User:Grace raper/sandbox

3/31 - Article Evaluation/Assignment
The Article I am focusing on is Media ecology.

Content


 * Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
 * There was a phrase in the introduction of this article which seemed out of place regarding McLuhan's theory of the medium is the message: "which is an often-debated phrase believed" -- this will require further exploration of the citation.
 * There were a few places, specifically in the Social media activism section which need support to back up what at times read as the editor's opinion, though that may just be from poor phrasing/citation structure.
 * Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
 * It does appear there is a lack of consistency in including a legible timeline within this page, specifically in the case studies sections.


 * What else could be improved?
 * Overall there are some grammatical things I would tighten and a few places where connections could be reasserted to tie sections together more clearly.

Tone


 * Is the article neutral? Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
 * Nothing stuck out to me as heavily-biased, but as noted above, there were some spots that due to poor phrasing came off as not having attributions at first read-through.
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
 * One of the strengths of this article is the very detailed array of viewpoints offered therein.

Sources


 * Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?
 * I encountered a few issues in the 10 or so links I clicked through -- the biggest issue is that some of the research articles are either hidden behind a login for an organization or inaccessible.
 * There were a few sources I questioned the legitimacy of, such as sources with an implicit religious bias.
 * Many of the 70+ sources are books, so it is harder to ascertain the veracity of those citations.


 * Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
 * As noted above, there are places where I feel biased sources may have been utilized, especially as they are being used without indication of the bias.
 * There are areas that could use more citations, especially the more contemporary studies section.

Checking the talk page


 * What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
 * Ironically a large part of this page's talk area is devoted to other students who have peer reviewed each other's work in that space. There are some older (early 2010s) messages debating certain sections and how to better translate "ecology" outside of the natural science connotation for readers to better understand.
 * How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
 * This page is pretty stellar -- it's part of two WikiProjects: WikiProject Philosophy and WikiProject Media. It is also recognized as being used in multiple educational courses at institutions such as Georgetown University.


 * How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?
 * Obviously this connects a lot of class material (Neil Postman, Marshall McLuhan, Walter J. Ong) but also provides more background and current day case studies, which are useful in seeing how to apply this theory in the future.

Places for improvement, broken down by section.

 * 1) Walter Ong -- could use clarification on importance to media ecology
 * 2) Other contributors -- very redundant, could easily be compressed without an official header for this section? (May ask about this on the Talk page)
 * 3) Under the criticism section, the issues with "the medium is the message" are presented (in my opinion) poorly -- it reads as though McLuhan himself is defending his work. This section will require clean up and most likely sources to refute the criticism rather than asserting those refutations as fact.
 * 4) Various grammatical tightening throughout the entire piece -- there are places which become fairly redundant for seemingly no reason.
 * 5) Found multiple redundancies/different citations within the references section -- all done in different formats... Probably need cleaning up.

Annotated Bibliography:
McLuhan, E., & Zhang, P. (2012). PIVOTAL TERMS IN MEDIA ECOLOGY: A DIALOGUE. Et Cetera, 69(3), 246-276. Retrieved from http://proxy.foley.gonzaga.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.proxy.foley.gonzaga.edu/docview/1033346594?accountid=1557


 * A fascinating look at the gramatical structure of McLuhan's thesis that "the medium is the message" can both help the criticism section and multiple sections related to McLuhan's writings/intentions.

Ong, W. J. (1988). Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. London ; New York: Routledge.


 * A brief overview of Ong's work re: the change from orality to literacy as a paradigm shift within human culture. As we transitioned away from oral culture and into a more literate one, we began to think more abstractly. (Ties in also to Postman's opening chapter of Technopoly.

Ruotsalainen, J., & Heinonen, S. (2015). Media ecology and the future ecosystemic society. European Journal of Futures Research,3(1). doi:10.1007/s40309-015-0068-7


 * A beneficial source for the new media/future implications of media ecology and the role media/the Internet play in the networking of an entire society.

Strate, L. (2012). Counting electric sheep: Understanding information in the context of media ecology. Information, 3(3), 442–471. MDPI AG. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/info3030442


 * Strate is used as a source throughout this page, but this is a newer work, which connects some of his earlier ideas on media ecology, which could be used to fill in and reinforce sections of this article such as the criticism area.

Treré, E. (2018). Hybrid media activism : Ecologies, imaginaries, algorithms. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com


 * Another reference who has been cited but contributed more recent work to this field, Treré spends the first part of this book evaluating several other Spanish movements in the context of media ecology, which could reinforce that section of this page.

4/14 - Added citation/edited article
1) Added to the Walter Ong section of the article with citation number 2.


 * Ong explored the changes in human thought and consciousness in the transition from a dominant oral culture to a literate one in his book Orality and Literacy.

2) Added citation under "the medium is the message" where there was an unattributed statement about McLuhan's theory.


 * This was a citation I didn't realize had never been included -- McLuhan's book with the same name.

3) Added these changes to the Talk page.

Future additions will involve the Treré updated research on case studies, as well as the updated Strate source.

4/28 - Links created/added
Per the training module this week, I have added five links within the Media Ecology page.

1) I linked to Walter J. Ong's own Wiki page.

2) Linked to Buckminster Fuller's own Wiki page.

3) I linked the modality section to the Modality (semiotics) page to better clarify what this paragraph was trying to explain.

4) Linked to the Iranian Revolution page under the case studies section, for ease of comparison with the already linked Egyptian revolution of 2011.

5) I also linked to Post-structuralism within the 'North American, European and Eurasian versions' header.

I posted these to the Talk page and signed it.