Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/New College of Florida/Become a Wikipedian (January Inter-term)

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Course name
Become a Wikipedian
Institution
New College of Florida
Instructor
Theresa Burress
Wikipedia Expert
Adam (Wiki Ed)
Subject
Is Wikipedia a neutral source of knowledge? Add your voice to the conversation
Course dates
2016-01-04 – 2016-01-29
Approximate number of student editors
2


Students in this group ISP will explore the world of Wikipedia, learning about the fundamental principles of Wikipedia and drawing conclusions as to whether the Wikipedian community successfully follows these principles.

Wikipedia is a free, web-based, multilingual encyclopedia written by a community of anonymous Internet volunteers using collaborative “wiki” technology. Since Wikipedia’s inception in 2001, Wikipedia has become a ubiquitous resource consulted by millions of people around the world. But is it a reliable, objective source of knowledge?

We will explore the evolution of Wikipedia, focusing on the fundamental principles of neutrality, authority, and civility, and evaluating whether these principles have been successfully implemented (or not) by the Wikipedian community in order to maintain the integrity and usefulness of the resource.

Students will critically analyze existing Wikipedia articles, conduct research in an area of their interest, and contribute new content to a selected article using WikiCode. The ISP will involve reading, secondary research, writing, Wikicoding, and collaborating with NCF Wikipedians as well as the Wikipedian community at large.

Student Assigned Reviewing
Alybrarian Eugenie_Clark, Rosemary_Lowe-McConnell, Sylvia_Earle
Tgreen15 Gay_media, Media_portrayal_of_lesbianism, Media_portrayal_of_LGBT_people
Heyates14 Exploitation_of_women_in_mass_media, New_feminism, Rape_Culture
Dragonchild07 Demographic_history_of_Japan_before_the_Meiji_Restoration, Edo_period, Japanese_literature

Timeline

Week 1

In class - Wikipedia Workshop
January 5 @ 1pm, Cook Library Room 141

Please bring your laptop to Tuesday's workshop.

Before Tuesday's workshop:

  • Create a Wikipedia user account.
  • Enroll in this course page.
  • Read this <aexternal free">http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Evaluating_Wikipedia_brochure_%28Wiki_Education_Foundation%29.pdf">brochure on evaluating Wikipedia articles</a>, especially pages 4-7. This will give you guidance on what to look for in other articles, and what other people will look for in your articles.
  • Identify at least 3 existing Wikipedia articles of interest, and post links to them on your talk page along with a brief summary (scope) of your topic.

Resources:

  • <aexternal free">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents">Wikipedia:Help</a>

  • <aexternal free">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Cheatsheet">Wikipedia:Cheatsheet</a>
  • <aexternal free">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Wiki_markup">Wikipedia:Help Wiki markup</a>


Assignment - Wikipedia Training and Bibliography
  • Complete the online training for students before Friday's workshop (scroll down and use below links to start training modules).
  • Evaluate at least one of your chosen articles. Use <aexternal free">http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Evaluating_Wikipedia_brochure_%28Wiki_Education_Foundation%29.pdf">this brochure on evaluating Wikipedia articles</a> as a guide and leave suggestions for improving them on each article’s talk page.
  • Begin preliminary research. Find 3-5 sources that you may want to add to your Wikipedia articles.


In class - Research Workshop
January 8 @ 1pm, Cook Library Room 141

For Friday's workshop:

  • Complete the Wikipedia training.
  • Add your chosen articles to this course page via the "Student Tab" if you haven't already.
  • Bring your draft evaluation of your article (you can print and mark it up manually, or paste the article text into a Google doc and annotate with comments); also, add a summary of your comments to the talk page of the chosen article.
  • Bring your 3-5 sources (full text and citation so we can review/evaluate during the workshop).


Week 2

Milestones

Schedule a meeting with instructor to submit working bibliography (at least 7-10 sources and report on progress. Post bibliography to the appropriate section of your article(s) and/or talk page as appropriate.

Tasks for the week:

  • Spend time researching your topic, finding high quality resources to improve your chosen articles.
  • Spend time editing, re-organizing, and drafting new content.
  • With the new sources that you’ve identified and vetted for quality, begin adding sources to each Wikipedia article.
  • Submit any WikiCoding questions to instructor via talk page messages by Monday, January 17. Solutions to technical issues will be the first topic of Tuesday's workshop.


Week 3

In class - Peer Review Workshop
January18 @ 1pm, Cook Library Room 141

Before Tuesday's workshop:

  • Send instructor any technical WikiCode questions via talk messages.
  • Move draft articles into main space. Read brochure <aexternal free">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Classroom_handout_-_moving_out_of_your_sandbox.pdf">Moving out of your sandbox</a> for instructions. If you are creating a new article, do NOT copy and paste your text, or there will be no record of your work history.
  • Optional: For new articles or qualifying expansions of stubs, compose a one-sentence “hook,” nominate it for “Did you know,” (see <aexternal free">https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/%22Did_You_Know%22_submissions.pdf">detailed instructions</a>) and monitor the nomination for any issues identified by other editors. Wiki Education Foundation staff can provide support for this process.
  • Share experiences and discuss problems via talk pages.
  • Handouts: "<aexternal free">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UploadingImagesHandout.pdf">Uploading images</a>"

Peer review workshop agenda:

  • Instructor will offer solutions to any technical issues that are identified in advance.

  • Students will begin reviewing each other’s drafts.


Assignment - Wikipedia Edit-a-thon and Presentation
January 22 @ 1pm in Cook Library

Before Friday's workshop:

  • Submit peer reviews of a classmate's Wikipedia contribution.
  • Begin responding to peer review and Wikipedia editorial review of your draft.
  • Prepare presentation reflecting on your Wikipedia experience and whether Wikipedia has successfully implemented its fundamental principles of neutrality, authority, and civility.

Friday's workshop agenda:

  • Open campus workshop will be a public edit-a-thon. Instructor will give introductory workshop.

  • Students will give their oral presentations.
  • Students will act as docents and assist workshop participants with Wikipedia.


Week 4

Assignment - Final Wikpedia Portfolio Due

Submit final Wikipedia portfolios to instructor by January 29 @ 1pm:

  • Complete content of contributions, including final bibliography (submit as Wikipedia "book," which is a pdf portfolio).
  • Responses to classmate's peer review
  • Responses to Wikipedia review
  • Reflection paper/slides from presentation

Please schedule a meeting with instructor if needed for help with WikiCode or research questions.