User:FrankChen1999/Report

Almost everyone on the internet has heard of or uses Wikipedia. However, few has gone the extra step to start contributing to this encyclopedia community. I was given a chance to learn about doing so in the past few weeks and have learned a lot from this invaluable experience. However, I also have a few suggestions that may improve the experience of another student learning how to edit on Wikipedia.

I was given the task to learn the basics of Wikipedia and eventually improve an article by a level in the Wikipedia quality scale. At that point, I had no idea what factors go into the quality scale and had no expectations. Personally, I work better when I know what assessment criteria I should be going for, so I think there could more clarity. My teaching assistant used a tool that assessed the predictive quality of my article prior to going live, and I was relieved that the article I edited was improved by a quality level. Therefore, if such tool was made available to everyone (who so wishes) while editing their article, it can make the process a lot clearer as to what kind of content should be added or edited, such as neutrality, more sources, media, etc.

Secondly, though some might argue the WikiEdu dashboard is clean and minimalistic, the lack of image or color coding makes it a little difficult to navigate. To reemphasize, I do understand website aesthetics is a personal preference, and that WikiEdu’s simplistic aesthetics do match the Wikipedia aesthetics, this is just my opinion.

Thirdly, it felt overwhelming to learn about source editing when I was first starting. In my opinion, it is more important that new Wikipedians learn about finding quality sources and maintaining neutrality, as opposed to learning netcodes. There is no reason, in my opinion, that visual editing shouldn’t be allowed in talk pages and templates. This will allow for a much easier learning curve and for new Wikipedians to adapt sooner.

Fourthly, an incentive system for Wikipedians might be worth considering. Although the feeling of helping the biggest online encyclopedia is great on its own, it can be hard to retain editors unless there is a points or level system attached, in my opinion. Relying on normative commitment alone might not be enough to retain users. For example, Yelp rewards its elite members, the biggest contributors to the site, with special events, discounts and other privileges.

Lastly, I suggest some form of social translucence, which basically is a virtual environment that updates users of what is happening. This can be a form of a group for projects that are, for example, about the United States, or about food. I believe this environment is healthier for motivation as it creates a sense of identity-based commitment.

To conclude, even though there are quite a few things that I didn’t think was optimal, editing for Wikipedia has still been an excellent experience. I hope to continue to edit for Wikipedia and see the platform continue to thrive.