The second session takes place 4 days later and begins with an introduction to the basic principles of wiki editing. The following four wiki principles are emphasized: 1: a wiki is a common product, 2: a wiki contains parallel pages (front page, history, edit mode) , 3: all edits can be traced and previous versions reverted to, 4: hyperlinks can be made to pages that do not yet exist; links automatically connect to each other.
We then move on to demonstrate basic editing using the wiki’s editing panel; how to insert images using either Flickr.com, ULRs or via an attached file; and how to embed other types of content using HTML.
Teacher B opens the Pedersen wiki on the large screen and takes the students on a quick tour to see where their texts have been put. A list of all the students’ names are added to the “What is this?” page, for “sandbox” practice and for logs.
Teacher A draws attention to the titles we have added below the texts and explain their purpose: to expand the universe with texts of different genres. She asks the students for more suggestions for such genre texts (at this point there is relatively little response). She moves on to look at a few of the texts the students have already written and invites the students to comment on style and factual details.
The students are then free to develop any part of the wiki they feel like; either add to or improve to the texts that are already there, or develop new directions either through links in the texts or by suggesting new titles for genre texts. They are once again reminded that this kind of collaborative writing allows changing the texts written by others, although this may feel uncomfortable.
Teacher B: on our first session we agreed on a story orally. Now the story is on the screen and is to be managed by us collectively. Be creative and bold, but follow common decency rules for behaviour.
After a 30 minutes writing session, Teacher B adds another picture on the front page of the wiki, this one of a youngish couple. The woman in particular is wearing an outfit associated with 1940s fashion. Simultaneously, a side bar meny is created, containing the years 1972 and 1946, hyperlinked.
Teacher A gathers everyone’s attention again:
Another photograph has appeared. This is Steinar’s mother Ruth, and his father, Oddvar. Ruth is pregnant, so this is 1946. What else do we know about Ruth? What was her maiden name? (The name Tøllefsen is suggested and agreed upon). Where was she born? (Elverum is suggested; others disagree as they feel the place should be fictitious, like Maurskog).
The group discusses whether Ruth should be from somewhere in the south of the country, as some suggest “people didn’t travel so far in those days, at least not to study or work”. They settle on a story where Ruth met Oddvar during the war and had Inger in 1942. The wedding took place seven months before Inger’s birth.
Teacher A asks one of the students who have shown a particular interest in writing about Ruth about some of the recipes in her cookbook “Weren’t those lefser from Trysil?” The students then turn to writing again. Some write individually, some in pairs, generally with the person they were already seated next to.
An exchange between two students deciding to develop the biography of Oddvar goes as follows:
Student 1: what year did Oddvar die? No, we won’t include that, that’s too sad. Does he work in a factory?
Student 2: Someone else can write that part. Look! //(points to PC screen): //Kristiania Spigerverk. No, that’s too far away from Maurskog.
After a brief writing session with both the two students typing (as shown by the wiki history) Oddvar’s biography page looks like this:
Teacher A later adds the following titles for genre texts at the bottom of the page:
This second session is rounded off with students writing log entries (10 mins) on their own wiki page, replying to the questions "What have you done today?" and "What was it like?".
One students asks if the wiki can be made open for others to see. The class agrees to setting the privacy mode to “open” and to add a tag to allow sharing on Facebook.
Five of the students keep adding to the wiki after class has ended. The latest entry is at 11 pm in the evening.
Later that evening, Teacher B posts a message on the students’ Facebook group, informing them about a ‘wanted pages’ list.
The writing continues the next morning, even though there is no class until 3 days later. This time, two more students join in who previously have not written outside scheduled writing sessions.