Wiki Assignment

The Wiki Assignment is predominantly a group research assignment. You will be assigned to one of three broad topics. You will research the topic and present the results of your research on the class wiki, Nip-eScrawl.

There will be four people assigned to each topic. You are free to create, delete, and edit any pages that fall under your topic. You will be assigned an anonymous handle for the web site. As such, authorship is anonymous: you will not assign your name to anything you write as part of the group, though the wiki software will keep track of your anonymous handle and the instructor will be able to identify each student. You should feel free to edit, augment, and even remove material that others in your group have contributed (and they are free to do the same with your material). I recommend you do not get together with other members of your group to plan or even discuss the wiki project: I would prefer the whole project be conducted in this “virtual” environment. You are welcome to set up discussions on the wiki site itself with other members of your group.

The wiki is divided into three namespaces, each representing one of the topics. (Note: the namespace name is the keyword name for the topic preceded by “2012_”.) Only members of a particular group can contribute material to the corresponding namespace. Everyone is welcome to view/read pages of any group/namespace. You can navigate through the namespaces using the menu box in the upper-right part of the screen. Please ask your instructor for help with using the wiki if you are having trouble.

Edugames	Video games in education How does education today make use of video games? You should focus equally on games designed specifically for the purpose of learning (“educational games”) and games originally designed for entertainment but are being put to use within an educational environment. (Note that “video games” and “computer games” are really synonymous terms.) What educational theories best support the use of video games? What disciplines/subjects are today most effectively using video games? What types of games seem to work best? An in-depth report on three or four important uses of games should be sufficient.
Superpowers	Analyzing superhuman powers in video games Examine the use video games make of endowing their player characters with superhuman powers. These may of course include physical powers, but also other powers, such as mental powers. Categorize the powers. How are these power acquired or bestowed? Why are the powers important to the game? In giving characters these powers, what are the games saying about humanity? (For example, if the hero of a game needs to be endowed with super-strength, is this a comment on how weak humans naturally are?) An in-depth analysis of three or four examples might be sufficient, though perhaps more examples will be required to provide a fuller analysis.
Omega	Humans at the Omega Point Using a modified understanding of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s definition of the Omega Point, one that includes the concept that digital technology is instrumental in reaching the Omega Point, examine what theorists, visionaries, and scholars have to say about the fate of humanity at the end of humanity. What will happen to us once this end-point is reached? How will humans alter/change/evolve on their way towards the Omega Point? Note that you are not considering an apocalyptic end of world, but an idealized end goal of the universe and all existence. Focus on the role digital technology will play in helping humans towards the Omega Point. An in-depth report on three or four important theories about humans at the Omega Point should be sufficient.

You are welcome to write encyclopaedia-style entries for your topic, using Wikipedia as a model for these entries. You are also welcome to rethink the model and create wiki pages in the style you think will best reflect your topic. The pages for each topic need to cover at least three things: 1) definition and history/background, 2) examples, and 3) relevance to the study of Digital Humanities. Each topic has a main page, and I expect at least three other pages associated with the topic.

There is also a General namespace, to which anyone can contribute. You are welcome to add anything you wish to this namespace, but your identity should remain anonymous. Anything you add here may be picked up (without stealing) by another group to include in its own namespace pages.

The instructor will assign user names and passwords: do not bother trying to create your own. You are welcome to change your password at any time.

The assignment ends on the night of March 9th, at which point logins to the wiki will be disabled and evaluation will commence. A grade will be assigned to each group, and all members will share the grade. This grade, however, may be raised or lowered for individual students to reflect the inordinate value of the contributions by individuals within the group. There will also be penalties for students who do not do at least a minimal amount of work, according to the following schedule:

• A student who contributes nothing to his/her assigned namespace pages by the end of February 9th will receive a 5% penalty to his/her individual grade.
• A student who contributes nothing to his/her assigned namespace pages between February 10th and the end of February 23rd will receive a 10% penalty to his/her individual grade (in addition to the 5% penalty, if applicable).
• A student who contributes nothing at all to his/her assigned namespace pages will receive a grade of zero for the assignment.

Virtual-space collaboration is the guiding principle of this assignment.