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Team Coyote Reflection on Wikipedia Edit-a-thon:
Prior to diving into the Wikipedia project, we thought it surprising that the majority of contributors to Wikipedia do it out of their own free time, and because of this it makes sense why certain articles are more developed than others. Furthermore, going into this project, while we were aware that Wikipedia was built on collaboration, the extent to which that collaboration defines the process of writing was a surprise all the same. We were, for example, unfamiliar with Talk pages and their purpose, but these pages quickly became an integral part of the project and the conversation around it. This ongoing discussion fed the collaborative process and helped us to better understand the nature of Wikipedia and the unique approach it takes to the sharing and accumulation of information.
With the Ivan Coyote article, we hoped to further develop the page with their most up to date achievements and career as a multimedia Canadian performer. We selected Ivan Coyote in particular because we felt that Canadian performers, especially from the LGBTQ+ community, are vastly underrepresented in contemporary media. With more people becoming aware of gender fluidity, Coyote has had this topic at the core of many of their stories for years and has helped to pioneer the literary queer niche in Canada. We are glad to have participated in a project that allows the public to learn more about gender minorities such as Coyote.
Due to the time constraint, each of us worked on a different section of the article; hence, each of us are knowledgeable about a different aspect of Coyote’s work or life. Although we have read the others’ sections, there’s still a disparity between what each of us know about Coyote. Some of our members were not aware of who Ivan Coyote was until their name was brought up for this project. Given more time, there are certainly ways in which we could have improved the article even further, but given the necessary constraints under which we were working, we are ultimately satisfied with the work we put together. At the beginning of this project, Coyote’s Wikipedia page was hardly a few lines, and we have managed to expand it into a full-length article with accurate and relevant information throughout, thereby allowing for even greater visibility to an artist and a writer who has more than earned the recognition.
Coyote has an extensive theatre, musical, and stage background in their storytelling career. We wanted to also flesh out this part of their career on the Wikipedia page, but were limited due to sources and time constraints. This class was more aimed at Can Lit, so even though we wished we could have pursued this goal, we accomplished other important goals instead.
Initially our group felt slightly awkward since it was the first time we all worked together as a group, however this is to be expected with a group that is randomly selected. Despite this initial challenge, we eventually set clear expectations with our roles and each member offered to help each other if anyone needed help. Similarly, we had some difficulty communicating towards the beginning of the process, but once our group grew more comfortable and our roles were clearly and equally divided, we were happy with the way our group functioned as a whole. Each team member pulled their weight and fulfilled their given task effectively, and despite breaking the article into separate sections for each member, the final product feels consistent and whole. There were also moments where we accidentally overlapped in information due to lack of communication in regards to the division of our topics. This could have been prevented if we communicated more on our findings.
We’ve always known that Web 2.0 is very collaborative, but this experience made us appreciate this collaborative effort even more. While it is challenging at times because everyone has different ideas, it is also rewarding because these different ideas help make the articles more interesting and diverse.
Works Cited:
Wikipedia. "Editing." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Mar. 2017. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.