This Course
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Wikipedia Resources
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Questions? Ask us:
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This course page is an automatically-updated version of the main course page at dashboard.wikiedu.org. Please do not edit this page directly; any changes will be overwritten the next time the main course page gets updated. |
Interfacing with Wikipedia: Writing as a Community
With the worldwide burgeoning of affordable, easy-to-use Internet applications, Shirky argues people in industrial and post-industrial societies are able to shift from being media consumers to being media producers as well. As a result, we are able to engage in generous networked activity that has the potential to shape the world. It might seem while we’ve been reading Keen and Shirky that our class has veered away from attention to reading and writing practices. And it’s true that both thinkers focus on users of media rather than the digital word itself. With this practice in new media assignment, we’ll turn our attention back to the word. What is it like to be the amateurs contributing to user-generated media? How do we have to think anew about research, about writing, about audience? To engage these questions, we’re going to enter more deeply the world of Wikipedia.
Keen and Shirky both discuss Wikipedia in their books but to very different ends. In the interest of seeing how amateurs might participate in rather than just consume media, you will * sign up for a Wikipedia account, * study the cultural norms of verifiability and notability in order to analyze Wikipedia articles, * learn and practice basic editing skills, * communicate with others on Wikipedia via Talk Pages, * collaboratively create or build up an article on Wikipedia. (As a class, we will be contributing to Wikipedia’s effort to increase the number of articles dedicated to literature of one sort or another.)
In this way, you will be practicing the networked generosity of Shirky. If, like Keen, you end up skeptical of amateurs, you’ll have a chance to write about that later in an analysis of this assignment.
<a href=" http://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/Valparaiso_University/Engl_400_New_Literacies,_Technologies,_and_Cultures_of_Writing_%28Fall_2015%29/enroll/ocvgedlk" target="_blank">Enroll</a> in our course on WikiEdu. Very important! * <a href=" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:UserLogin/signup" target="_blank">Create an account</a> and then complete the online training for students. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia. * You should anticipate needing an hour to an hour and a half to complete this well. You might wish to do it in two sittings to avoid information overload. Be especially mindful to take advantage of the brief 2-3 minute videos. Practice the editing skills every time you're given the option.
Resources: <a href=" /info/en/?search=Wikipedia:Training/For_students" target="_blank">Online Training for Students</a>
Handout: Editing Wikipedia
Resources: <a href=" http://wikiedu.org/evaluatingwikipedia" target="_blank">Evaluating Wikipedia</a>, <a href=" https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Using_talk_pages.pdf" target="_blank">Using Talk Pages</a>
Resources: <a href=" https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Citing_your_sources.pdf" target="_blank">Citing Your Sources</a>, <a href=" /info/en/?search=Help:Referencing_for_beginners#Inserting_a_reference" target="_blank">Inserting a Reference</a>
Resources: <a href=" http://wikiedu.org/editingwikipedia" target="_blank">Editing Wikipedia</a>, <a href=" https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Avoiding_plagiarism.pdf" target="_blank">Avoiding Plagiarism</a>, <a href=" /info/en/?search=Help:Edit_conflict" target="_blank">Edit Conflict</a>
Read chapter 6 in Shirky (pp. 161-181).
If you are moving content from your sandbox into an existing article, care should be taken to integrate the content into the existing article as coherently as possible. If you have copied information from an article into a sandbox to re-write it:
Given the dynamic, collaborative nature of Wikipedia, you may feel there are gaps in your article, e.g., perhaps none of your sources allowed you to create a Background section. That’s ok. You should nevertheless feel secure in your contributions as a group member, who also helped others in the group do their best work by challenging and provoking and upbuilding them. Additionally, you should feel proud of what you've put forward for others to build upon and you should be excited for others to contribute. In fact, part of your assignment for today is to post, as a group, to the Sandbox's Talk Page what you think is missing from the article and how you hope future editors will contribute.
That said, I will look for certain criteria when grading: * Is the tone in the article neutral? Is it coherent and consistent throughout? Is the writing strong and free from grammatical errors and typos? * How well does the appearance of the article fit the overall style of Wikipedia pages within the “genre” of the novel article? How much attention have editors paid to proper formatting? * Have the editors established notability by demonstrating thoroughly that others have commented on the topic? * Are claims verifiable? That is, have editors demonstrated that this is not original research but the presentation of research by scholars/journalists/etc. whose work has been recognized by their peers? Is work properly cited? Has plagiarism been avoided? (NOTE: If I discover plagiarism, the group will receive an F for this portion of the assignment and the plagiarism will need to be corrected to receive a grade for the overall assignment.) * Does your invitation on the Talk Page demonstrate you understand what the article needs to become a high quality article? Is the missing information reasonable, i.e., not just a matter of poor time management, but something that would require time outside the scope of this class? If your group had a disagreement, have individuals respectfully commented upon it on the Talk Page?
Apart from exceptional circumstances, group members will share the grade for this portion of the assignment. Please know that your grade is not dependent on whether the article is accepted/published/remains on Wikipedia.
Resources: <a href=" https://commons.wikimedia.org/?title=File:All_subject_specific_handouts.pdf&page=6" target="_blank">Polishing Wikipedia Article</a>, <a href=" https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Classroom_handout_-_moving_out_of_your_sandbox.pdf" target="_blank">Moving Out of Your Sandbox</a>
This Course
|
Wikipedia Resources
|
Connect
Questions? Ask us:
contactwikiedu.org |
This course page is an automatically-updated version of the main course page at dashboard.wikiedu.org. Please do not edit this page directly; any changes will be overwritten the next time the main course page gets updated. |
Interfacing with Wikipedia: Writing as a Community
With the worldwide burgeoning of affordable, easy-to-use Internet applications, Shirky argues people in industrial and post-industrial societies are able to shift from being media consumers to being media producers as well. As a result, we are able to engage in generous networked activity that has the potential to shape the world. It might seem while we’ve been reading Keen and Shirky that our class has veered away from attention to reading and writing practices. And it’s true that both thinkers focus on users of media rather than the digital word itself. With this practice in new media assignment, we’ll turn our attention back to the word. What is it like to be the amateurs contributing to user-generated media? How do we have to think anew about research, about writing, about audience? To engage these questions, we’re going to enter more deeply the world of Wikipedia.
Keen and Shirky both discuss Wikipedia in their books but to very different ends. In the interest of seeing how amateurs might participate in rather than just consume media, you will * sign up for a Wikipedia account, * study the cultural norms of verifiability and notability in order to analyze Wikipedia articles, * learn and practice basic editing skills, * communicate with others on Wikipedia via Talk Pages, * collaboratively create or build up an article on Wikipedia. (As a class, we will be contributing to Wikipedia’s effort to increase the number of articles dedicated to literature of one sort or another.)
In this way, you will be practicing the networked generosity of Shirky. If, like Keen, you end up skeptical of amateurs, you’ll have a chance to write about that later in an analysis of this assignment.
<a href=" http://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/Valparaiso_University/Engl_400_New_Literacies,_Technologies,_and_Cultures_of_Writing_%28Fall_2015%29/enroll/ocvgedlk" target="_blank">Enroll</a> in our course on WikiEdu. Very important! * <a href=" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:UserLogin/signup" target="_blank">Create an account</a> and then complete the online training for students. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia. * You should anticipate needing an hour to an hour and a half to complete this well. You might wish to do it in two sittings to avoid information overload. Be especially mindful to take advantage of the brief 2-3 minute videos. Practice the editing skills every time you're given the option.
Resources: <a href=" /info/en/?search=Wikipedia:Training/For_students" target="_blank">Online Training for Students</a>
Handout: Editing Wikipedia
Resources: <a href=" http://wikiedu.org/evaluatingwikipedia" target="_blank">Evaluating Wikipedia</a>, <a href=" https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Using_talk_pages.pdf" target="_blank">Using Talk Pages</a>
Resources: <a href=" https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Citing_your_sources.pdf" target="_blank">Citing Your Sources</a>, <a href=" /info/en/?search=Help:Referencing_for_beginners#Inserting_a_reference" target="_blank">Inserting a Reference</a>
Resources: <a href=" http://wikiedu.org/editingwikipedia" target="_blank">Editing Wikipedia</a>, <a href=" https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Avoiding_plagiarism.pdf" target="_blank">Avoiding Plagiarism</a>, <a href=" /info/en/?search=Help:Edit_conflict" target="_blank">Edit Conflict</a>
Read chapter 6 in Shirky (pp. 161-181).
If you are moving content from your sandbox into an existing article, care should be taken to integrate the content into the existing article as coherently as possible. If you have copied information from an article into a sandbox to re-write it:
Given the dynamic, collaborative nature of Wikipedia, you may feel there are gaps in your article, e.g., perhaps none of your sources allowed you to create a Background section. That’s ok. You should nevertheless feel secure in your contributions as a group member, who also helped others in the group do their best work by challenging and provoking and upbuilding them. Additionally, you should feel proud of what you've put forward for others to build upon and you should be excited for others to contribute. In fact, part of your assignment for today is to post, as a group, to the Sandbox's Talk Page what you think is missing from the article and how you hope future editors will contribute.
That said, I will look for certain criteria when grading: * Is the tone in the article neutral? Is it coherent and consistent throughout? Is the writing strong and free from grammatical errors and typos? * How well does the appearance of the article fit the overall style of Wikipedia pages within the “genre” of the novel article? How much attention have editors paid to proper formatting? * Have the editors established notability by demonstrating thoroughly that others have commented on the topic? * Are claims verifiable? That is, have editors demonstrated that this is not original research but the presentation of research by scholars/journalists/etc. whose work has been recognized by their peers? Is work properly cited? Has plagiarism been avoided? (NOTE: If I discover plagiarism, the group will receive an F for this portion of the assignment and the plagiarism will need to be corrected to receive a grade for the overall assignment.) * Does your invitation on the Talk Page demonstrate you understand what the article needs to become a high quality article? Is the missing information reasonable, i.e., not just a matter of poor time management, but something that would require time outside the scope of this class? If your group had a disagreement, have individuals respectfully commented upon it on the Talk Page?
Apart from exceptional circumstances, group members will share the grade for this portion of the assignment. Please know that your grade is not dependent on whether the article is accepted/published/remains on Wikipedia.
Resources: <a href=" https://commons.wikimedia.org/?title=File:All_subject_specific_handouts.pdf&page=6" target="_blank">Polishing Wikipedia Article</a>, <a href=" https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Classroom_handout_-_moving_out_of_your_sandbox.pdf" target="_blank">Moving Out of Your Sandbox</a>