Wikitravel - Reflective Post #3

Yesterday was the due date for our class to post our Wikitravel documents to the appropriate forum and we proceeded to create peer reviews about each post. Only one other person in my group posted to the forum, so I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't get feedback from two people. The feedback I recieved was all great and said that I did a pretty good job. I was skeptical once I read my peer's entries because his seemed much more full than mine. I began to think my descriptions consisted of choppy sentences, however, my peer said that my descriptions weren't overly wordy but at the same time, not too little information. I feel pretty confident about my Wikitravel entries now, especially because I included entries for eat, sleep, do, and see. I'll be interested to check back to Wikitravel from time to time after this project to see if people are editing my page.

Wikitravel - Reflective Post #2

So far, working on Wikitravel has been less fun and somewhat tedious. Since I chose to create a new page (West Greenwich, RI) it was fairly easy for me to find ten places to write about. What I'm finding the most difficult is what to write about in the 2-3 sentence descriptions. I find myself wanting to state my opinions or even write words from the list of words not to use on Wikitravel (example: complimentary). I'm about to finish my entries and post the Word document to the sakai forum, so I'm eager to hear what suggestions my peers have for me.

3 Potential Entries

I've chosen to write my Wikitravel posts about West Greenwich. When poking around Rhode Island's towns, I found that there was no page for West Greenwich. This will make it easier for me to add the things I know about. These are some potential entries that I can add:

Dan's Place (Dan's Pizza), 880 Victory Highway, 401-392-3092, www.danspizzaplace.com. Every day 11:30AM-1AM. Full restaurant and bar right off highway 95. Fresh food served quickly. Friendly staff and fun atmosphere. $3.95-$15.95.

Best Western West Greenwich Inn, 99 Nooseneck Hill Rd, 401-397-5494, fax 401-397-7185, checkin 2PM, checkout 11AM, http://www.bestwesternrhodeisland.com/hotels/best-western-west-greenwich-inn/. No pets allowed. Includes indoor heated pool, hot tub, and fitness center. Beautiful and spacious rooms with pillow top mattresses.

Pier Pizza, 45 Nooseneck Hill Rd, 401-385-3400, www.pierpizza.com. Calzones, breadsticks, thin crust pizza. Individual slices available. Home of the 24" Big Rhody (for 10-15 people).

Wikitravel Manual of Style

The most important tip that I found in the Manual of Style page on Wikitravel was the page "Where you can stick it." I think I would find this very helpful if I knew of a place but was unsure of which category it goes in. This eliminates confusion or grey areas.
Another great tip is the "Wiki Markup" page. This is helpful to people like me, that don't know anything about formatting text. Wikitravel has their own markup, so it's extremely helpful that they list an easy 'how-to' graph with everything you need to know.
Another tip I found is "No advice from Captain Obvious." This is a helpful page because it reminds you not to make obvious remarks in your entries. This may not seem like an important tip, but I know that I might be compelled to add obvious statements if I'm unsure what else to put. If the contributor feels like 'when in doubt, add an obvious statement' they must resist. This page tells you what is "obvious" to the traveler and what isn't.