I was not familiar with wikimedia but the more I looked into it, the more interesting it became to me.  Basically, it is a platform where you can find, and use without any copyright issues, pictures, videos, sounds and other media files.  I found some pictures about sexual dimorphism right away that I could use in some of my science lessons.  Some images on Google should not be used as they are not user permitted, unless you search those options, as is said in the readings.  However, all media on wikimedia can be used without any problems.

• A list of the media used in the resource – what are the components?

pictures, videos, sounds

• What educational context could the media resource be used in?

lots of images for science terminology, math diagrams, pretty much anything (it’s wiki!)

• Note anything in the media resource that would limit the context that it could be used in.

some of the pictures are low quality and since pretty much anything can be posted, the teacher would really have to monitor what the students are looking at

• Describe what makes the media resource pedagogically sound.

visuals are always an added piece to student understanding and this is a resource for that

the search function is quite simple and effective which makes finding visuals related to curricular outcomes easy

• Describe the kind of software that is required to produce the media example you have chosen.

Inkscape, GIMP, hugin, Blender, Dia – all of which I know nothing about but will begin to look into!

• Describe the hardware items, beyond a multimedia capable computer, that are required to produce the resource.

camera with video and audio capabilities, anything used for sound effects

• Describe the skills needed to produce the resource.

an understanding and interest in software programs meant for creating pictures, sounds and videos

wikimedia commons – variation