Thing #15

Sandbox Time

Sandbox is a term used in wiki's that refers to areas of play for abstract ideas, fonts, and just plain old randomness.  It is able to be changed and reformatted due to the fact that it is a wiki page that allows for others to step in and move stuff around, or even enhance the material with color or extra information.  

I jumped in my class' sandbox and chose to color some of the font into a nice lime green tint.  I would have to pat myself on the back for this.  You must understand, I despise lime green, and even more than that, I despise wikis.  I have found that they are great for IDEAS but not for factual information that is able to be used with any authority for my work in writing.  I know that they are fun and offer many new thoughts that can be productive and thought provoking, but I just can't get into them.  

On the Flip Side,

I do see where these pages have come into play with the world of education.  Book reviews will always hold bias and that bias is an important factor in the way someone may react to a book.  By using these for schools and for colleges, alike, we are beginning to move forward into a world of wikis that hold information that is useful to someone on a more personal level.  I thoroughly enjoyed looking around on the "BookLoversWiki" and I find that much of the information shared is clearly used as a personal opinion.  This is the meaty material that wikis can provide.  Personality.  

By using this in a classroom, students will be able to use their input and bias in a constructive way.  By looking at others' comments and reviews, thoughts can be changed, but as long as it is a group activity that includes the entire class, it is doing its job as a wiki.