What+is+a+wiki+and+why+are+we+using+it?

**What is a wiki?**

Check this out: media type="custom" key="6443343" width="60" height="60"

This video was found on YouTube but comes from a website called Common Craft. They make a cool paper cutout advanced tech video for just about anything you want to learn how to do. It's a silly way to explain a wiki, but should help you understand what this is, and why we are using it related to technology.

You may have already used a wikispace. How about Wikipedia? That is where wikispaces came from in the first place!

We are using this wiki for our summer reading posting. Each post you make under the posted question is part of the daily grade requirement for our //__Tuesdays with Morrie__// project. We will complete this project the first week back at school. Using a wiki like this is free, and you are not required to become a member in order to post. However, if you do not follow the guidelines for blogging/posting list to the left in the navigation menu, your post may be deleted or removed or edited for content by me, the administrator of the wiki. That could result in point deductions from your grade or a loss of credit for your post. Please make sure to follow the guidelines!


 * NOTE:**
 * YOU MUST REGISTER OR SIGN IN TO POST COMMENTS ON THE WIKI. THIS REQUIRES AN EMAIL TO SET UP YOUR ACCOUNT. YOU MAY USE A PARENT EMAIL TO DO SO, OR FEEL FREE TO SET UP A FREE YAHOO, AOL MAIL, GMAIL, OR OTHER FREE SERVICE ACCOUNT TO SET UP YOUR WIKI SIGN IN IF YOU DO NOT ALREADY HAVE AN EMAIL. __REMEMBER TO MAKE YOUR USER NAME YOUR FIRST INITIAL, LAST NAME, LIKE THIS: M.ADAMS__. IF THAT IS TAKEN, MAKE SURE TO ADD SOME NUMBERS AFTER IT YOU WILL REMEMBER TO MAKE IT UNIQUE TO YOU (like M.ADAMS_2234), OR ADD _golobos AFTER IT TO MAKE IT UNIQUE AND EASY TO REMEMBER. __WRITE DOWN YOUR USERNAME AND PASSWORD SOMEWHERE YOU WILL NOT LOSE IT!!!__**

**Why are we using a wiki for summer reading?**

We want to create a community for our entire class, all 80+ of you. We want you to not only comment on your interaction with the book, but also use technology to communicate with each other when we aren't together as an individual class. Many colleges use programs like Blackboard or wiki/blog equivalents for students to interact with their teachers and classmates and the entire grading portion of the class may be online. We want you to be ahead of that game and already using something similar when that times comes.

Google is a good friend, as are websites like Wikipedia, Common Craft, and youtube. If you don't know how to do it or what is is, undoubtedly someone else has already asked that question, and there is a video or a website that will explain it all to you in plain English. You can even put in your whole question on Google and it will find something you can use! However, if you are still lost, notify me through the wiki message system to my wiki inbox, or via email (madams@lisd.org) or post, and I'll get back with you as soon as I can!

Happy wiki-ing!