User:MTibbett/Evaluate an Article
 | Evaluate an article
Complete your article evaluation below. Here are the key aspects to consider: Lead sectionA good lead section defines the topic and provides a concise overview. A reader who just wants to identify the topic can read the first sentence. A reader who wants a very brief overview of the most important things about it can read the first paragraph. A reader who wants a quick overview can read the whole lead section.
ContentA good Wikipedia article should cover all the important aspects of a topic, without putting too much weight on one part while neglecting another.
Tone and BalanceWikipedia articles should be written from a neutral point of view; if there are substantial differences of interpretation or controversies among published, reliable sources, those views should be described as fairly as possible.
Sources and ReferencesA Wikipedia article should be based on the best sources available for the topic at hand. When possible, this means academic and peer-reviewed publications or scholarly books.
Organization and writing qualityThe writing should be clear and professional, the content should be organized sensibly into sections.
Images and Media
Talk page discussionThe article's talk page — and any discussions among other Wikipedia editors that have been taking place there — can be a useful window into the state of an article, and might help you focus on important aspects that you didn't think of.
Overall impressions
Examples of good feedbackA good article evaluation can take a number of forms. The most essential things are to clearly identify the biggest shortcomings, and provide specific guidance on how the article can be improved. |
Which article are you evaluating?[edit]
Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?[edit]
I chose this article to evaluate because it is related to a research project I am doing in another class, and because it ties in to the history of computing and to the history of photography. Russell Kirsch was the lead engineer on a project to create the earliest digital camera. They utilized the SEAC computer and a scanner to scan an image into the computer's memory, and then later printed the image out, from the computer's memory.
Evaluate the article[edit]
The article is fairly short, but outside of Kirsch's involvement with digital images in the 1950s, there wasn't a lot that Kirsch did that was notable. The article covers his education and gives a brief detailing his later life and death date. The article lists his accomplishments in digitization and notes that Kirsch's developments helped NASA with various advancements, as well as medical technology advancement.
The article provides 9 references. The first is a blog post from ImpossibleHQ where the author, Joel Runyon, describes a meeting that he had with Kirsch in Portland. The second is an article from the National Bureau of Standards that describes Kirsch's career. The third is an article from The Oregonian and it discusses Kirsch's specific developments on digitization of photos. The fourth is also from The Oregonian and discusses Kirsch's death. The fifth comes from Wired and discusses Kirsch's invention of the pixel. The sixth is a scan of Computer Development at the National Bureau of Standards by Kirsch describing some of SEAC's accomplishments. The seventh is another article from the National Bureau of Standards describing image processing on SEAC. The eighth is an article from NIST.gov marking the fiftieth anniversary of the first digital image produced by Kirsch. The last article is a direct link to Kirsch's obituary.
Based on the references in the article, I would be dismissive of the blog post. However, the other sources referenced are sound and come from reputable newspapers, tech sites, and directly from government webpages.