Wikipedia Reflection
Initially I found it difficult to implement the research I had done and incorporate into my post; 500 hundred words just seemed too few considering the amount of research I had done and wanted to include. After a short time I got used to the format and became fairly adept at incorporating my findings, footnoting my sources, and creating internal links to the web page. After publishing my entry, which was the “History” portion under the “MRE” (Meal Ready-to-Eat) topic, I noticed revisions to my publish in less than just 12 hours.
I noticed that the revisions, or editing that was done, wasn’t so much in correcting any significant grammar errors, or in the actual content of the information, but more so they made my publish one of the main headlines under the topic page. The one specific change I noticed was that the editor changed some of my word usage. Initially I had used the world “soldier” through out the post, but they changed it to “servicemen”. Although it’s rather insignificant, I noticed this almost immediately. There was one other minor change I noticed almost directly after I made the publish. In the assignment we were required to include a “Works Cited” tab. I of course did this, but the moderator deleted my tab and simply incorporated my sources into the “Other References” section.
Prior to my post there was just a bunch information about the MRE, a few headings, but nothing significant. Someone edited this, and changed the previous format of the page, in which they took some of the information and added it to mine, making the “History” tab the first piece of significant content you see when you enter the page. So now when you enter the page, one of the first things someone will see is the “History” section, which is the portion I constructed. I thought this was pretty neat, because when you first enter the page, you now see the portion that I contributed right up at the top of the page. It really made feel like my contribution was extremely pertinent and important to the article. So far, these are the only revisions that have been done to the page and it’s now been almost two weeks.
Overall, I really enjoyed working with Wikipedia. In terms of learning, this was the first time I was actually assigned topics from Wikipedia to read instead of an actual textbook, novel, or something. Being that I love my computer and love to be on it (maybe that because I have Mac though), I found it extremely easy and convenient to simply get onto Wikipedia and read the assigned topics. I certainly appreciated this fact and found it far easier to complete the required readings. I also found Wikipedia far more interesting than I think I would have a textbook or novel. I actually took History 120 my freshmen year, and a lot of the learning was done through textbook readings and monotonous lectures, so the in class discussions and Wikipedia aspect made this class really refreshing and interesting compared to my prior experience. As far a publishing and contributing to Wikipedia, initially, I thought it was going to be easy and boring. On the contrary, I was required to do a lot of thorough research, because I had to include a lot of information in a small space, I had to be extremely concise and direct in my writing. I also thought it was going to be boring and just not any fun at fall, but I really did enjoy doing the project from start to finish. It really felt accomplishing to be able to contribute to something that so many people depend on, day in and day out, to seek information they need or want to know more about. So, the fact that I may have been able to help someone out or contribute to their learning experience in some way, shape, or form really felt satisfying to do and complete.
