User:Kev.w.pri/subpage

When I first started the semester and found out that we would be writing articles for Wikipedia, I was pretty jazzed. I mean, it's Wikipedia! That thing that everyone uses to make themselves seem like less of an idiot at social gatherings! Don't know any of the current members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives? Wikipedia's got you covered! Need to know the climate of Coral Springs, Florida? Don't worry-- Wikipedia knows. Wikipedia has been around for me during every school report (that I was specifically told NOT to use Wikipedia for), every middle school 5 paragraph essay (same deal as before), and every random fact I have ever wanted to know. And now I was going to be a part of it! If only I could decide what I wanted to write about...

And that was my first problem. I had no idea! First of all, how was it possible that there were topics that hadn't already been covered by Wikipedia? I couldn't wrap my mind around this idea. But, as society evolves, our thirst for knowledge continues to grow. We need to know what things like chub rub are, or who the YouTube entertainer Cr1tikal is--and that's where Wikipedia's requested articles come into play. As new discoveries are made or new information is found (or weird new internet trends emerge), Wikipedia will update it's list of seemingly endless articles-in-need. I tried looking through that mass of requests, but it was overwhelming and I still couldn't decide. I tried thinking of things that I was interested in, and I thought of something! The It's a Wonderful Life Festival in Seneca Falls, NY (otherwise known as The REAL Bedford Falls). I was so excited! I found something to write about that I was genuinely interested in!

But all good things must come to an end... I couldn't find enough information on this little festival that apparently not that many people actually know about. It probably wouldn't have been deemed notable enough to merit an article, anyway, so it's for the best. So that idea was scrapped. Then I thought about writing an article for the Johns Hopkins Transverse Myelitis Center! It was perfect! It was definitely notable, I was sure I could find loads of information about it, and it was interesting-ish to me! My dad has/had Transverse Myelitis, so I thought this would be an interesting, engaging thing for me to spend my semester researching! Especially because we've gone to seminars at this very center! .... But this idea got scrapped, too, unfortunately. In all honesty, I just couldn't focus on it. It was interesting to me emotionally, but not stimulating me mentally. I got bored.

Then I struck gold!!! And also only had, like, 3 or 4 days before we had to publish our articles for the first time!!! And thus my sweet, sweet WikiBaby, Above Average Productions, was born. I don't remember exactly how I decided to choose this topic--maybe I had just been wasting time on the internet watching their videos when the idea came to me... Regardless, I found something fun, interesting, with a lot of information AND notability. What's more is that, as someone wildly into comedy, I could use the fact that I wrote a whole Wikipedia article about them as leverage if/when I applied for a job with them after I graduate!!! It was PERFECT.

So it was time to get down to business. The great part about Wikipedia, is the Sandbox. "Sandboxes both speed up the learning process for newcomers and reduce the harm to the community that newcomers might otherwise cause" Had I not had a sandbox to work in, I'm not sure I ever would have written this article. Sure, I could have written it in word and just hoped I was getting all of my Wikipedia formatting and citations right, but we all know that wouldn't have been the case. If I had to start my article publicly, I would feel nervous about people seeing the unfinished product! When I'm writing, my page is a free-for-all. An idea might come out of the blue for my fourth paragraph while I'm in the middle of the third sentence of my first paragraph--I stop writing that sentence and immediately just start typing out my ideas for that fourth paragraph. This happens constantly, whether it's fully formed ideas or just snippets of possible topics to discuss. My sandbox looked like a cell wall inside an insane asylum, riddled with nonsense messages. Had anyone seen that, they would have a) taken down my article and b) had me institutionalized, probably. But, I eventually moved my article into the main space and started my brand new life as a Wikipedian (is that a term?). I remember being so excited about finally having my article published! In class, Lauren and I were gushing about how cool we thought it was/how nervous we were about making the leap. After that, we just had to play the waiting game to see what would happen with our pride and joys.

And then it happened. My first interaction with someone from Wikipedia!!! Kraut and Resnick state that "Initial positive interactions help retain new members," and this first interaction definitely proved that. It was a simple interaction, really--no words exchanged, no life stories shared. No, it was simply a correction of some typos in my article (specifically, ). But I was officially part of the community! Or at least that's what it felt like to me, because I wasn't just in our class bubble anymore. It was as if this person who edited my article was saying "Hey! I see you doing you, and I like it! Welcome to Wikipedia! Might I suggest this change? You're doing great! Love you!".... or something along those lines. Either way, it felt great.

But after that the magic DIED.

Okay, not really, but things definitely slowed down a bit. I got a few more typo fixes on my article and suggestions on how to improve it, but honestly, I was losing interest in Wikipedia. I had basically finished my article, aside from adding an Infobox (which, to be fair, was exciting. Like... way too exciting), and I was tossing around the idea of starting another article, but I just had no time. But then it came time to write this reflection, and my passion was reignited. Not because I was thinking about my humble beginnings or anything, but because I was procrastinating! Yes, my procrastination led to the rebirth of my Wikipedia passion. How, you ask? Because I started adding userboxes to my Userpage of course!!! Kraut and Resnick say that "providing user profile pages and flexibility in personalizing them increases self-disclosure and interpersonal liking and thus bonds-based commitment"  and I wholeheartedly agree. Part of the reason I refused to stop playing Neopets when I was younger was because I spent so much time personalizing my page with cool backgrounds and music! And now, on my user page, I have some information about me! And I feel more vulnerable, honestly, and that's great. I feel like I'm open to making genuine connections with people on Wikipedia, no matter how much I'm silently judging myself for saying that.

What I really feel locked me into the Wikipedia community, however, was joining WikiProject Comedy. Honestly, I feel like this WikiProject was designed by someone who took this class, or at least studied online communities in the past. First of all, there's the social aspect of joining a WikiProject (I think... I just joined two days ago. Let's assumed I'm right in my assumptions). This WikiProject has the goal of going through Wikipedia and finding any articles related to comedy, and labelling them as such. The project ranks articles, improves articles, and suggests new articles to be written. Some of these tasks, like copy-editing articles, are pretty dull. But "it is possible to make otherwise-tedious tasks more engaging by combining them with social interaction" The Project has a list of all the members, and discussion between members is very much possible and encouraged, it seems.

The fact that they have a list of members is another aspect of how they might be keeping people engaged! First of all, it's clear to see the size of the group--I was the 75th member to sign up (people come and go as they please). Because of the smaller size of this project, "people will contribute more... if they think their contributions make a difference to the group's performance" If there's only 75 of us right now, I feel that I am much more needed and valuable to the group! Had there been thousands of members, I would feel insignificant and uninspired to help. Additionally, in regards to the list of members, everyone has written a little bit about what type of comedy they like next to their username. This simple fact makes it easier to relate to people and gives me a sense of who everyone is, and "highlighting interpersonal similarity fosters closeness among individual members and bonds-based commitment".

Also, just as an added bonus, they have a list of all the needed contributions within the community, which "increases the likelihood that the community will provide them"

Anyway, I'm pushing my luck with my word count and have been rambling on for a while now. All in all, I've had a really great time becoming a Wikipedian (again, I'm not sure if that's a term, but I really like it). I feel like this is something that I could stick with, because I'm interested in it AND because the community is smart and has trapped me, what with it's clear guidelines and possibilities for socializing and divulging personal information. I'm very happy that this was a part of my capstone, because it's been genuinely fun.

Thank you, Professor Reagle, for a great semester! :)