Introducing: Our own Wiki! Homework, Extra Credit, and Study Guide in one quirky package

I've been working on this for a while.  I don't think it's perfect yet, but it's kind of in keeping with the spirit of the project to put it out there and let everyone have a crack at improving it:

We're going to build a Wiki for this class.  I've started it here.

What's going to be on it?  

Definitely technical terms and important anecdotes from our ethics discussions.  That's this week's homework assignment.  Everybody will need to contribute at least one article, and everybody should edit/improve at least one article written by somebody else. 

What else?  

Potentially, anything that might be on the final exam, or that you may be expected to incorporate into papers and essays, or anything that just seems useful to the class and to all of us as we move on with our careers as journalists.

How will any of that other stuff get added?

That's the extra credit part.  After this week, new articles posted to the Wiki-- and substantial, constructive edits to existing entries-- will earn extra credit.  

How will the extra credit be scored/awarded?

This is the work-in-progress part:  We'll need to talk in class this week and next about how that extra credit gets scored, how quality gets judged, etc..   The goal is a system that recognizes effort and quality, and that creates incentives to add stuff like crazy.  I'm thinking about it, and I'll be talking with other teachers about it, but the best ideas may come from you. 

Contributing to the Wiki is a twofer:  You get extra credit for doing it AND you're contributing to your (and everybody else's) excellent study guide.  

So, how do I get started?  What exactly is this week's homework assignment?

1. Register as a user here.  (You're joining "WikiA"-- a site that hosts zillions of wikis on all kinds of topics, including ours.  You don't actually have to register in order to contribute-- but if you don't register, I won't know which contributions are yours, so it'll be hard to give you credit for them.)
2. Claim a Journalism Ethics article topic from this page
3. Write up your article by noon on Monday.  (Do your best, but it's OK if your first draft isn't the last word:  you'll be edited!)
4. Between noon on Monday and the start of class on Friday, edit and improve at least one article written by somebody else.  
5. Add more!  Add articles on anything you think should be there.  Experiment. Add links.  Add pictures.  Make discoveries.  I'll do the same, so next week we can have a solid where-do-we-go-from-here conversation.

What's in an article?
Here's an outline to get us started:

1.  ID/Definition:  A summary, in your own words, of what the terms means in the context of journalism
2.  Context:  A summary, in your own words, of why this term is important to journalism, as discussed in the textbook and/or in class.
3.  Extension:  An additional fact or angle, not covered in the textbook or in class discussions, that deepens or complicates the issue.
4.  Citations:  Use hyperlinks to reference credible sources for each piece of information offered.
5.  Intra-Wiki links:  Also use hyperlinks to reference terms that have articles of their own in our Wiki (or should).
6.  Extras:  Go nuts.  Add pictures. Add your own comments.  Start a discussion!

And here's an example that we'll look at-- and edit/improve in class.