User:Alesliemir/Report

Leslie Miranda
Professor Champion

COM 481

Wikipedia Evaluation Essay

In an easily accessible online encyclopedia where anyone can edit and write articles on sites like Wikipedia, the accuracy of the content provided can be questionable. The digital environment grants the community of established Wikipedians the ability to contribute their own interpretations of information, which sometimes result in biased or opinionated tones.

My own experience in editing and adding to the Wikipedia page on Femicide in Mexico gave me insight on the types of contributions Wikipedians make to various articles and topics. Although the Wiki Education modules provided activities and training exercises for new users to learn how to effectively edit and create content, the main features I would say need the most improvement are the organization and standard layouts of Wikipedia articles. The entry I chose to add to seemed slightly disorganized with the headings and subheadings that were listed, and appeared to have been written in an opinionated and persuasive essay format by the original author. The lack of framework certain articles have creates the possibility for a content gap within the entry, which might lead readers to doubt the reliability of the site as a whole if the article for the topic they are looking for is missing specific information they wanted to read about.

The article I decided to research and contribute to discussed Femicide in Mexico. The page itself was flagged with a template that explained the article includes the Wikipedia editor’s personal feelings or arguments towards the topic of femicide. An issue flagged by a maintenance template in the Wiki article can affect the reliability of the information and researched content that is added to the page. This can ultimately lead to individuals that are interested in reading further into the topic to look elsewhere for information that is written in an encyclopedic tone. There would be a decline in the amount of views the page receives, which may also leave viewers with doubts of the validity the article holds. This particular article also displays a lack of organization in the type of content it presents. It fails to include subheadings for statistics and documented femicides that have received media attention in Mexico, which can make the article itself look unfinished and biased since the information added uses phrases that display personal   perspectives.

A key piece of advice that would benefit the Wikimedia Foundation would be to create several Wikipedia templates that can be used to format broad and specific topics. If Wikipedia created customized templates for different types of topics under various categories that people could easily add to, then the amount of incomplete or inaccurate articles would have a stronger structure for the reader to follow and understand. The templates could include specified headings and subheadings for certain topics. For example, a template for topics on femicide in different countries could include subheadings for statistics, reported (femicide) cases, public response, organizations and movements, and methods (of femicides). This feature would provide people with an intrinsic motivation to complete the article entirely based on the guide the template provides for them. They will be able to contribute to the topics they are interested in writing about while also gaining the satisfaction of providing information in a more efficient manner for other Wiki users interested in learning about the same topic.

Although contributing to the creation and editing of a concept on Wikipedia may seem confusing and even intimidating for new users on the encyclopedic platform, people would have a much more enjoyable experience if a variety of structured templates were created to better help authors inform their viewers. This Wikipedia feature would be similar to what Google Docs offers, where there are multiple different templates formatted for whatever focus the entry is on, including resumés, note taking, journal entries, recipes, and lesson plans. This feature would ideally encourage users to contribute more of their knowledge and understandings of the topic, while also gaining a sense of achievement from educating others.