User:Dannyryan33/Wikipedia Reflection

Throughout the duration of the course, the interactions and skills that I have learned from the online community of Wikipedia has created a respect and gratitude toward the community. I learned that Wikipedia is a family of people that truly care about supporting one another in the pursuit in delivering the most accurate information possible. My first interaction with Wikipedia was in elementary school. I remember my teacher sternly telling me: "Do not ever use Wikipedia, it is an unreliable website where anyone can edit and make up ideas". Since that interaction with my teacher I can sadly say I have had a bias against Wikipedia in which I thought it was a place to get quick facts but to never rely on. Being exposed to the community and especially the people that surround the platform proved my teacher (especially) as well as myself were very very wrong. As labeled in Wikipedias mission statement the platform is used "to create and distribute a free encyclopedia of the highest possible quality to every single person on the planet in their own language". The importance of delivering the most accurate information is clear. Wikipedia is so effective in doing so because of the management of newcomers to the site, the moderation of edits made to different pages, and community governance over what is and what is not acceptable. Each of which I encountered when contributing the page Bearskin Neck. Since the topic I wrote about was a geographic area, I felt the article to be straightforward and not spark much conversation, which was true. However, the Wikipedia community still helped me through the process.

When I was introduced to the idea of joining and contributing to Wikipedia I must admit I was intimidated and overwhelmed. First of all I am not great with computers. I know how to do the basics to get through college but nothing more than that. Second, I do not believe that my writing ability is very good. Let alone for it to be displayed in a public setting for the world to see. Yet to my relief I was welcomed with open arms. Within minutes of joining the community Ian (Wiki Ed) reached out to me. Wishing me the best of luck in my editing. Ian also pointed me in the direction of training, core principals of Wikipedia, and the Teahouse, which is a sub-community of editors that are dedicated to helping out new users. Ian is a prime example of management of newcomers. Using Kraut's ideas of "socialization", Ian is reaching out to teach me how to behave in the ways that are appropriate to the community. Ian is also acting upon what Kraut & Resnick, in chapter 5, characterized as "Problem 3: Keeping Newcomers Around". Ian was doing his best to allow a positive first impression of Wikipedia. The goal here is to keep me (a newcomer) in the community for as long as possible so that I will eventually turn into a committed member. The ideas presented show that in order for this to be effective I must learn the ropes and form relationships with current members. Ian has begun the start of a relationship and has created an atmosphere that newcomer feels welcome too. For me almost all of my anxiety about contributing to the community was lifted. It was clear that I would be guided in the right direction and coached by current members in order to make me a successful Wikipedian.

When creating my article I had my first encounter with moderators flagging my page for grammar, style, and cohesion. Seeing this caused me some panic as a classmate had her article flagged and it was immediately taken down. I did not mean to have poor grammar or bad styling it was just my style of writing. Therefore seeing this flag was a little demeaning. I did my best to go through and make the changes that I thought were needed but the flag did not disappear. In this moment I felt defeated as I thought it was solely my responsibility to make the edits and clean up my page. I quickly saw that this was not true. Multiple different users were fixing my grammar and adjusting the article to fit the Wikipedia style. The main criticism that I received involved making claims that were opinionated and not backed up by sources. As labeled in the guidelines it shows that unsourced claims would be questioned and taken down. Which they were. I was amazed at the speed of the moderators. To think they are volunteers performing their duty to the community in order to have the most accurate information portrayed quickly made me realize that Wikipedia is a very reliable source. The moderation of Wikipedia is enforced closely to the guidelines which in return makes for a successful community. James Grimmelmann points out in "The Virtues of Moderation" that a well-moderated community is a productive community. "it will generate and distribute valuable information goods". In my situation the moderators were not questioning my ideas but making sure I was putting fourth the most accurate information I could in the clearest way possible. Wikipedias success can be credited vastly to its moderation practices.

The Bearskin Neck page was an important page for me to contribute to Wikipedia. Growing up at the location with many memories as well as the American historical importance it holds made me believe it deserved its own page on Wikipedia. Writing the page I was prepared for the governance of Wikipedia to question it using their guidelines. The two areas that I think someone could argue my page should be taken down is for lack of notability and for potential advertising. In the guidelines of Wikipedia it is clearly labeled that the article must be notable. Since Bearskin Neck is such a small area that lacked documentation, I thought it may not be notable enough. However, after further research their are many notable historic moments that occurred on the peninsula. Secondly, Bearskin Neck is now a tourist destination with many shops. If I did not word my article correctly, it could have been seen as an advertisement for tourism. Fortunately I did not have any interaction with governance on Wikipedia. The governance of Wikipedia reminds me of the "Reddiquette" page that we visited. As long as you come in good faith you most likely will not have an issue on Wikipedia. However, failure to obey the rules specifically rules laid out in the banning policy create severe punishments. As we see in the Wiki banning policy page in a nutshell "Problematic behaviour may lead to editing restrictions (partial or complete) to be applied to any editor, either by community consensus or by the Arbitration Committee". Governance of Wikipedia is necessary and failure to follow laid out rules results in potentially severe punishment.

Wikipedia is an online community that I have learned to respect very much. Throughout the duration of the course, the interactions and skills that I have learned from producing the Bearskin Neck page have changed the way I look at how Wikipedia operates. The support that I received from the community, classmates, and Professor Reagle illustrate why Wikipedia has been so successful over the years. I had no idea so much went into this site. I also had no idea that it was such an active community with people who genuinely care about providing the best information possible to the world. The importance of delivering the most accurate information is clear. Wikipedia is so effective in doing so because of the management of newcomers to the site, the moderation of edits made to different pages, and community governance over what is and what is not acceptable. I genuinely enjoyed creating a page on Wikipedia. It gave me a source of pride especially seeing that my page had been linked to the Rockport, MA main page. To know that I have created a page that can provide individuals with information about a location that is so close to my heart is very meaningful to me. It was truly a great experience contributing the past few months Dannyryan33 (talk) 03:50, 3 December 2021 (UTC)