User:Harperclouston/sandbox

Evaluation of Wiki Articles

Yik Yak

The article has a "start" quality rating. According to the Wikipedia quality scale, this rating means that the article is in development due to insufficient coverage of the topic and does not cite reliable sources. I believe this is an appropriate rating because the article seems insufficient in stating exactly what the app is used for (i.e. college students, general explanations). If I had not known what Yik Yak was previously, I would not have a comprehensive understanding from what the article describes.

As for the relevancy of the information in the article, I had a few issues of distraction. For example, this sentence in the introductory paragraph: "It is similar to other anonymous sharing apps such as Nearby, but differs from others such as Whisper in that it is intended for sharing primarily with those in proximity to the user." Not only does it not have proper citation to a reliable source, it does not add to the article in any way. This sentence forces users to understand the function of Yik Yak through two other applications, which may also be unknown by the user. Therefore, the user then will have to link to the two applications, read the pages, and then apply the functions to Yik Yak. There is no purpose in referencing two other applications and this is a poor way of explaining the function of the application. In places, the writing in general distracted me. For example, this sentence: "Droll dropped out of medical school just before it started and Buffington put his finance career on hold." I just didn't feel like it was a very concise and professional way of writing.

The article was neutral in my opinion. Yik Yak is controversial - those are the facts. Many people know Yik Yak due to the controversies surrounding the application. This is the only sentence that seemed to be an opinion, rather than a fact: "The frequency of bullying and harassment that happens on Yik Yak might be exaggerated by media stories citing specific incidents."

Most of the information of this article comes from news articles, as most of the information covers the reporting of the controversies surrounding Yik Yak. I do believe that some information could be added to this article about the basic function of the application and the demographic that uses the application. Some information that could be added: geofences (Yik Yak sets up geofences around college campuses), information from the study completed by Saveski, Chou, Roy ("Tracking the Yak: An Empirical Study of Yik Yak"), ect.

Overall, I think this article could use a lot of clean up.

Miracle Messages

Miracle Messages does not currently have a Wikipedia page. Therefore, I used various similar types of organization's Wikipedia pages as models to see how to structure/what information to look for. I first looked at the Humans of New York page, as "HONY" is similarly to Miracle Messages an online crowdsourcing, sharing platform that connects and empowers for the betterment of society through media. The HONY page is structured by history, publications, philanthropy, DNKY, and arguments. The side bar includes: type of site, owner (CEO), slogan, website, users, and launched. After looking through a few more crowdsourcing pages, I tentatively decided on the following sections thus far: history, impact (i.e. reunions), coverage in the media, chapters. I think the most important thing to focus on is the fact that this is purely a purely online community whose goal is to lead to social change.

History: Founded in 2014 by Kevin F. Adler, whose Uncle, Mark, had been homeless himself.

Impact: Reunited 15 families thus far. Families have usually spent on average 22.1 years apart.

Coverage in the media: People NYT NPR TechCrunch San Francisco Chronicle

Outside involvement: Volunteer based (i.e. chapters) WIKIPEDIA PAGE DRAFT - miracle messages (starting new article)

Lead Section

Miracle Messages is a company that provides a platform for individuals experiencing homelessness to reunite with their loved ones through short video recordings shared via social media. Miracle Messages is fueled by volunteers that work to reunite the families. 26 families been reunited because of Miracle Messages. The long-term goal of Miracle Messages is to reunite 1 million homeless individuals and their loved ones by 2021 and to foster a more unified society starting at the community levels.

History

Kevin Adler is the CEO and Founder of Miracle Messages. He attributes the founding of the company in 2014 in honor of his Uncle Mark, who experienced homelessness and lived on the streets for 30 years due to his struggle with mental illness. The first video recorded to spark the idea of Miracle Messages was of Jeffery Gottshall, a man living on the streets, who was connected with his sister within 20 minutes of the video being posted online. The company has since expanded from it's San Francisco Headquarters to across the United States through attracting volunteers and the creation of local chapters through crowdsourcing.

Operations

Miracle Messages is operated by local, self-started chapters of volunteers. There are local chapters in the following areas: Texas, the United Kingdom, Canada, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Michigan, Australia, and Missouri. Once a part of the organization, the volunteers are responsible for recording the messages, crowdsourcing the message on relevant social media pages to attract viewers that may know the individual or delivering the recording directly to family member's accounts found through social media lookup, and then facilitating the reunions.

Impact

To date, 26 families have been reunited through Miracle Messages typically within three weeks of the video being posted. Of the families reunited, they had spent an average of 22.1 years apart. According to Miracle Messages, 40% of the reunions result in some form of secure housing for the previously homeless individual. Miracle Messages has been positively received and covered in People, the New York Times, NPR, TechCrunch, and the San Fransisco Chronicle.