Information Ecologies

I would consider Wikitravel to be an information ecology. It is a community of people who are sharing their knowledge and opinions of places in the world that they, hopefully, know very well. People work together to produce a webpage that portrays their town, city, or landmark in a positive and enticing way. I do not really think I belong to many information ecologies. I do belong to my local library. I also am signed up for e-mail lists which give me specific information about certain stores and products.

Wikitravel Idea

My three choices for the Wikitravel project would be Jamestown, RI, Newport, RI, or the White Mountains in New Hampshire. I would just be adding more information and editing some of the previous information posted. I have lived in both Jamestown and Newport for my entire life, so I have a personal insight on those towns. I've also been vacationing in New Hampshire for many years, so I know a lot of tourist attractions.

Wikipedia

I use Wikipedia a lot in my research, but I always look to other sources to back up what I read on the site. I also look at the sources cited in the articles for more information. I have never contributed to Wikipedia before. There isn't a particular reason I haven't, I just never saw an article I wanted to add to.
I think it is smart of the Wikipedia experts to monitor what gets posted in articles. Someone could make up completely false statements and greatly affect another person's research. They could also potentially post slander about another person. However, I don't think people should be snobs about others posting on Wikipedia. Everyone is entitled to post, and it isn't polite to destroy everything another person wrote.

"Blogs As Clubhouses"

I think this article had a lot of helpful tips about starting a blog. It's important to continue with the blog on a regular basis so any followers you have stay interested. I also think it's important to consider your audience when you are writing your blog. In the movie "Julie and Julia", a woman started a blog about cooking her way through a Julia Child cookbook. She incorporated her emotions about what she was doing into the posts, which was more intriguing than just describing the food she made. For my blog, I have a few ideas:
1) Chronicling some of the best reality shows
2) Researching up and coming fashion designers
3) Movie reviews
4) Weird daily occurrences at URI
5) Jumpstart and what we do at sessions