User:Acho98/Win20 COM482 Wiki Report

During the time I spent working on Wikipedia, I have experienced many different aspects and was able to learn a lot. The work I did consisted of the many various components involved with improving an already existing article. These components include, adding in new images, creating an Infobox, creating different headings for newly added sections, linking certain works to internal Wikipedia article, citing claims and facts, creating a table, etc. Through this, I was also able to learn many things about Wikipedia, aspects which would have never crossed my mind without this opportunity. The very first aspect I learned was the difficulty of adding in an image, compared to other communities and sites. The process of incorporating in an image on Wikipedia was very foreign to me as I was obligated to answer multiple questions about the image I was uploading and to also provide various information (e.g. a description, name of photo, origin of the photo, time and date taken, etc.). However, I also learned that this was to ensure the integrity of the Wikipedia community to prevent any copyrighting and to monitor users who may just be adding in irrelevant images. Another aspect I was able to learn about were the many different rules that editors have to follow when attempting to make changes to an article or when creating a new article. Some of these rules include, write in a neutral tone, cite every claim or fact that is made, do not violate copyright, adhere to the five pillars of Wikipedia, etc. Finally, I was able to learn about the talk page and how it is used for editors to discuss potential changes or problems of an article. This was a page that I was never aware of but found it to be very intriguing community space once I discovered it. On the other hand, I also learned that there are many improvements that could be made to the Wikipedia community.

In order to improve the community, the first advice I would give to Wikipedia is to potentially incorporate some type of chat system within their community. Through this system, editors would be able to message other editors and collaborate with them or even communicate with Wikipedia representatives and help center if any problems were to arise. I am aware of the already exiting talk page that is available, but this chat system offers a more private setting so that everyone wouldn’t have access to the content talked about on your talk page. This would also help to view who is currently online so that editors could communicate with each other. In addition, the chat system could also guarantee immediate responses as the message would pop up on a separate tab within the site you are on. Another piece of advice I have for Wikipedia is to require people to add a detailed summary of the changes they made and the reason for those changes. I have discovered that it is fairly easy to bypass the summary section and have personally experienced people making changes on my additions to an article without any summary or reason for why they changed it. Making this summary and reasoning a requirement will enhance the collaborative environment this community offers.

From my perspective, the recommendations that I suggested were based on the many theories and principles I have learned from the course materials. One of the main theories and principles that explicitly serves as the foundation of my recommendations and advice would be the theory of identity-based commitment. Most of the recommendations I made were about enhancing the ways users can engage with each other. From my perspective, this would lead the users who are actively editing articles to form a identity-based commitment which is about feeling like you belong and are a part of a community and have the desire to fulfill the community’s mission. Overall, my recommendations should be taken more seriously than just random advice from a new user because I have based my recommendation on a theory I have learned during the course and this recommendation will undoubtedly help users to feel like they belong with the community.

Throughout this entire experience, I discovered that a concept from the course materials that connects would be extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Most of these motivations arose during the work I was doing on Wikipedia. The extrinsic motivation would be the grade I would receive after my work is evaluated. I wanted to push out the best quality work I could and exceed all the expectations in order to get the highest grade that is achievable. Another extrinsic motivation would be the acclamation and compliments I would receive from making a better version of an already existing article. An intrinsic motivation that came about during this experience was drawn out by the topic I chose. The article I chose to edit was on the Bite of Seattle. This was an event that I used to attend as a child and an even that I grew up with. I was displeased and disappointed to see the quality of the original version of the article and wanted to improve it. Furthermore, there were many other theories and concepts that we covered that were applied through this experience. However, there were also some that weren’t applied. Some of the concepts that were undoubtedly applied includes that many different types of commitments, why users are motivated to continuously engage with the community, norms and regulations, etc. A handful of the concepts that weren’t applied include the ‘dark side’ of commitment, many of the threats (i.e. trolls, spammers, etc.), etc. Based on my entire experience, the only changes or additions I would make were the recommendations that I suggested. Another thing that I got out of this experience was learning why Wikipedia is different from other communities. I believe it is mainly due to the size of the community and how most of the users engage by editing articles to continuously improve them.