Editing Building Successful Online Communities (Fall 2024) (section)

=== Project 1: Contributing to Wikipedia ===

Because this course is going to cover an enormous number of different online communities, I've found that it's helpful to have one online community that can serve as a sort of common object to think about and engage with. In this course, that community is going to be Wikipedia.

In the first component of the class, you will be asked to learn about Wikipedia, its norms, rules, and processes. With this knowledge, you will all be asked to research and substantially extend an encyclopedia article on Wikipedia. To do this, I will use material from [https://wikiedu.org/ the Wiki Education Foundation (WikiEdu)] to help you learn how to participate in Wikipedia. As part of this process, you will interact with other community members who are not part of the class.

You will need to participate in Wikipedia each week during the first compontent of the class. The teaching team will be able to see this activity and help you.

Every Friday during this first component of this class, there will be an assignment due that corresponds to one step in the process of getting involved in Wikipedia. Most weeks, this will involve completing learning modules and assignments on a website put together by WikiEdu. These Wikipedia participation assignments won't be synced up with the theory, but they will provide you with lots of opportunities to reflect on the theoretical work we are covering.

I plan to take time to discuss our progress and experience with Wikipedia and to connect it explicitly to the theoretical concepts we are covering. As we finish the ''micro'', ''meso'', and ''macro'' sections of the first component of the course, we will read about Wikipedia and have three case discussions about it.

Finally, as a dress rehearsal for the final project, I will ask you all to think through a major problem facing Wikipedia.

Although this means we'll be spending a lot of time talking about Wikipedia, the goal here is to build and apply critical skills about online communities ''in general''. Wikipedia's incredible openness and impact make it an excellent place to learn and explore the ideas of the course, but the goal is always to engage with the broader principles and underlying concepts and practice their applications.

==== Wikipedia Task #1 ====
;Task: Get started on Wikipedia!
;Due: Friday October 4
;Deliverables: Following the instructions in the training, make contributions in Wikipedia and [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/University_of_Washington/Building_Successful_Online_Communities_(Fall_2024) the class WikiEdu dashboard]

* Complete the [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/University_of_Washington/Building_Successful_Online_Communities_(Fall_2024) WikiEdu] trainings for Week 1. 
* During this training, you will create an account. After you have created an account, you '''must''' enroll in the course so that your account on Wikipedia is associated with the course and so that I can track your activity on Wikipedia. [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/University_of_Washington/Building_Successful_Online_Communities_(Fall_2024)?enroll=evyuwzoc click this link] and then click "Join" to enroll in the course. If you are asked for a passcode, you can enter '''evyuwzoc'''.
* Once you are enrolled in the course, you should begin the training modules and complete the first two, ''Wikipedia policies'' and ''Sandboxes, talk pages, and watchlists'', and ''Communicating with others on Wikipedia''.
* Finally, practice communicating on Wikipedia by introducing yourself to a member of the teaching team and at least one classmate on Wikipedia (it can be anybody) using their talk page (not your own talk page!). I am [[:wikipedia:User:Benjamin Mako Hill|Benjamin Mako Hill]]. You can find a list of all of your classmates on the [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/University_of_Washington/Building_Successful_Online_Communities_(Fall_2024)/students WikiEdu class page].

;Tips: The biggest pitfall in the past has been failing to enroll in the course. Make sure that you have created an account on https://en.wikipedia.org/ and are logged in. Then follow [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/University_of_Washington/Building_Successful_Online_Communities_(Fall_2024)?enroll=evyuwzoc this link] and click "Join".

==== Wikipedia Task #2 ====
;Tasks: Choose and evaluate an article
;Due Date: Friday October 11
;Deliverables: Make contributions in Wikipedia and [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/University_of_Washington/Building_Successful_Online_Communities_(Fall_2024) the class WikiEdu dashboard]

'''(1)''' First, complete the online training topics for Week 2 in the [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/University_of_Washington/Building_Successful_Online_Communities_(Fall_2024) the class WikiEdu dashboard].

'''(2)''' Second, choose 3-5 possible articles in Wikipedia that you would like to significantly expand and improve. The WikiEdu module will walk you through sketching some brief notes on changes you might make; the next step will have you dig more deeply into a single article.

Choose articles that are as short and simple as possible and I ''strongly'' recommend that you choose a <code>stub</code> article on Wikipedia. Because some people are going to start with articles that are better than others, we're going to assess you on the amount to which you can improve the article—not on the final state of the article.

You can find a list of <code>stub</code> articles arranged by topic here (there are literally ''millions''):

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Stub_sorting/List_of_stubs List of Stubs] — This is an extremely long list of articles that are currently stubs and which is also sorted into categories and then subcategories. It might be a little bit out of date so be sure to click through before you decide on an article.
<!-- If there is a topic you know you are interested in writing about that doesn't have an article,  that is also possible but will be more difficult so we're recommending ''against'' that relatively strongly. If you're committed to doing that in any case, there are a few resources you might find helpful:

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requested_articles Requested Articles] — This is a list of articles that others have asked to be created. It is sorted into categories and sub-categories. When you're looking at the list, remember that it's possible that somebody else has "gotten" to them first and forgot to remove it. Remember that a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Red_link red link] indicates that there is no page with that name.
-->

When you're done looking at possible articles, you'll see that there is a "'''Choose your article'''" exercise on the WikiEdu dashboard that will end with you being prompted to fill out a page on Wikipedia with a list of articles you want to work on. The page will ask for "Evaluation" and "Sources" -- jot down a few thoughts here. You'll do a comprehensive evaluation of one article in the next part of this task.

'''(3)''' Third, you should evaluate an article. I recommend that you evaluate an article you plan to improve! After following the tutorial material on WikiEd about how to do an evaluation, you'll see that there is a corresponding exercise called "'''Evaluate Wikipedia'''" in the WikiEdu dashboard that you should complete.

If you run into any trouble, find the teaching team in the Discord ''well in advance of the deadline''!

==== Wikipedia Task #3 ====

;Task: Compile research and start editing
;Due Date: Friday October 18
;Deliverables: Make contributions in Wikipedia and [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/University_of_Washington/Building_Successful_Online_Communities_(Fall_2024) the class WikiEdu dashboard] 

# Complete online trainings for Week 3
# Finalize your topic/article.
# Make a small edit to Wikipedia (e.g., by adding citations).
# Gather notes and links into an informal bibliography of relevant research.

In order to do these, you will need to make sure you have assigned your article to yourself in the [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/University_of_Washington/Building_Successful_Online_Communities_(Fall_2024) dashboard]. If you have not done this yet, you'll have to do it before you can proceed. You can do so by (a) going to the WikiEdu course homepage, (b) finding the section entitled ''My Articles'', (c) clicking on ''Assign myself an article'', and (d) entering the article title as shown in Wikipedia and click ''Assign''.

Once you have selected an article to work on, the "My Articles" section will show you a number of steps and links. The two links to focus on right now are collecting your bibliography notes and editing your article in your sandbox, which correspond to the two key tasks above.  You will need to:

:Add the sources that you've found to the bibliography page which will be created when you click on the "bibliography" link. These are your notes about sources. As a reminder, while academic sources are the "gold standard", match your citations with the content. If your article is about a movie star, you will likely be citing interviews that were published in magazines or on the radio. Try to vary the types of sources and select the more notable ones. Additionally, if you are having difficulty finding sources, reach out to [https://www.lib.washington.edu/about/contact a reference librarian]. they are a great resource!

In general, you should refer to the [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Editing_Wikipedia_brochure_%28Wiki_Education_Foundation%29_%282017%29.pdf WikiEd Foundation's guide to editing] which I've found extremely useful.
<!-- Because the nuts-and-bolts of completing this is complicated, I'm sharing a short screencast made by a prior instructor when he taught this class:

* [https://uw.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=b10d27c1-ed6c-4367-b33f-b15500e14c80 Screencast of Wikipedia Task #3] (Requires Canvas access)

# Create a copy of the current page in your sandbox through the following steps:
## open the article sandbox and the article itself in two separate tabs
## in the article tab click ''Edit''
## change to ''Source editing'' mode by clicking the pencil icon in the top right
## select all of the "wikimarkup" (Article content code) and copy it
## click the ''Create'' tab on the article sandbox
## paste the cloned/copied content over
## click "Publish page"
# Begin editing, drafting, and generally improving the article sandbox page!

* Note: Rules about copyright and plagiarism still apply in your sandbox -- and your sandbox is not private. Some images (like logos) are not approved for use in the sandboxes, even though they are allowed in the main Wikipedia page! To check your sandbox for this issue, and BEFORE you copy-paste in the article, click each image in the article you're planning to improve. If the image is marked "Fair use" in the media viewer ([[fairuse image - do not clone |see an example]] of what that looks like), you will need to delete the link from your sandbox, and make a plan to re-add it by hand when your article goes live.

-->

==== Wikipedia Task #4 ====
;Task: Finish the bulk of your edits
;Due Date: Friday October 25
;Deliverables: Make contributions in Wikipedia and [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/University_of_Washington/Building_Successful_Online_Communities_(Fall_2024) the class WikiEdu dashboard] 

# Complete online trainings for Week 4
# Make the bulk of the changes you hope to make to you articles. In general, I expect a minimum of 2-3 new paragraphs of content with a range of new references.

<!-- [https://uw.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=b9db303b-2fe8-48d5-a402-b1530135ca53 See my video with tips and some mechanics!] (Requires Canvas access) -->

==== Wikipedia Task #5 ====
;Task: Conduct peer reviews
;Due Date: Friday November 1
;Deliverables: Make contributions in Wikipedia and [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/University_of_Washington/Building_Successful_Online_Communities_(Fall_2024) the class WikiEdu dashboard] 

* Select '''two''' classmates’ articles that you will peer review and copy-edit. To sign up, you can mark this in [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/University_of_Washington/Building_Successful_Online_Communities_(Fall_2024) the dashboard] by using the '''Assign a review''' button. Try to pick articles that other students are not yet reviewing.
* Peer review two of your classmates’ articles and produce a written peer review. If you click on the "Peer review" link next to the assigned review article on your student page in the WikiEd dashboard, you'll see that it pops up a template that will create a sub-page on your classmate's sandbox and prompts you with a bunch of questions. If you do fill out that template, be sure to leave a message on the users talk page so that they know you created the sub-page with your peer review! Using that template will probably be useful but it's not required. What's important is that you engage in the peer review and get your classmate useful feedback. I don't care too much about how you do it.
* Improve and copy-edit the two reviewed articles by editing them directly to help fix issues, improve sourcing, create a more [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:NPOV neutral] or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:TONE encyclopedic] tone, etc. Where you see an opportunity to help out, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Be_bold be bold]!

==== Wikipedia Task #6 ====

;Task: Incorporate changes based on peer reviews and polish article
;Due Date: Friday November 8
;Deliverables: Make contributions in Wikipedia and [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/University_of_Washington/Building_Successful_Online_Communities_(Fall_2024) the class WikiEdu dashboard] 

* Complete online trainings for Week 6
* Respond to your peer review. Consider their suggestions and decide whether they make your work more accurate and complete.
* Continue improving your article. Refine your text, do more research, make sure things are well organized, think about adding images, infoboxes, and templates. If you add images be sure to complete [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/training/students/images-and-media the WikiEd material on images and media].
* Polish your article, it should be ready for public consumption. There are some general suggestions on polishing in [[Ideas for polishing a Wikipedia article]].

==== Wikipedia Task #7-A ====
;Task: Finalize your article
;Due Date: Friday November 15
;Deliverables: Make contributions in Wikipedia

# Read the material in [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/University_of_Washington/Building_Successful_Online_Communities_(Fall_2024) the class WikiEdu dashboard] and make final checks on your article.
# Check to ensure that the changes you've made match our expectations.
# ...otherwise, that should be it!

==== Assessment: Wikipedia Assignment ====

I will use the following criteria as a rubric for assessing your work on the contributions made to Wikipedia:

# Substantial new article text shows fluency in Wikipedia norms — A student fluent in Wikipedia norms will have created an substantial article or brought an existing article at least one quality class to a higher one in the eyes of most Wikipedia members by adding new encyclopedic text, adhering to policies on tone, adding references for statements from reliable third party sources, and so on.
# Peer reviews of other student were thoughtful, critical, and constructive.
# Deadlines for tasks #1-7 were met in a way that allowed for the interactive and collaborative aspects of the class (e.g., draft was published to allow for reviews, peer reviews were made on time, article was published live on time, and so on).

==== Wikipedia Task #7-B ====

;Task: Turn in your Wikipedia advising report
;Due Date: Friday November 15
;Deliverables:
:*Turn in report as subpage of your Wikipedia userpage and turn in the URL [https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1774897/assignments in Canvas].
;* Maximum length for report: 1,500 words (~6 pages double spaced)

Turn your report into a subpage of your user page. For example, I would create mine with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Benjamin_Mako_Hill/Report as the URL. Of course, you should replace "Benjamin_Mako_Hill" with your Wikipedia username. You can also go to your user page by clicking on your username on Wikipedia and then adding "/Report" at the end of the URL. When you go to that page, it will say '''Wikipedia does not have a user page with this exact name.''' You can create a new page by just clicking the "Create" tab on that page. When you're done, you can paste the URL into Canvas.

Details on the report and how we will handle assessment are included on the [[/Wikipedia Advising Report]] subpage.