User:Dena.wolfs/reflection

Before joining the Wikipedian community, I had many preconceived notions of what I thought Wikipedia to be. Growing up, I’ve always heard my teachers and professors telling me to steer away from Wikipedia as it is “not credible.” As I’ve gotten older, I realize individuals haven’t taken the time to research and study the online community of Wikipedia in depth to understand its potential. After integrating myself into this new community, I realized that these preconceived notions were not true. While I did have many concerns and worries when joining the new community, I recognized that these are all notions that play a part when joining a new environment.

My biggest concern when joining this online community was making a “mistake” or receiving negative feedback from an integrated member of the community. Robert E. Kraut states that "when newcomers have friendly interactions with existing community members soon after joining a community, they are more likely to stay longer and contribute more." This was the case for me, throughout my experience on Wikipedia I met many talented and kind individuals which encouraged me to participate more and continue editing my article. By immersing myself in this new online community, as a newcomer, I was able to develop a brand new perspective of Wikipedia, gaining valuable and lifelong insight and knowledge from old comers.

In Kraut’s design claim 19, he states that "encouraging newcomers to reveal themselves publicly in profiles or introduction threads gives existing group members a basis for conversation and reciprocation with them and increases interaction between old-timers and newcomers." When I first joined Wikipedia, I followed Kraut’s claim by introducing myself on my personal Wikipedia Talk page to ensure I was able to attempt to integrate myself from the beginning within this new community to create a sense of familiarity among myself. It was a bit nerve-wracking to put myself out there, but Brianda from WikiEducation responded to my introduction and reciprocated my message easing my nerves as a newcomer.

As I slowly integrated myself into the Wikipedian community, mainly by publishing my article to the mainspace, I was then able to interact more with Wikipedians. At first, I was very skeptical and nervous about publishing my article in the main space due to fear of negative feedback. However, based on an experiment conducted at Carnegie Mellon University, they were able to note that receiving positive feedback from old-comers of a community positively impacts work motivation, this adds to the list of why collaborative culture is integral to Wikipedia's success. The first Wikipedian I interacted with was LoomCreek. When I initially published my article in the main space, I re-logged back on and noticed that a Wikipedian was adding and editing the article I published. I reached out to LoomCreek and inquired about his edits. He mentioned that he was open to collaborating on this article with me. As you can see in the edits, LoomCreek recognized that some of my sources from the Sandbox did not transfer over and he so kindly helped me transfer them while editing some of the information I already had for better flow. This interaction and concept of collaboration at the beginning of my experience made the integration process much easier and seamless as a newcomer. What I also recognized was that through this seamless interaction and connection, there was no ulterior extrinsic motivation on either end to complete this article which allowed this Wikipedian and I to form a trusting and solid connection on Wikipedia. Typically, if a group of individuals are all working individually towards achieving the same extrinsic motivated reward there is bound to be a lack of community and willingness to help peers. This all leads to competition and resentment that Whitacre touches upon. "Feeling resentment is a sign that something is wrong: with a social system, with a relationship, or with myself." However, thankfully, I can confidently say that there was no resentment to editing and collaborating on the same article. LoomCreek was very responsive and provided me with multiple “thanks” which made me feel thankful and excited to continue editing and collaborating with LoomCreek.

As I was editing my paper, I realized that there were a few issues with my citations, or the situation could be referred to as an “edit war”. "This conflict can lead to editors repeatedly undoing each other's work in an attempt to make their preferred version of the article visible." The “edit war” I experienced occurred between Laurier and myself altering back and forth between article versions as we were in a bit of a disagreement over a specific source and its content. As you can see in the diff link, Laurier undid my sources and left a comment. In Wikipedia, this can be seen as a norm, however, being a newcomer this was an instance I had not experienced before Wikipedia. The mistake may be seen as "bad behavior" on one Wikipedian's end where maybe the other user may have a different viewpoint. Furthermore, undoing one's actions may be seen as the norm on this platform, whereas on another platform it may be seen as rude.

I reached out to LoomCreek, once again, via the talk page, and he explained the reasoning behind why my citations were being undone. Laurier viewed the citations in my article as not suitable for that specific quote and may speak up about it. Kraut states, "In the face of inevitable turnover, every online community must incorporate successive generations of newcomers to survive." Kraut explains that while newcomers are a great addition to a community providing new insights and perspective to the group there can also be downsides. He states that these newcomers don't yet have a level of loyalty or commitment to the group that old-timers have developed and obtained. As you can see on Laurier’s user page they have been an active member of Wikipedia for around 20 years. Their loyalty and commitment to Wikipedia may have been more recognizable and stronger than mine as a newcomer. In this specific situation, while simply a minor mistake, I could have been seen as somewhat unreliable. Whereas some newcomers may have been inclined to leave the community after facing a slight and minor inconvenience, I took this feedback as a great learning lesson and to be more alert and aware of citing my content. It is said that newcomers "have less motivation to be helpful to the group or to display good organizational citizenship characteristic of many old-timers." In this situation, learning from Laurier inclined me to help other Wikipedian newcomers should they face some of the same mishaps as me. To successfully integrate newcomers into their fold they must use an effective retention approach. In the beginning, I was most likely seen as fragile and the community should create a space where newcomers can feel a tie and understanding of how the group functions to integrate them more smoothly.

LoomCreek did an amazing job of creating this sense of inclusion by recognizing that my source was correct and spoke to Laurier about this miscommunication. In the history, you can see that Laurier mentions the source does not include methylphenidate (Ritalin) and amphetamine (Adderall), however, LoomCreek undoes this and notices that it did contain this information. It was nice to see that LoomCreek helped me out and spoke to Laurier when he did not have to take the initiative to speak up or address the issue.

What I was able to relate to the most throughout this process was a quote mentioned by Kraut "Because they lack experience, when newcomers try to participate, they imperil the work that other community members have already performed" (Kraut p. 179). While I was a new member of this community and brought a new perspective to Wikipedia through my article, some difficulties arose due to my unawareness of how the community functioned. Instead of becoming frustrated, LoomCreek stayed positive and supportive throughout my integration process and was almost similar to a “Wikipedian Celebrity” to me.

Overall, being a newcomer was an incredible experience for me. From meeting very knowledgeable old-comer Wikipedians to learning more about the intricate details and standards every article must adhere to to be published was fascinating. I have never immersed myself into an online community that was similar to Wikipedia but through my positive and negative experiences, I am very glad and proud that I did. With my new expertise in this community, I look forward to hopefully one day publishing another article. Additionally, I plan on checking back in from time to time to see the view count, status, and updates, that have been made on my article. Additionally, I hope to teach other Wikipedian newcomers about the intricate details of Wikipedia, just like LoomCreek did for me when I first joined! On that note and to end with Gratitude, thank you, Professor Reagle, for a great semester and for teaching us all of your knowledge and expertise in this field!

Dena.wolfs (talk) 22:51, 18 April 2024 (UTC)