method for overcoming this.
Why Wiki, Why Now?
The
Final Major Project that I created this Wiki to first support is a project that I would love to take in a collaborative direction in regards to the art that I create. Wiki's are the perfect platform for creating a source of research that can be viewed, modified and improved by large numbers of people. It is this notion of collaborative creation between anonymous characters that I would love to base my project more than anything else on. A good example of a project that has arisen from this concept is my '
Potty Art' project.
I feel it is only sensible if I really embrace the power of the internet and web 2.0 for creating such a pressence to my work online, and in much the same style as the work I create outside of the internet.
However, for the time being this Wiki has been closed until I am ready for it to be modified by someone else. Until then I don't feel that anyone needs to change it, or for that matter should change it until there is enough information here as a basis for improvement.
Uploading ....