What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Midnight Mass Sermon 2012

    I don’t know whether you are ready.

    I do know that this year, for me, the cumulative effects of coming back from sabbatical just recently and then succumbing to one of the nasty bugs that has been going around the city at the end of last week, has meant that my pre-Christmas rush this year seemed to be condensed not simply into a couple of days but a couple of hours.

    Cesar Augustus may have decreed that everyone was to return to their own town to be counted for a census, but this year the Provost of St Mary’s has decreed that henceforth, all Christmas Cards shall be known as Epiphany Cards and that everyone who receives them shall be grateful.

    In short, my planning has gone a little awry.

    Thus, I found myself at lunchtime today in one of the nearest shops to where I live. It is a greengrocer and I had to decide that most of my Christmas food shopping this year was going to be bought right then and right there or not be bought at all.

    As I bundled veg into my basket, the proprietor looked at me and raised an eyebrow. (more…)

    , , ,

8 responses to “What is a wiki?”

  1. Chris Avatar
    Chris

    I wanted to comment on your wiki post, but there is a gremlin preventing me – no box to write in, so no writing!
    [Comment now moved]

    This is what I’d have said:
    Great clip! A really clear description – can we get it incorporated into an educational package for the church? See http://scotedublogs.wikispaces.com/ for a good example of a wiki in use for over a year.

    Reply
  2. Tim Avatar
    Tim

    Yeah. Wikis have huge potential. When I was setting up my church website I sat down and thought:
    a) lots of pages
    b) easy editing
    c) uniform appearance across pages
    d) ability to allow some people to (not) edit certain pages

    End result was dokuwiki.

    The real trouble is still persuading people that they’re capable of contributing…

    Reply
  3. kelvin Avatar
    kelvin

    Yes, it is odd getting people to post on a wiki is very much harder than getting them to post a comment on a blog. Something about a fear of being the authorial voice.

    I think that it is fear of being contradicted and corrected, which is a shame, as whenever I post to a wiki, I’m hoping that someone can improve on what I’ve written.

    Reply
  4. Kimberly Avatar
    Kimberly

    Fabulous video. Thanks for linking it.

    I wonder if this is one of the ways we should be trying to respond to the Draft Anglican Covenant.

    Reply
  5. Stewart Avatar
    Stewart

    Wikis are great – look forward to seeing the St Mary’s Wiki developing (and adding to it!)

    Reply
  6. jimmux Avatar
    jimmux

    Thanks for a very clear explanation! Now that I understand how they work, I’ll be raising a discussion on how we might be able to use them on the National Postgraduate Committee of the United Kingdom. They seem a very useful tool for sub-committees which do a lot of work by e-mail.

    Reply
  7. Kennedy Avatar
    Kennedy

    I had a look at Tim’s church website and looked at the bit with the contributions from the congregation and saw this statement:

    ‘Please note: the content in this section is contributed by members of the congregation and should not be considered official statements by the Church.’

    I am a great fan of wikis for collaborative work, but I think this indicates one of the issues with ‘public’ wikis. These problems tend not occur when wikis are being used for internal usage or for a closed group. Open editing is very attractive but you need some form of management to ensure that defacement doesn’t occur or statements which might be damaging are published.

    Also, how do I tell the difference between ‘the Church’ and ‘ members of the congregation’? Are they not the same thing?

    Kennedy

    Reply
  8. Repeat post – wiki video | What’s in Kelvin’s Head

    […] First posted quite a while ago here. […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Posts

  • Sermon – 5 September 2004

    I?d really like to concentrate on the Potter?s Wheel image from Jeremiah this morning. However, since we heard that reading, we have now just had a gospel reading which I don?t think can be read without comment. Those of you who have been here over the last couple of weeks will have heard several bits…

  • Provincial Conference

    No easy internet access at the conference, so no reports up until now. It has gone very well indeed. Although it was not just about big name speakers, it was worth going just to hear Rowan Williams speak. It is hard to imagine the abuse that he has to put up with, yet he stands…

  • Provincial Conference

    I'm going to most of the Scottish Episcopal Church's Provincial Conference, which begins today. These things happen every four years or so. I didn't sign up until the last minute. The trouble is, I never could imagine that I would not be there.It is taking place at Herriot-Watt University – somewhere I have never been…

  • Zebra Dung Lion Rover

    The BBC reports that a remote-controlled vehicle carrying zebra dung is being used by a Stirling University student to study the behaviour of lions in captivity. And all this happening just down the road at Blairdrummond.The BBC have a picture of the lions, but not the zebra.