User:Alex.yuan011995/Report

This is my first time being a "Wikipedian" which refers to individual contributors on Wikipedia. Before this assignment, I've never had any experience in this type of online community, so I spent quite some time understanding the norms of Wikipedia and how to become a better contributor on it. During this seven-week duration of the assignment, I've started from scratch and ended up becoming comparably familiar with not only the editing skills but also how members within the Wikipedia community interact with each other. As a contributor, I've learned about how to improve a Wikipedia article appropriately. First, I paid close attention on the sources I intended to cite since articles on Wikipedia have really specific requirements regarding this issue. I had to make sure the sources are current, secondary and trustworthy before addressing their information to the article. Second, I worked hard on my tone when editing on Wikipedia. Being neutral and non-persuasive are the keys as a valued contributor but it's actually pretty difficult to comply those rules accordingly at all times especially when dealing with a large amount of words and information. Third, avoiding critical issues including plagiarism and copyright violation were the most complicated things when editing the article. In my opinion, no one will intend to plagiarize other people's works or violate the copyright (assuming good faith); however, it's extremely easy to accidentally cross that line. I made a huge efforts to avoid any close paraphrasing which is considered as plagiarism during the editing process, and I've always been checking whether my direct quotes or attached images were free to use on Wikipedia. For me, being a "Wikipedian" is never an easy job and it involves tons of professional skills rather than just simply typing or deleting words for an article. Nevertheless, the reason why Wikipedia community is so strong and well-organized is that there are numerous contributors dedicating themselves to it and making sure newcomers are able to be familiar with the norms and other skills in order to create more valued contributors for the site. After completing the assignment, I have some advices for the Wikipedia community and Wikimedia Foundation. In my opinion, sandbox is one of the most important place for drafting contents or even composing a brand new article. Even though people will assume good faith on community members, newcomers could still be a huge threat towards any online community. According to the lecture, newcomers, especially for a large amount of users, can severely harm the online communities, and create irreversible damages to them. Although Wikipedia has already been a well-structured and well-developed online community for a long time, there might still be a chance for newcomers to post negative impacts on it. My suggestions focus on extending the function of sandbox specifically for newcomers on Wikipedia. At this moment, sandbox on Wikipedia provides a safe place for new Wikipedians to work on their editing skills before contributing to the real online community. I believe it will be a good idea to create various small societies through sandbox for newcomers to interact with each others and also make sure there are some senior Wikipedians who have deep knowledge about how to become a successful contributors assisting those newcomers in those groups. Some important features of those societies may including the followings. First, when newcomers start to practice editing through the sandbox, Wikipedia should generate small groups that gather amateur users together. It may also categorize them with their topics. For instance, people who are interested in the same Wiki Projects may be put into the same groups. Second, creating communicating function through talk page particularly for those within the same groups in order for them to have conversations with each other. In that case, newcomers may be able to discuss about new findings for certain sources, brainstorming ideas towards how they plan to edit the articles, solving problems when encountering any during the editing process. Third, making sure there are senior Wikipedians involved within those groups so as to provide aids and offer suggestions for newcomers if they experience any issue that could not be easily dealt with. Those editors with more experiences will be a crucial factor for newcomers to succeed. They may provide constructive advices to individuals and most importantly, they have the ability to stop newcomers from doing anything that may harm the online community as they spot some unacceptable behaviors. Although Wikipedia is a mature online community and the norms of the site have been clearly stated, enhancing the function of sandbox as I proposed above could be a good idea to minimize the risk of any destructive behaviors caused by newcomers. After all, no online communities want to risk any chance of experiencing Eternal September. As for the connection between my personal experience of editing Wikipedia articles and the course concepts, I found out that since Wikipedia is a mature online community and its user base is enormous, the norms of Wikipedia is extremely strict and explicit. As we discussed in class, the more developed an online community is, the more strict and explicit the norms should be set. For example, the GNOME Code of Conduct covering detailed prohibited behaviors instead of coming up with some general rules is exactly how Wikipedia set up the norms for the community. During the editing process, I've learned about how detailed and explicit the norms are stated, and Wikipedia has been strictly enforcing those rules in order to maintain its function and protect users' rights. To sum it up, I've learned a lot from this Wikipedia assignment, and I've been able to gain further knowledge regarding how to become a successful online community member. There are a large amount of norms and rules for Wikipedia and all other online communities, and many people keep making huge efforts to enforce them in order to make sure the fundamental functions of them are maintained and the environments are safe and friendly for all users. As I now have some basic knowledge about online communities, I'll urge myself to improve in different ways as an online contributor, and I'm also willing to provide aids to newcomers and coming up with constructive advices to make them better.