Gone fishin'

It's spring break! I've gone fishin'

Since there's no DSL, cable, satellite, or dial-up connection there, I'm going cold turkey from computing for a week!

I'll be back before you know it --- and looking for more wiki'd places on the Web for us to enjoy.

Don't forget me! : ) Subscribe now (free) and you'll know when I return.

Everything Treo Wiki

In celebration of yesterday's anniversary of Alexander Graham Bell's first discernible speech transmitted over a telephone system, I started my search on the Web for a wiki to help me with a problem I'm experiencing with my fairly new Palm Treo. One of the reasons I bought this device was to be able to be connected anytime, anyplace. I successfully receive instant messages when I receive e-mail on some of my accounts. I can check my e-mail on several accounts. I am notified when pages of my wikis are updated and can easily and quickly check the site for updates from vandals. I had great plans of being able to connect to the Web using my laptop through the connectivity available from my new Treo. The hope of pseudo DSL speed for my laptop through my cell phone! After all, when I'm stuck on the farm with no computer connectivity (e.g., no DSL, no cable modem, no landline for even a dial connection), I wanted to connect my computer using my Palm Treo. I certainly need a break from work while on vacation, but I did not want to go cold-turkey from blog posts and checking updates to my wikis. : ) Well, my attempts at connecting my laptop using only my cell phone did not work over my Christmas holiday test. I'm not sure where to start at solving the problem either. It's likely a new user error. Now that I'm making plans for a spring vacation, I wondered what wiki resources may be on the Web to help me solve the problem. I thought that it might be a great wiki-of-the-day too on today's historic anniversary of Bell's achievement.

I found the Everything Treo Wiki on Wetpaint. However, I do not immediately see any information on the wiki that can help me with this problem. I noticed that although several new community members have joined in 2008, there really have been no page updates in 2008. I don't see my model on the wiki yet. However, I noticed that the wiki is connected to a parent Everything Treo site. It appears to be more up-to-date. Perhaps it will have something to help me. I'm disappointed that the wiki is not up-to-date and does not have more information on it about the recent models. I am encouraged by its connection to an active website though. If you're a Palm Treo user, visit the wiki and lend a hand and help bring the site up-to-date. Add an article on how to connect your laptop to the Internet using the Palm Treo technology! Or, post a comment or send me a message if you can refer me to a site that has a solution. : )

Well, even though this site was not as informative as I hoped, I'm still logging it as my wiki-of-the-day. Perhaps there's something we can learn from this experience: the need for currency and an active community. Plus, this is example of one wiki that is integrated into the structure of another website.

The Genealogy Wiki, celebrating family history

In celebration of Genealogy Day, the wiki-of-the-day is The Genealogy Wiki.

The Genealogy Wiki on Wikia hosts Familypedia. It's a place where you can create articles about your ancestors and link them to other articles about where and when they lived. The site not only includes historically significant people, but also includes the everyday people not generally listed in encyclopedias. A person's page includes personal facts (e.g., year of birth, place of birth), family data (e.g., names of the father, mother, siblings, spouse, children), public records, other records, notes, and contributors of the content. Pages can contain detailed data, pictures, and other images. This wiki is on Wikia's big wiki list. It currently has over 19,875 articles and many thousands of linked categories and information pages. This is a site where you may find one of your ancestors. It's also a place where you can store your family history.

The TV IV

The TV IV wiki is a database of information about television shows that anyone can edit. It has >175,600 articles. It includes information on both classic and modern TV. For each show, you can add an overview, a summary profile, a cast listing, season information, and links to external sites. Some shows have detailed episode articles, with plot overviews, triva, behind the scenes info, quotes, and reviews. Its home page has an article on a featured show, the daily TV schedule line-up for the networks and cable, and recent DVD releases. This week you can vote for your favorites in its Readers' Choice IVy Awards.

This site definitely qualifies as a wiki-of-the-day on Wiki'd Places: it's interesting, informative, and dedicated to the entertainment industry. With the recent writer's strike, The TV IV might be a place to either get a full dose of information on your favorite TV shows or contribute online by adding information that you know about your favs.

Ready, set, go! Share your knowledge in the WikiAnswers AnswerThon March 1-2

WikiAnswers is a wiki-based website where visitors contribute what they know and ask about what they don't. Anyone can ask or answer a question. Here's a place to dump all your seemingly useless knowledge. Since the site is a wiki, anyone can improve the answer. It's a group effort -- all working toward creating the one correct, expert answer. WikiAnswers has 2,460 community-grown Q&A collections. Today, there are over 610,663 members now working on 1,928,979 questions. Their motto: WikiAnswers: Q&A, the Wiki way.

On March 1-2, WikiAnswers is hosting the WikiAnswers AnswerThon. An AnswerThon is an organized event designed to foster the sharing of knowledge on WikiAnswers. During 48 hours, participants will answer as many questions as they can to spread knowledge and to win prizes (of course!) The contest is on NOW! It began at midnight (ET) and concludes at midnight on Sunday night. Only answers posted during this 48-hour timeframe will be counted in the contest. Ok, you are probably thinking, besides the sheer pleasure of sharing my knowledge, what's-in-it-for-me? Tell me more about those prizes!

• 1st place winner who answers the most questions in 2 days will be crowned the AnswerThon Champion and receives a $500 Amazon gift certificate


• 2nd place - $250 Amazon gift certificate


• 3rd place - $100 Amazon gift certificate
  

All winners (including the next 10 runner ups) will receive WikiAnswers t-shirts. Don't forget to read all the rules!

For more information on what they're doing at WikiAnswers, read their blog no.stupid.answers

Image credit: Answers.com