Wiscipedia accomplished some major goals this semester including purchasing supplies for advertising, drafting up a terms of use, and presenting at the ComETS UW Madison Digital Repositories Seminar.
This semester, we talked about how to set up Wiscipedia to launch in the following fall. This was a very difficult decision seeing that some members of the Wiscipedia committee would be graduating, but we ultimately decided it was for the best because we could broadcast the group to the most students in the fall.
Additionally, we purchased many supplies such as highlighter pens and notepads to distribute to students and faculty who will be able to advertise the website in the future. All of the merchandise feature the logo for Wiscipedia as well as the words "Wiscipedia.org." We decided to keep the design simple so that it would be memorable and may prompt individuals to look up the website.
We also collaborated with DoIT to integrate the Wiscipedia system into NetID so that only individuals associated with UW-Madison are able to edit the website but anyone is able to read it. This is important because it would be excellent advertising for pre-freshman who are interested in the website but at the same time not allow random individuals to trash the website.
Finally, we discussed how to distinguish the website from others that are currently available such as the Undergraduate Catalog and departmental websites. This was prompted from a conversation we had with Dr. Hamm in education who wanted us to address the issue of information accuracy. Ultimately, we decided to put signs up on each of the Wiscipedia pages indicating that Wiscipedia was not an official resource and that students should pursue other webpages and talk to advisors as well.
This semester we also presented our work at the ComETS or Community of Educational Technology Support's conference called Digital Repositories. Here, there were several different groups that were developing technology and software for learning and education. Our presentation was a big success and it seemed like a lot of faculty were very supportive of the project and very good questions were raised.
One other progress Wiscipedia has made is drafting up a terms of service. This has been crucial in helping Wiscipedia regroup and figure out how it fits in relation to many other campus websites out there. Additionally it has helped us set boundaries and rules on what is appropriate and what is not on the Wiscipedia website to help prevent problems that may arise in the future.
In terms of the future, we already had a very successful handoff meeting where we organized how to promote this event next year and which Wiscipedia members would be returning to the program. Another meeting we plan on having is with the Registar's Office to see how our project relates to their project known as "Course Guide." This summer, Jia plans on spending the time she has in
