Noticed by Kevin Wong.

An email I received recently, redirected from the wiki.

How are you? I hope you are well. My name is Kevin Wong, and I am the author of the book Heroes of Destiny. I just saw on the front page of the hpllearning wiki that someone rated my Heroes of Destiny book as being the 10th best book of all time, which I found truly humbling and amusing all at once. Who was it that rated my book so immeasurably (and probably undeservingly) highly, and what criteria did he or she use to create the list? In any event, I wanted to thank whoever it was (and if it was you, the wiki's owner, then "thank you") who thought so highly of my book, and to say that it brought a smile (and a great, humble laugh) to my face. :-)

Sincerely,

Kevin Wong
Author of the Heroes of Destiny Trilogy of Books
www.kevinwong.ca
www.heroesofdestiny.ca

This is one thing I've discovered about the blogosphere (the world of blogs out there). Writers are very interested in hearing what people say (positive or negative) about their books and often respond to blogs about their works.

In short, our tongue-in-cheek resource has become a resource, just like that! And now it's noticed by a local resource. Lots of big projects, probably even Wikipedia, started off just like that.

The 4 o'clock final top-ten list!

Ok. Here is what the top 10 book list looked like at just before 4pm. Sorry for people who missed the deadline by just a bit -- I had to go by the clock on pbwiki to be fair.
Now, just because your book is on the list, does not mean that you win chocolate. I have to find out if you actually followed the rules.

Oh, and for readers-advisors, there is a whole list of books still on the wiki -- take a look!

The Top 10 Chocolate Books Ever

#1Pride and Prejudice (and chocolate) by Jane Austen

#2 The Polar Express (full of chocolate) by Chris Van Allsburg

#3 Tale of Despereaux (and the chocolate) by Kate diCamillo

#4 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (full of non-unionised workers making chocolate) by Roald Dahl

#5 The Secret Garden (no chocolate allowed, it's bad for the teeth) by Frances Hodgson Burnett

#6 The Terrible Horrible Smelly Pirate (and the chocolate that loved him) by Carrie Muller and Jacqueline Halsey, illustrated by Eric Orchard available from Nimbus Spring 2008

#7 A Great Deliverance (of chocolate) by Elizabeth George

#8 Little Women (who eat chocolate) by Louisa May Alcott

#9 The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

#10 The Very Hungry Caterpillar (is looking for chocolate) by Eric Carle

UPDATE:

I had 2 extra shirts, so I included 3 more people in the chocolate list. Doug Wournell just did the draw for the shirts. If you are a prize winner, you will be notified by email.

Chocolate and more? Join the Wiki-war?

If you have already completed thing #6, you may have noticed that there is a "sidebar" that says something about rules for the wiki-war.

If you read these rules, you would notice that I am offering chocolate to those people whose books are sitting on the top-ten list at precisely four o'clock pm this friday. One of the people whose book(s) is on the top ten list will receive a "Denis Cunningham original" t-shirt for their troubles as well, complete with a nifty slogan that will convince anyone of your technical acuity. The actual slogan and design is a surprise, since this is the very first time we are offering it.

Remember the password is "learning20".

Why am I doing this? Well, it's to share a few points that made alot about wikis.

• If you have a diverse enough crowd, no individual voice is capable of influencing the whole. Case in point: all of my original entries in the top-ten list are gone!
• Imagine if we had thousands or millions of people working on the same page!
• Each individual contribution is small, yet the entire resource can be immensely useful. Take a look at the list -- there's already 33 "top ten" or "former top ten" books there!
• The list will be send off to the reader's services team as a resource if they so desire.
• You could probably see the potential for such a tool as a resource for "read-alikes" or something like that.
• The neat thing about the wiki is that even though I created it, I have no control over the content. I could change the whole list right now and one of you could very easily change it back!
• In short, a wiki is more than just another wysiwyg editor like the one on your blog. It's just difficult to demonstrate that without a challenge. :)
  

Thing #8: Try Out Either Google Documents or Zoho

Description:

Google Documents and Zoho are online wordprocessors. Well, actually, they are suites of productivity software, including spreadsheets, presentation software and the like. I even showed you a demo earlier on that described why these products are important. Now, I just want you to try it out. Create a document. Write out a brief letter, or fill in some blanks in the spreadsheet. That's all.

Hints:

• Common theme -- you will have to sign up with the service, and that may require an email. The good news is if you've signed up with Blogger to get your blog, you can use your Google ID to use Google documents.
• Another Common theme -- Both Google Documents and Zoho use a WYSIWYG, just like your blog and just like the wikis before it. This may seem just like repetition of your blog!
• There are alot of features available, including the ability to share your document with others and publish it to the Web. How far you go is up to you, but I only expect you to play around with a few things on the page.

Resources:

• Google Docs Tour
• Type and travel: Web-based word processors
  

Thing #7: Read an article in Wikipedia on any pet subject and assess it in your blog.

Description:

Wikipedia.org is a free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Yes, anyone -- even you! This fact has led to controversy about the validity of the information available there. I want you to look at a subject of interest to you (maybe something you know lots about) and tell me what you think. Are there mistakes? Misinformation? Poor writing? Would you user or want your child/niece/nephew using this resource in a school paper?

Please speak to the article itself, and not to the idea of Wikipedia. I am more interested in hearing whether the particular information you found was useful or not and why.

Hints:

• Choose something you enjoy. For instance, I liked the entries on Spiderman, saltpeter and Daphnia.
• If you google your subject, the first entry may very well be a Wikipedia article.
• Use the 50 words rules for quantity if you just want to do the minimum here.
  

Resources:

• Another Wiki Mess Robert McHenry, Britannica blog.
  
• Jabberwiki: The Educational Response Michael Gorman, Britannica blog.
• Jimmy Wales Time Magazine
• Wikipedia's Aukward Adolescence Karen Schneider CIO
  

Thing #6: Change the Learning 2.0 "top ten titles" Wiki

Description:

I created a Wiki at http://hpllearning.pbwiki.com with an arbitrary list of the top ten books of all time. I want you to change that list to your liking, including a favorite book or two of yours.

Hints:

• The password is "Learning20" "learning20" (no quotes) UPDATE: I originally had the "L" capitalized. If you tried the password and it didn't work, please try again.
• UPDATE: Please remember that the email and name you enter on the password screen will be visible to others.
  
• Look for the word "edit" on the wiki page.
  
• You are going to find editing the wiki very similar to writing a post on your blog.
• The interesting thing about wikis is the collaborative part -- that's why I have the "Wiki War" mini challenge for chocolate.
• Yes, you can change anything you want on the wiki.

Resources:

• What is Wiki?
• Commoncraft -- Wikis in Plain English
• New Media: Who are the real winners now we've all gone wiki-crazy? --
  Ana Kronschnabel and Thomas Rawlings