Team 3 PresentationLetting Go of the Words Chapter 2

Wiki Writing Chapter 4Gere Hirsch, Shannon Jones,

Spencer Shields, Max Sundermeyer

Building Learning communities with Wikis

Shannon Jones Presenting

Building Learning Communities with Wikis

• Article examines Wikis in the classroom.• Article addresses the advancement and

pitfalls of wikis.• Article examines the use of technology in

the classroom• Article addresses the successful

collaboration of students and faculty in creating a wiki based project.

Progress of a Successful Wiki in the Classroom: Step 1

• Create the Goals for the Wiki. What is the wiki going to accomplish? What are the contributors going to learn?

• Develop the technology. What are the technology and software requirements? How do you use the tools necessary to create the wiki?

• The instructor must make it clear what his/ her expectations are.

• Develop what needs to be included in the wiki. What needs to be included and how is going to be organized?

• Create the wiki webpage. Once framework is completed a static webpage must be completed.

Step 2Instructor must introduce the wiki. In other words, the

instructor must teach the students how to become familiar with a wiki project to include content, organization, and technology.

Students and Faculty must become connected through collaboration in e-mails, Skype, Chat, or face to face if possible to facilitate the wiki project.

The wiki must serve a purpose to the instruction of the course. The wiki cannot be simply used to fill up time and effort of the students.

Again, Instructors must motivate and encourage students to participate in the classroom wiki project.

Finally, after following the process of step 1 and step 2 a knowledge base is created and the wiki becomes useful.

Step 3Students and Instructor must continue to foster and

expand on the wiki.The successfulness of the wiki must be evaluated to

see if the wiki project was useful or detrimental to the learning outcomes of the class.

Feedback must be provided from the instructor to keep the students engaged in the wiki project.

Collaboration must continue between students and the instructor.

Lastly, the students need to know how the knowledge base from the wiki will be used in the future.

Putting it all togetherStudents must be actively engaged in the

wiki project.Students must understand the goals and

outcomes of the wiki project.Collaboration between students and the

instructor is key.Instructors must implement social presence

in the classroom to create immediacy between themselves and students.

Building Learning Communities With Wikis

Spencer Shields Presenting

Using wiki technologyDeciding which wiki technology to use for a

particular learning community can be difficultThe power of collaborative technologies

depend on their users’ contributionsGather information about your site visitorsIf your assumptions are wrong, your content

won’t work

Best case scenarioA wiki becomes part of a thriving and

sustainable learning communityLearners must move from just adopting the

practices to adapting the tools

These tools have to fit the company or organization that is going to use it

Quality feedback from peers as well as instructors encourages greater use of the wiki and a higher level of acceptance and credibility

Experience, expertiseYou may have groups with vastly different experience

and expertise within one type of site visitorIt’s critical to know about those differencesDecide how to meet the needs of all your site visitors

If this is for a learning community, active collaboration on specific projects and across the site fosters feedback oops that keep the community engaged

Evaluate the wiki’s usefulness over the long term

For example, the U.S. National Cancer Institute has two sets of information about every type of cancer: for patients, for health professionals

Letting Go of the WordsChapter 2:Planning: Purposes, Personas, Conversations

Content Strategy

Planning and PurposeMax Sundermeyer Presenting

Planning, Purpose, Personas• The beginning portion of this chapter

explains the planning phase of content strategy and its importance to writing effective web content.

• It stresses the need to write with a purpose and explains ways to do so.

Plan…plan…planEffective content writers never just start

writing.

Plan before you write content and while you are writing content.

Think of the conversation. How do you want it to go?

Ask Yourself: Why?Know what you want to achieve with your

site.By stating specific goals for your site, you can

begin to come up with a clear plan on how to achieve them.

Put your goals in terms of what you want your site visitors to do.

Know the purpose for everything that you writeAsk: What do I want to happen because I wrote

this?

Get to Know Your Audience!Before you begin writing content, think of the

conversation that you want to have with your site visitors.

Once you determine your site visitors needs, then you can begin to decide what to write, how much to write and the vocabulary.

Never assume you share the same language as someone else. We may not know the same words or give them different meanings

How to Get to Know Your AudienceThink of your site goals – What do you want

to help your visitors accomplish?Establish feedback sections on your website –

What are people saying in comments and reviews?

Follow blogs with content related to your siteSocial media

People are very opinionated, and they like to share those opinions.

Key ThemesTHINK before you write. Know your purpose

and what effect you want your writing to have.

Get to know your audience! Whether it be from comments, reviews or social media get to know the audience that is coming to your site, and what brings them there.

Personas and Content StrategyGere Hirsch Presenting

Personas"What Is a Persona?A persona represents a cluster of users

who exhibit similar behavioral patterns in their purchasing decisions, use of technology or products, customer service preferences, lifestyle choices, and the like. Behaviors, attitudes, and motivations are common to a "type" regardless of age, gender, education, and other typical demographics. In fact, personas vastly span demographics.

How Are Personas Built?

Conduct user research: How are they using the website? What information they are seeking?

Condense the research: Themes/characteristics relevant universal to the system and its users.

Brainstorm: Organize into persona groups. Name each group.

Refine: Combine and prioritize the rough personas.Make them real: Develop the appropriate

descriptions of each personas background, motivations, and expectations. Not a lot of personal information.

One site estimates the average persona costs $80K to $120K to develop

Writing personasElements of a Persona:Made up namesCasual pictures representing that user groupJob titles and major responsibilitiesDemographics: age, education, ethnicity, family

statusAlso include: Goals and tasks they are trying to

complete using the siteTheir environment: physical, social, technologicalA quote that sums up what matters most to the

persona as it relates to your site

What is Content StrategyContent strategy is the “method of planning,

development and management of informational content” (http://en.wikipedia.org) on an individual company or project basis.

Content strategy is applied to web sites, blogs, Twitter accounts, Facebook and any other means by which a company wishes to have informational contact with customers and/or the public.

In simplest terms, content strategy is project management for content.

Why is content strategy important?

Content strategy lifecycle:

What does that lifecycle mean?Content strategy steps:Audit – yes, it is painful, but necessaryListen to your clients/stakeholders – what do

they want?Develop a Style GuideCreate a unified DesignSEOTest it – usability, message, contentPlan for the futureDo it all over again!

Content Strategy AppliedSocial Media class – Fall 2012Audited MSU, Mankato’s Technical

Communication Internet presenceSurveyed and interviewed

customers/stakeholders for feedbackReviewed competitor’s offeringsInventoried and tested optionsCreated a single purpose statementCreated a plan for the futureWe hope it is an ongoing effort!

Who does content strategy?Content StrategistSample Role and Responsibilities: Collaborates with designers to develop media

strategy for visual contentCrafts content aligned with strategic vision Creates editorial calendars Regularly attends client meetings to

communicate content vision and processesDevelops and understands the brand voice of

multiple clients

Qualifications: Content StrategistPreferred Qualifications:Strong copyediting skills and attention to detailNew media, leadership, and distribution skillsImplementing tracking strategies to lead

recommendationsCreating content for various mediums offline,

online, and within presentationsAbility to work cross-functionally; strategic and

creative thinker; strong analytical capacity

Tying the 2 Chapters TogetherWhether writing for a website, a blog or a wiki, it is important to incorporate the following:A defined goalAn overall plan and strategyAn understanding of the audience and

participantsA willingness to continuously maintain and

update content and design