Editing Online Communities (UW COM481 Spring 2024) (section)

== Assignments ==

The assignments in this class are designed to give you an opportunity to try your hand at using the conceptual material taught in the class. There will be no exams or quizzes.

Unless otherwise noted, all assignments are due at the end of the day (i.e., 11:59pm on the day they are listed as being due, Pacific time zone).

=== Case discussion ===

The course relies heavily on the case study method which describes a particular form of instructor-mediated discussion. A standard "case" usually involves reading an example—perhaps up to 20-35 pages of background about an organization or group facing an ambiguous or difficult challenge. I will mark certain readings as "[Cases]" in the syllabus and I will expect you to read these particularly closely. It is important to realize that '''I will not summarize case material in class and I will not cover it in lecture'''. I expect you all to have read it and we will jump in and start discussing it.

Cases ask students to put themselves in the positions of individuals facing difficult situations to tease out the tensions and forces at play in the case and to construct — through group discussion — the broader lessons and takeaways. Cases are a wonderful way to connect the sometimes abstract concepts taught in many academic courses to real examples of the type of ambiguous situations that you will likely encounter in your career. Generally speaking, there are not right and wrong answers in cases.

==== Cold Calling ====

Cases rely roughly on the [[:wikipedia:Socratic method|socratic method]] where instructors teaching cases cold call on students—i.e., instructors call on people ''without'' asking for volunteers first. I will be doing this in each class.

Because I understand that cold calling can be terrifying for some students, I will be circulating a list of questions (labeled "Reading Note" in the syllabus) that we will discuss alongside the weekly announcements (i.e., at least 6 days in advance). I will only cold call to ask questions for which you have time to prepare your answers. Although it is a very good idea to write out answers to these questions in advance, we will not be collecting these answers. You are welcome to work with other students to brainstorm possible answers. Although I may also ask questions that I do not distribute ahead of time, I will never cold call when asking these questions.

I have written a computer program that will generate a random list of students each day and I will use this list to '''randomly''' cold call students in the class. To try to maintain participation balance, the program will try to ensure that everybody is cold called a similar number of times during the quarter. Although there is always some chance that you will called upon next, you will become less likely to be called upon relative to your classmates each time you are called upon.

==== Assessment for case study discussion ====

I have placed detailed information on case study-based discussion on [[User:Kaylea/Assessment#Case Discussion|the case discussion section of my assessment page]]. This describes both the rubrics I will use to assess your case discussion and how I will compute the final grades in the course.

=== Papers === 

You will hand in two papers in this class. In both cases, I will ask you to connect something you have experience or knowledge about to course material.

The "Writing Rubric" section of [[User:Kaylea/Assessment|the detailed page on assessment]] gives the rubric I will use to evaluate these papers.

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

In the first project, 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 article on Wikipedia (you might also write a new article IF it meets Wikipedia criteria for new articles) and to publish this article in the encyclopedia. As part of this process, you will interact with other community members who are not part of the class. Afterward, you will be asked to write a short essay piece to reflect on this process and to connect your experience to the conceptual course material where appropriate.

I will use material from [https://wikiedu.org/ the Wiki Education Foundation (WikiEdu)] to help you learn how to participate in Wikipedia. Every Friday during this first component of this class, there will be a 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 in a website put together by WikiEdu. These Wikipedia participation assignments won't be synced up with the theory, but they will provide with you lots of opportunity to reflect on the theoretical work we are covering.

You will need to participate in Wikipedia each week. I will be able to see this activity and we will help you. I will take time each week to discuss our progress and experience with Wikipedia and to connect it explicitly to the theoretical concepts we are covering.

==== Wikipedia Task #1 ====
;Task: Create an account and start orientation
;Due: Friday March 29
;Deliverables: Following the instructions in the training, make contributions in Wikipedia and [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/University_of_Washington/Online_Communities_(Spring) the class WikiEdu dashboard] 

* Complete the [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/University_of_Washington/Online_Communities_(Spring) WikiEdu] training. 
* During this training, you will create an account, make edits in a sandbox, and learn the basic rules of the Wikipedia community.
* Once 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/Online_Communities_(Spring)?enroll=lhpocuqg click this link] and then click "Join" to enroll in the course. If you are asked for a passcode, you can enter '''lhpocuqg'''.
* 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''.

;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/Online_Communities_(Spring)?enroll=lhpocuqg this link] and click "Join".

==== Wikipedia Task #2 ====
;Tasks: (1) complete Wikipedia orientation; (2) introduce yourself to me and a classmate to practice communication with other editors on Wikipedia using talk pages; (3) choose article topic; (4) evaluate article
;Due Date: Friday April 5
;Deliverables: Make contributions in Wikipedia and [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/University_of_Washington/Online_Communities_(Spring) the class WikiEdu dashboard]

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

'''(2)''' Second, to practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself to me and at least one classmate on Wikipedia (it can be anybody) using their talk page (not your own talk page!). My username is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Khascall Khascall] and you can find a list of all of your classmates on the [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/University_of_Washington/Online_Communities_(Spring)/students WikiEdu class page].

'''(3)''' Third, 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 "stub" 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 Stub 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.
<!-- You should fill out [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:MyPage/Choose_an_Article?veaction=edit&preload=Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org_choose_article this form which will justify your selection in a new "private" page on Wikipedia].--->

You should also enter the article such that is assigned to you in the [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/University_of_Washington/Online_Communities_(Spring)students/overview WikiEdu dashboard].

'''(4)''' Fourth, you should evaluate an article. I ''strongly'' recommend that you evaluate the 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. <!-- The exercise will have walk you through filling out [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:MyPage/Evaluate_an_Article?veaction=edit&preload=Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org_evaluate_article this form which will allow you to post your evaluation in a new "private" page on Wikipedia] (you can use this link if the exercise doesn't work for you but don't need to do this if the dashboard works). -->

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

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

;Task: Compile research and write draft
;Due Date: Friday April 12
;Deliverables: Make contributions in Wikipedia and [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/University_of_Washington/Online_Communities_(Spring) the class WikiEdu dashboard] 

# Complete online trainings for week 3
# Gather notes and links into an informal bibliography of relevant research.
# Write a draft of your article—with citations—in your Wikipedia sandbox. Aim for 2-3 paragraphs.

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/Online_Communities_(Spring) dashboard]. Most of you have already done this. If you have not, 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!
# 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!

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)

* 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: Peer review other students' articles
;Due Date: Friday April 19
;Deliverables: Make contributions in Wikipedia and [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/University_of_Washington/Online_Communities_(Spring)the class WikiEdu dashboard] 

[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)

* 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/Online_Communities_(Spring) 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 #5 ====
;Task: Incorporate peer feedback
;Due Date: Friday April 26
;Deliverables: Make contributions in Wikipedia and [https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/University_of_Washington/Online_Communities_(Spring) the class WikiEdu dashboard] 

* Respond to your peer review. Consider their suggestions and decide whether they makes 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].

==== Wikipedia Task #6 ====
;Task: Make article "live."
;Due Date: Friday May 3
;Deliverables: Make contributions in Wikipedia
* Polish your article, it should be ready for public consumption. There are some general suggestions on polishing in [[/Wikipedia task 6]].
* Move sandbox articles into the "(Article)" name space by following the instruction in [https://uw.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=e1b03224-d368-4726-883b-b15500e17f82 this video Dr Hill recorded] or in [[/Wikipedia task 6]].

==== Wikipedia Task #7 ====
;Task: Turn in your report analyzing Wikipedia
;Due Date: Sunday May 5
;Deliverables:
:*Turn in report as subpage of your Wikipedia userpage and turn in the URL [https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1612238/assignments/6879166 in Canvas].
;* Maximum length for report: 1000 words (~4 pages double spaced)

Turn your report -- an evaluative and analytical essay -- as a subpage of your userpage. For example, I would create mine with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Khascall/Report as the URL. Of course, you should replace "Khascall" with your Wikipedia username. You can also just go to your userpage by clicking on your username on Wikipedia and then adding "/Report" at the end of the URL.

When you go that page, it will say '''Wikipedia does not have a user page with this exact name.'''

You can create the new page by just clicking the "Create" tab on that page. When you're done, you can paste the URL into Canvas.

See the [[Online_Communities_(UW_COM481_Spring_2024)#Assessment: Wikipedia Analysis | assessment section]] of this page for details on what I will be grading for.

==== Assessment: Wikipedia Assignment (Task 6) ====

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 a 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 #1-6 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).

==== Assessment: Wikipedia Analysis (Task 7) ====

In addition to finishing up your Wikipedia article, everybody should turn in a report analyzing the Wikipedia community, using your experience and the material we've covered so far to offering an assessment and advice to the Wikimedia Foundation and the Wikipedia Community on how to improve their community. I want you all to treat this as a dress rehearsal for your final projects.

Your report will be evaluated, first and foremost, on the degree to which it provides useful, informed, and actionable advice to the Wikipedia community and the Wikimedia Foundation. It will also be evaluated on the degree to which you engage with the course material. See the [[User:Kaylea/Assessment | writing rubric]] for details on my expectations in terms of the content of the papers. A successful essay will do the following things:

# Provide detailed, concrete, and actionable advice to the Wikipedia community and the Wikimedia Foundation. What should Wikipedia think about doing? What should they think about changing?
# Comment directly on your experience in Wikipedia. This is not general musing: the details you include should be evidence to serve your argument.
# Connect your experience in Wikipedia explicitly to the concepts in the course material we have covered. Justify your recommendations in terms of the theories and principles we've covered. Why should your recommendations be taken more seriously than just random advice from one new user?
# If possible, reflect on what parts of the theories or concepts we covered applied or didn't. You don't have to take everything taught in the course for granted. What would you change or add based on your experience? What is unique or different about Wikipedia?

I will give everybody in the course feedback on their assignment. The basic structure is shorter, but extremely similar, to what you will be doing in the final project. As a result, you can treat this as a "mid-term" and make adjustments based on feedback.

There's no minimum word count, but I'd suggest you take advantage of the space you're given. Generally speaking, you can say more, be more insightful, demonstrate more fluency (all the things we are assessing) if you use more space.

Your audience is Wikipedians who may read your report. You don't need to define things to prove to us that you've done the reading. You should define terms if you think that an audience of Wikipedians (who have not taken the class) will be lost/confused otherwise. Use your judgement to make a compelling, well reasoned, and well supported argument.

The intro, body, conclusion format is pretty reliable and useful. But if you feel it's better or more useful to deviate from that as well, that's fine. Don't use the numbered questions as your format, but do demonstrate consideration of each point somewhere in your essay.

Make an argument for why, based on your experience in Wikipedia and what you've learned in the class, things could/should be better and how that might happen. "A description of your experience" is part of that but we're not asking for a trip report. Your experience is important, but the details you share should always be in service to the argument and suggestions you are making.

=== Project 2: Critical Analysis of an Online Community ===
For the final assignment, I want you to take what you've learned in the class and apply it to a community you have observed or participated in. This project will involve two written assignments and a presentation.

==== Community Identification====
;Maximum Length: 300 words (~1 page double spaced)
;Deliverables: Turn in [https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1734931/assignments through Canvas]
;Due Date: Friday May 10

In this assignment, you should identify a community you are interested in — and that you hope to analyze critically in your final project. In this assignment, I am asking you to write 1-2 paragraphs explaining what community you want to study, why you care about it, and why you think it would be a rich site for reflection. If relevant or possible, it might be useful to also provide a link.

I am hoping that each of you will pick a community that you are intellectually committed to and invested in your personal or work life. You should also keep in mind that you will be presenting this publicly to the class.

You will be successful in this assignment if you identify a community and clearly explain why you think it would be a useful community to study using the concepts we have covered in the class.

I will give you feedback on these write-ups and will let you each know if I think you have identified a project that might be too ambitious, too trivial, too broad, too narrow, etc.

==== Optional Extra Credit: Outline or Rough Draft of Final Project ====
;Due Date: Friday May 17
;Minimum length: 500 words (preliminary text) or 1 page (outline)
;Maximum extra credit: 10 points

If you want extra credit, don't wait until the last minute to do your final project. Turning in an early draft or an outline of what you plan to do will get you a small amount of instructor feedback (7 day turnaround maximum, but probably much faster) and extra credit. Your project and grade will likely be even better if you respond to the feedback you get -- but it's up to you if you want to aim for this.

==== Final Projects: Critical Analysis of Online Community ====
;Final (Virtual) Presentation Date: May 28
;Virtual Critique Date: May 30
;Paper Due Date: Jun 3 @ 11:59pm
;Maximum paper length: 2,500 words
;Deliverables: 
:*Details on final presentations including due dates, instructions, and dropboxes are on [[/Final presentations]]
:*Turn in copy of paper [https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1734931 in Canvas]

For your final project, I expect students to build on the community identification assignment to describe what they have done and what they have found. I'll expect every student to give both:

* A final presentation (see instructions on  [[/Final presentations]])
* A final report that is not more than 2,500 words.

Each project should include: (a) the description of the community you have identified (you are welcome to borrow from your Community Identification assignment), (b) a description of how you would use the course concepts to change and improve the community.

You will be evaluated on the degree to which you have demonstrated that you understand and have engaged with the course material and not on specifics of your community. I want you to reflect on what parts of theory we covered apply or do not. What does the community do right according to what you've learned? What might it do differently in the future based on what you've read? What did the course and readings not teach that they should have? 

Your audience is people who are interested in the community as well as the general public. A successful project will tell a compelling story and will engage with, and improve upon, the course material to teach all of us -- that is, an audience that includes me, your classmates, and students taking this class in future years, how to take advantage of online communities more effectively. The very best papers will give us all a new understanding of some aspect of course material and change the way I teach some portion of this course in the future.

=== Grading ===

I will follow the very detailed grading rubric described on [[User:Kaylea/Assessment|my assessment page]]. Please read it carefully. I will assign grades for each of the following items on the UW 4.0 grade scale according to the weights below:

* Case preparation and discussion: 35%
* Wikipedia assignments: 15%
* Wikipedia reflection essay: 5%
* Community identification: 5%
* Final Presentation: 10%
* Final Paper: 30%