User:DASonnenfeld



David A. Sonnenfeld is Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Environmental Policy, at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF), in Syracuse, New York. I've been contributing to Wikipedia since 2006. My professional homepage is: https://www.esf.edu/faculty/sonnenfeld/index.php.

Lists
Early in contributing to Wikipedia, I enjoyed creating list articles. The taxonomy involved gave me a sense of making order out of chaos, helping people – including myself! – find and develop sets of related Wikipedia articles and identify gaps where new articles were needed. Among list articles I've initiated:


 * List of forestry journals
 * List of historic schools of forestry
 * List of types of formally designated forests

One challenge with list-articles is developing them into substantive, value-added encyclopedia articles, more than simple lists or 'directories'.

(Forestry was not, for the most part, my primary academic focus, but it's a fascinating, interdisciplinary subject and field, rich in history and human interaction with the natural environment, and involving peoples, cultures and institutions around the world. As with so many areas on Wikipedia, there are many contributions to be made.)

Navigation boxes
I've also found navigation boxes to be useful in 'gathering' and highlighting (curating) related articles in Wikipedia. Among those I've initiated:

A challenge with navigation boxes is keeping them trim: when too big, they become cumbersome and less useful.

WikiProjects
I'm largely inactive in WikiProjects at this time. I was a co-founder of WikiProject Globalization. Other WikiProjects I have been involved with include:

Editing tools

 * Wikipedia New pages feed
 * Wikipedia New pages listing

The following navigation boxes are useful references for editing on Wikipedia:

Awards
Please see my awards and recognition page.

Userboxes
Many Wikipedia editors display userboxes on their user page to share a few things about themselves, including their Wikipedia editing philosophy. Several that serve that function for me: