User:Andrewpengyu/Report

There are aspects that Wikipedia community and foundation can improve in the future. Wikipedia is always seen as a convenient tool for people online to seek basic information. When any problem arises, we always check Wikipedia for appropriate understanding and solutions. Because of  the Econ classes I’m taking right now, I googled terms I was not familiar with and clicked on Wikipedia page for a better understanding. Gaussian White Noise, a professional economic term, was an example. However, when I read over the leading paragraphs on the Wikipedia page, I was still confused and didn’t have a clear clue what it was. The long content and complex explanation made the term even harder to understand. There were five paragraphs in the lead section, I didn’t know which part was useful to read. It’s important for learners to see the concise and clear explanations. I believe many people on Wikipedia just want to get the basic information of topics they search for easily. Audiences would face the problem that they cannot find what they look for. The explanations of the term Gaussian White Noise were hard to understand. A clear and straightforward explanation is also needed for starters who use Wikipedia as a study tool like me. Wikipedia is facing a wide range of audiences who are here for basic information and knowledge, so editors should be carefully editing on Wikipedia pages to make sure content is easy to understand and clear enough to find. It’s necessary for Wikipedia community members to realize convenience and accuranteness are both important.

At the same time, I tried to search for another economic term “Portfolio Return”, but I didn’t see the relative result. It seems there are terms that didn’t get covered by Wikipedia team yet, although I understand there are hundreds and thousands of topics in the world, and it’s hard to cover them all. The community can provide rewards for volunteers who edit more tasks on Wikipedia. In order to satisfy needs from a wide range of viewers, there are more tasks and work Wikipedia community members and volunteers need to do.

I used to think that everyone could edit Wikipedia like it’s a wall on the street that everyone could leave their marks on. But now I realized it’s not that easy. It’s true that Wikipedia is open for everyone to contribute, but there are rules we all have to follow before we make any changes and publish them. When I was choosing the stub topic on Wikipedia, I realized most topics about China are stubs, which were lacking important information. Wikipedia topics Little Sheep, Haidilao, Meet Fresh, and so on are not completed at all, but they are quite popular brands in China and America at the same time. As a Chinese, I felt it was my responsibility to try my best to improve those Wikipedia pages. I want to make sure when people click on Wikipedia pages, they can get a better understanding about those Chinese cuisine culture. I chose the stub topic Little Sheep Group, which is a famous hoptop restaurant company in China. I thought it was easy to complete Little Sheep’s Wikipedia page by just viewing its official website and adding new content from the website to Wikipedia page. But it was not the case. There were problems with copyright and reliable sources I had to worry about. I even used biased and advertised tones in description of the object in the beginning. After peer review, I decided to redo my work. I didn’t just use information from its official website as the only resource, I started to seek more information from other reliable websites and academic papers about the company Little Sheep. I added new content about how the company is established and how it developed for the next decades. There were more backstage stories that I didn’t know about Little Sheep before, such as its acquisition by Yum! Brand Company. The company Little Sheep is not simply a restaurant name, it also represents the Mongolian culture symbol in Chinese catering industry and international hotpot market. By reaching through reliable websites and scholar papers, I had a better understanding about the topic than before. It was an enjoyable process for me, because I had the chance to contribute to this topic that I like and spend time learning and studying.

During the class, we covered that “fun” is an important intrinsic motivation for participating. After experiencing this assignment, I can tell it’s a truly important motivation for participants. People are full of passion when they do anything they like. People join clubs they like, people watch TV shows they like, and so on. Hard work can be easy if they truly like it. We had the chance to choose which topic we are interested in. If the professor just assigned topics randomly, it would not trigger our intrinsic motivation. I like hotpot and I went to Little Sheep a few times before. So I was curious and interested in this company. It became fun to search for more stories and information about this popular brand. The fun I had was my intrinsic motivation. My advice after this experience would be: find something you like as your intrinsic motivation, then you wouldn’t feel like you are wasting your time.

During the class, we also talked about the concept “people will be more willing to contribute in an online group when the group is small than large.” However, I don’t think it’s always the case. Wikipedia community is a good example. Wikipedia is a huge community with participants and volunteers all over the world. People are having really high passion, and everyone can contribute and publish in this community when their texts are good to go. Their willingness to contribute didn’t get influenced by the large size of the community. As a result, it’s a counter example of  the concept that people are less willing to contribute in an online group when the group is large. Maybe that’s why wikipedia is a special community compared with other communities.