Journal:

Day 1 tuesday 20th September

I signed up using the nickname "CiderWiki" and joined in an existing thread about Biddenden, Kent.
Rather than use the name "Andy" I signed up as CiderWiki in the hope that this might further my objective 2.

[screenshot

Checking back later , somebody has already responded with

"Hi Andy. Just checked out your site. Excellent stuff."

I shall ponder before replying tomorrow.

]

findings:

Statistics:

You last visited on 19/09/2005 20:36:36
134 of 167 Members have made 1638 posts in 1 forum, with the last post on 20/09/2005 21:24:00 by: daved.
There are currently 208 topics and 5 active topics since you last visited.

Day 2

I made another post, and then joined in a second thread. Then I checked back later several times and there had still been no replies. I checked the dates last posted to all of the threads and suddenly realised that the bulletin board is much slower than I had gathered, it looks like only sporadic occasional posts are made rather than the lively conversation which appears. I wrote down some reflections about this on a sheet of A4. --> on-the-fly Reflection

I'm pleased that my method is enabling me to formally capture ideas which I have thought about before, and it suggests that a consciously experiential project might help me to build up a knowledgbase about DAR.

Day 3

I'm astonished.
Somebody called "G" has followed up my post with the following:

"The CAMRA Good Cider Guide is finally being launched this October ! The problem is that it has taken so long to compile & publish that it will allready be out of date . This is why it would be a good idea if everyone who uses this site also went on to the UK Cider wiki site . Their database is more up to date , with your help it will remain the best guide for cider & perry !
G"

]

First reaction: wow!
Second Reaction: He's blown my "no self publicity" approach.
Third Reaction: If I were a long standing member of Hannah Moore Zider I would suspect him of being an Andy Roberts Sock Puppet!
Fourth reaction: I should contact him to discuss the wiki development.

Maybe this wraps up the cycle?

Other reflections:

How can I tell if anybody has edited the Wiki as a result of this, amongst the anonymous edits?
So I have identifed a problem with data collection concerning the wiki.

I need to think about how I keep this Learning Journal up to date as well.

Checking out G

He joined the mailing list only 2 months ago and is a real enthusiast.

A Plan: email g and ask him some research questions about his use of the wiki. How has he edited it, how does he think it could be improved. Then I could perhaps take up his ideas for a subsequent cycle.

day 4 Friday

Nothing new on the bulletin board, but there is a new member on the mailing list provoking an argument, or perhaps just reacting to an old thread about Magners.
Checking the membership, I can see that three new members have joined, and two are recognisable as active posters from HMZ.

So I appear to have drawn people over to the mailing list, if not to the Wiki yet. That's a positive outcome towards Objective 2

wjl_____@_3.com ste___ Abridged Email
i____@yahoo.co.uk joy___ Sep 23 Digest Email
g____@__student.com Ge___ Sep 23 No Email

Interesting that none of these have opted for the 'normal' individual email delivery.


Avoiding Conflict

(why did I include this as objective 3?)

One of the new posters jumped in with a provocative defense of Magners , which I predicted would be construed by some members of the community as an intrusion or attack. Mindful of the way in which Special VAT had been turned into a pariah and ultimately expelled by th egroup, I acted to try and head off conflict by posting a welcome message

day 5 Saturday

Conflict avoided, but to what extent can I attribute this to my own intervention?
Not much else happening, time to wrap up this cycle, do a reflection and then plan some more mini-projects.