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About This Website

It is based on an information architecture called a wiki. Although the most likely association that readers make when they hear "wiki" is that it is an "open" website where anyone (literally anybody who has web access and a browser) can add information and any subsequent web-ready-with-browser person can edit that information. Although the collaborative, community building potential is clearly a key feature of this software, I defer to the original meaning of "wikiwiki" which comes from Hawaiian and signifies "quick". Although openness is a default (at least in the Pm Wiki version that I am using) to me it is not what makes this so cool. It is the fact that I can create links to pages on the fly and I can treat any page as under construction. A page that I can add to, expand or delete at will. Open to be edited by me from anywhere in the world that I can get my hands on a web connected computer. Of course, collaborativeness is a nice bonus, but not the core of what it means to be a wiki IMHO.

When I finally created a wiki for myself, I realized it was the answer to many questions that arose naturally in my personal life, research and friendships. I made a blog but somehow found it too unfluid and constraining. I needed some way to easily edit my website from any computer in the world. I wanted to be able to collaborate with colleagues easily. I wanted to be able to teach a class and quickly have the same information available on the web.

As an example of the power of a wiki, imagine teaching a class and instead of using a chalkboard, how about a computer and a projector and directly editing a wiki before the students' very own eyes. They will see a website in progress and therefore know that if they want to go back and review because they missed taking some notes in class or were absent from class, they know where to go. Furthermore, by watching it created they'll quickly learn the simple but not necessarily transparent actions needed to edit the wiki, hence the students' will be able to easily contribute further to the wiki.

In this wiki I hope to keep all sorts of information, some things that are only for me and therefore you won't be able to see, some that will involve collaboration with students or colleagues. Some that are open to the world. Although I must admit that "open to the world" is a little scary. When I finally figure out the security issues and recovery issues, I might be willing to be more open. But for now, as I'm learning, I'll try to be cautious.