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between Rubric and the Rubik’s Cube, which hindsight seems very silly.
Silly or not, here my confusion continues with a Wiki. I thought the name wiki was based on the idea of a wicking candle. For me at least, wicking a candle seems to give a visual way of remembering the root of the Wiki idea, software that allows for collaborative authoring. Wikipedia describes wiki software as software that “allows collaborative modification, extension, or deletion of its content and structure.” A wiki is further differentiated from a blog “in that the content is created without any defined owner or leader, and wikis have little implicit structure, allowing structure to emerge according to the needs of the users.”
In fact the word wiki comes from Hawaii. Ward Cunningham, the author of the first Wiki software named it Wiki based on his experience with a Hawiian bus the Wiki Wiki, a form of quick transit. Wiki is a Hawiian word meaning quick and Cunningham had in mind a quick database authoring tool. Isn’t it great we have Wikipedia to figure these things out.
This week in AAU, Integrating Technology into Art Education Settings, we have been looking at Educational Wikis. Well, I’ve already said that I had some confusion about the root of the word wiki. It has also been difficult to separate the idea of wiki from Wikipedia, a word sometimes thought to be synonymous with encyclopedia.
As I tried to think of what kind of wiki I might create I consulted with my son and his perception matched mine in some ways. How, he expressed, can a classroom of students contribute in a meaningful way to accumulated and authoritative knowledge? As I tried to explain my new understanding of wiki to him I used his computer club as an example. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a database where you and your friends could go to find out what worked and what didn’t work when building a competitive robot. And wouldn’t it be great to have a place where you and your friends could find out all the rules and dates for the competition? While trying to convince my son I convinced myself. A day or two later my son shared with me a robot club wiki site from the Pioneers in Education.
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This thought process became the basis for my looking into the idea of a robot sculpture club. I found some great examples of robotic sculptures to share. I posted these sites with the idea that I’d like students to find more sites to share.
I invite you to join the Robot Sculpture Club Wiki and contribute examples of robot sculpture. My vision for the club site would be for it to inspire and support student classes and clubs interested in learning and sharing about robot art and sculpture.
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