By 
Hermatz (1228858319|%a, %b %e at %I:%M%p)
My Goal for the Wiki
The main purpose of my wiki was to inform my reader of why the mortgage industry is so relevant and how they can stay up to date with new information. We were exposed to so many resources this semester and I wanted to show an incoming analyst how to utilize these sources and what I learned through my experience with them.
Highlights
One of the best features of my site is its simplicity. There are not a million tabs or overwhelming amounts of information on the main page. I neatly organized the site into three main areas; basic information, current events, and resource evaluation. This makes the site very user-friendly and information easy to find. I think my instructional guide provides a nice overview of where to begin and how to navigate through the site.
My use of RSS feeds was one of the most important parts of my research. I didn't have a large number of feeds, but rather very specific, customized feeds that definitely provided the framework for current events. I included my blog roll for the user to access these particular feeds and assess them for themselves. Additionally, the timeline of recent events has a lot of good information to understand how frequently things change in the mortgage industry. I spent some time developing the recent events and deciding what information was relevant for the site. The ones that I choose provide excellent insight into the industry.
My Custom Search Engine is probably the most effective tool on the site. I liked my choice of sites for the search engine (a blend of small, large, and frequently updated sites) and the pre-defined keyword query. For an incoming analyst, I wanted this to be one of the focal points for his continued research.
The resource evaluations were obviously an important part of the project and I feel my evaluations gave extremely helpful insight to each tool. I did not necessarily follow the format indicated on the rubric, but I did cover all of the information required for each one, in addition to my personal opinion or anecdote depending on the resource. I experimented with most of the resources in class and discussed a personal quarrel I had or feature I loved for most of the resources.
If I had to do it again…
I would have allocated more time to my current events page. I like the content of my information, but if I had more time, I would have like to display the information in a table or chart. Additionally, I could have included more background information for people unfamiliar with the industry. My background summary catered more towards someone who had a previous understand of the industry. Of course, I could have always included more images or visually appealing graphs/charts, but that is just being picky.
Overall, I think it serves as a great resource for someone who wants new information on the mortgage industry and provides an incoming analyst with the necessary tools to do so.
Note:
The URL's for some of the pages do not align with the title of the page. This was because I created the page with one title, then re-named it later as I re-organized my site. I hope it doesn't cause any confusion.