Before beginning my work on Wikipedia for this class, my most intimate prior exposure to the site was witnessing a high school friend playfully vandalizing a celebrity's page to indicate that they had died. This, along with constant reminders from teachers that Wikipedia was not to be referenced as a source in research projects, gave me a strong impression of Wikipedia's fragility. Despite its ability to be modified by anyone at any time, the site has maintained its reputation as the Internet's "free encyclopedia" for over two decades. Coming into this class, I was curious about how Wikipedia maintained this delicate balance and how it managed to attract users who were willing to do so. I was also interested in testing my expectation that the community would prove difficult to break in to. While mileage may vary, my early experiences on the site have demonstrated that Wikipedians are largely intent on retaining new users through gentle interactions, and that the site's organizational structure lends itself to new users' sense of curiosity.
My first impressions of Wikipedia's interface were mixed. On one hand, I found the tutorials provided by WikiEdu to be helpful in familiarizing myself with the basic principles of editing and page navigation. This process assuaged any fears I had about the smoothness of interacting with pages on Wikipedia. On the other, I found the scope of the site to be somewhat overwhelming; that is, a page like the Community portal, while well-organized, had enough options for me to feel paralyzed. However, I think I can chalk this up to the feeling of being a new user. With time, I came to find the litany of links available on any given page to feel like less of a burden and more of an excitement.
During the process of transferring the work done on my sandbox page to the live article, I noticed that the style of citations on the page differed from the Sfn style which is suggested [clarification needed]. I did not address this issue right away, and before I went back to address this, I noticed that Mr. Stradivarius had edited my work. His changes entailed adapting the citations to the appropriate Sfn style and changing the name of a heading. I was very grateful that he had stepped in and completed this somewhat tedious task for me; formatting citations can give me a headache. He also took the liberty of removing the stub template from the article; as a newbie, this seemed like a bold edit, and I felt good that someone has recognized my progress in expanding the article. I was unfamiliar with the etiquette of WikiLove, so I simply "thanked" the user via the revision history page.
Since this user was the first Wikipedian "stranger" to interact with Dictogloss after I'd made substantial edits, I was curious what drove them to iterate on my work; I headed over to their user page and made some interesting discoveries. The first thing that struck me was an animated Wikipedia ad banner at the top of the page, with one frame reading, "The Department of Fun Presents..." More on this later. I also found out that they started by editing articles "on second-language acquisition and language education," which somewhat explained the connection; however, it seems like this is no longer his priority. Looking at the user boxes listed on his main page, I discovered that he is an administrator on the English Wikipedia. While it turns out that administrator action is not required to move a stub template, this knowledge nonetheless lent additional credence to Mr. Stradivarius's assistance. While browsing his additional user boxes, I learned that he appreciates WikiLove, so I sent a kitten to his talk page. His contributions to my assigned article really made me feel comfortable on Wikipedia, so this was the least I could do to display my gratitude. [1]
Further exploration of Mr. Stradivarius's user page revealed more about what users like him are doing to cultivate a welcoming environment for all editors. He is a self-described recent changes patroller. This information, combined with the knowledge that he was actually the creator of the Dictogloss article, explains why he was so quick to edit it following my contributions. He is also a member of the Harmonious editing club, whose mission is "making Wikipedia a more inviting and friendly place for our contributors." Relevant tasks include dispute resolution, assisting editors and attending to feedback requests. While I am unsure whether this user is a member of the aforementioned "Department of Fun," their decision to advertise for its project on their user page suggests some level of involvement. They also have a user box detailing the goofy practice of whacking with a wet trout, which is a humorous way to let another user know they've made a silly mistake. The Department of Fun's mission is not dissimilar to that of the Harmonious editing club. They aim to inject humor into the Wikipedian community to encourage editors young and old to stay at Wikipedia. Discovering these projects and practices spoke volumes about Wikipedian's willingness to make it a fun, friendly place to spend time. This signals both their understanding that the community may seem overwhelming as well as the knowledge that a community with a goal like Wikipedia's can not succeed if it is insular to newcomers. Users' adherence to these projects demonstrates Kraut et al.'s design claim 21: that members are more likely to comply with norms when they are part of (and committed to) cohesive groups.[2]
Mr. Stradivarius's main user page displays a WikiDefcon meter displaying the current level of vandalism on the site. This seems to violate Kraut et al.'s 15th design principle which claims that displaying/notifying users of inappropriate behavior leads users to believe that such behavior is common or expected.[2]
Looking back at the revision history for articles I plan on editing seems to be a good strategy to avoid making basic mistakes. One way that norms are created/enforced is through the edit summaries left by editors after changes are made. While editing the Jim's South Street page, I was observing the revision history for Jim's Steaks and noticed that Mooshberry removed a few sentences and left a simple summary: "WP:NOTNEWS". The content removed contained details of a call to the Philadelphia Fire Department, including specific information like the time of the call and the reason for the fire. The casual reinforcement of this norm/rule allowed me to guide my edit by reminding me not to include such extraneous details.
While I was reading Mobyoctopad44's Reflection, her point about feeling a "sense of ownership" over her assigned article resonated with me. Even though Mr. Stradivarius created the page, I feel like the page is my own after making my contributions to it, even though it technically isn't owned by anyone. While this sense of ownership creates the possibility that I might feel defensive over edits made to the page – though this has yet to occur – it also supplies me with a feeling of responsibility. I feel obliged to continue monitoring changes to the article even though this class is coming to an end. In that sense, this ongoing assignment has been an excellent gateway into the world of Wikipedia by forcing me to tackle the challenge of developing an article; in doing so, I have not only familiarized myself with Wikipedia's systems and culture at an amateur level, but I have developed an emotional investment in tending to the articles I have contributed to. This is supported by the ability to see the Page views for my article. Knowing that multiple people are viewing my article every day provides a further incentive to improve it; since I know that my work is being actively sought out, I want to avoid the possibility that these users are absorbing information that is false, incomplete, or difficult to parse.
In addition to my assigned article being part of the education and linguistics WikiProjects, it is supported by the Applied Linguistics Task Force. I investigated the page and joined the task force, which will make it easier for me to connect with its users and collaborate with them on future edits to Dictogloss. Having the ability to insert myself into a group of editors with a specialized task will allow me to further develop my skills as an editor and start to act more like an experienced Wikipedian.
While I plan to keep watching the page for my assigned article and maybe even contribute more research, I think my more immediate contributions to Wikipedia will involve copy editing and researching for pages involve my stronger passions like video games and music. Most recently, I made an update to Jim's South Street after hearing news about reconstruction from my friend living in Philadelphia. At the moment, I feel more comfortable making smaller contributions like these than creating new articles or expanding stubs, but my work on Dictogloss has certainly opened the doors for me to consider tackling a similar project.
- ^ "Kittens, Baklava, and Bubble Tea: How Wikipedians Thank Each Other in Different Languages". Global Voices Community Blog. 2019-01-17. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
- ^ a b Kraut, Robert E. (2011). Building successful online communities : evidence-based social design. Paul Resnick, Sara Kiesler. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-29831-5. OCLC 1259266921.