User:Ks0stm/Discourse Community 2

My group in Principles of English Composition I is assigned to do an essay over online discourse communities. Two of us are doing Wikipedia based communities. Part of the assignment is interviewing people from the discourse community, and these are my questions. Please answer any and all to the extent that you want (especially the one about describing yourself).


 * 1) Describe yourself demographically (as specific as you are willing to get).
 * 2) Italian, 24, studying Literary Translation for my MD, sadder than I was when I was dumber. Zidanie5 (talk) 23:29, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
 * 3) What activities are you involved in on Wikipedia?
 * 4) Mainly translating articles that in en.wiki are too small or absent (from it. and es.). Also fixing typos and other gnome things. Zidanie5 (talk) 23:29, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
 * 5) What made you start editing Wikipedia, motivated you to continue editing, and what is the main reason you continue editing today?
 * 6) Started because I felt I could give my help, motivated me -> nothing because everything seemed too hard, main reason I really started and keep on editing now is the IRC channel, they help you learn by yourself. Also: Editing wiki adds to my own knowledge and I train in translation in a context which is not University. I learn new things. Zidanie5 (talk) 23:29, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
 * 7) What makes Wikipedia special compared to other websites?
 * 8) Probably the fact that it will be a work-in-progress forever. And that its goals are not hindered at all by this. Zidanie5 (talk) 23:29, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
 * 9) What are some examples of things about Wikipedia and its community that contribute to it being a unique discourse community (things such as unique vocabulary, things about the people who participate, etc.)?
 * 10) Can't really understand the concept of discourse community. Zidanie5 (talk) 23:29, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
 * 11) How do people outside of Wikipedia view Wikipedia?
 * 12) I guess most of the young people understands the concept and its ideals and potentiality better than most of the older ones. Zidanie5 (talk) 23:29, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
 * 13) How do people view your participation with Wikipedia?
 * 14) Those who know about it, positively. Zidanie5 (talk) 23:29, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
 * 15) What about Wikipedia itself would you change if given the chance?
 * 16) I'd make a complete reorganization of all the help, rules and guidelines pages, to make them less dispersive and discouraging. Zidanie5 (talk) 23:29, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
 * 17) What is your favorite thing about the Wikipedia discourse community?
 * 18) See above at q5. Zidanie5 (talk) 23:29, 13 October 2011 (UTC)

If you answered the questions here, please also take the time to answer my partner's questions at User:Ks0stm/Discourse Community 1 if you haven't already done so. Thanks in advance for participating in these interviews. Ks0stm (T•C•G•E) 22:16, 13 October 2011 (UTC)

Answers by TParis

 * Describe yourself demographically (as specific as you are willing to get).
 * White, male, 25, Live in Texas, born in Oregon, associates degree, 2 kids, married.
 * What activities are you involved in on Wikipedia?
 * Administrative work such as deletions, user names, and disputes.
 * What made you start editing Wikipedia, motivated you to continue editing, and what is the main reason you continue editing today?
 * I started editing because of a book I was interested in. I continued editing because I had some spare time and I enjoyed doing WP:CSD work.  I found that folks generally had a bad impression of CSD taggers and so I wanted to combat those opinions by presenting an editor who tagged exactly as and in the spirit of how the criteria was written.  I continued editing because going to Wikipedia became a daily habit.
 * What makes Wikipedia special compared to other websites?
 * The community. I enjoy the collaboration with folks of all different cultures. The only kinds of people who don't fit in Wikipedia are folks with extremist points of view (whatever they are) who are willing to argue to the death about their viewpoints and cannot stomach any form of compromise. Wikipedia, in my opinion, is proof that folks with differences can get along.
 * What are some examples of things about Wikipedia and its community that contribute to it being a unique discourse community (things such as unique vocabulary, things about the people who participate, etc.)?
 * Definitely the style of self governance. There is a bit of anarchy, a bit of democracy, a bit of bureaucracy, and a bit of a republic all going on at the same time.  I also like how all policies are independent each other, dependent on each other, and completely ignorable.  I like how editors can chose and apply policies differently depending on the context and there is still breathing room for common sense.
 * How do people outside of Wikipedia view Wikipedia?
 * I think folks outside of Wikipedia view Wikipedia as hostile. I think the problem is that folks want Wikipedia to reflect the truth but the truth is ambiguous depending on who is saying it.  If folks understood that Wikipedia is a tertiary source, I think they'd understand us better.
 * How do people view your participation with Wikipedia?
 * Hopefully I am viewed favorably. I try to edit in good faith and to the betterment of the project.  I'm not seen as a veteran by anyone's standards, but I hope I am at least respected to some degree.
 * What about Wikipedia itself would you change if given the chance?
 * If I had the chance, I would change the way Wikipedia is perceived. I think this might be a bit outside of the spectrum of "Wikipedia itself" but that's what I would change. I wish I could change folks perceptions that Wikipedia is hard to edit and that Wikipedia isn't a good source for information. Wikipedia may not be a reliable source, but it's great for any research project looking to get started and find sources. I also wish folks could put Wikipedia's policies in context and realize this is an encyclopedia; and then they wouldn't get upset that their page on their cat "Fluffy" was deleted and call me a 'virgin asshole (even though I have two kids) who gets a hard on deleting pages.'
 * What is your favorite thing about the Wikipedia discourse community?
 * I kind of answered that in #4.

Answers by Fluffernutter

 * Describe yourself demographically (as specific as you are willing to get).
 * White female, 30-something. Unmarried, no kids. American.
 * What activities are you involved in on Wikipedia?
 * Small maintenance edits (things like keeping categories clean), administrative tasks like blocking and deleting, and higher-level tasks like oversighting information that can't be allowed to stay in page histories.
 * What made you start editing Wikipedia, motivated you to continue editing, and what is the main reason you continue editing today?
 * I got a job that called for me to use Wikipedia a lot to do small fact checks. I found myself correcting typos, and then reverting vandals, and then helping in maintenance, and suddenly here I am years later, still editing and taking on increasingly more responsibility. I think I stay because it's something I can do to be useful in the world, something small that doesn't take a lot of effort but has a lot of impact.
 * What makes Wikipedia special compared to other websites?
 * The fact that anyone can do any task. There's no "you must do this" or "you can't do this"; if I want to spend a day fixing tiny reference errors, I can do that, and at the same time, if I find a page that looks like a giant mess, I don't have to edit it. If I don't fix something, someone else will happen along and fix it, and if I add something that's not perfect, someone else will be excited that they got to fix something.
 * What are some examples of things about Wikipedia and its community that contribute to it being a unique discourse community (things such as unique vocabulary, things about the people who participate, etc.)?
 * We have the wall of jargon that insulates active wikipedians from outsiders - in any Wikipedia discussion, you'll find people quoting TLAs at each other and everyone knowing exactly what the alphabet soup means. We also have, at times, a gladiatorial engagement style - you have to be willing to go head-to-head with other editors to defends changes you make sometimes. This makes the community lean fairly strongly toward including the type of people who are willing to argue, and excluding the people who are driven off by fighting.
 * How do people outside of Wikipedia view Wikipedia?
 * Inasmuch as they view us at all (I'm always surprised to find that I know people who have never used Wikipedia and have no idea what it's for), I think they tend to view us as an ivory tower of defensive information nerds. It's common to hear "yeah, I tried to add something once, but the editors removed it", as if the community is a single, controlling body like a newspaper has.
 * How do people view your participation with Wikipedia?
 * Non-wikipedians view it with bemusement (after I was recently promoted to oversighter, I had a friend ask me if this meant that now I got paid). Wikipedians seem to view me (surprisingly often) as a sane, calm voice. My theory is that this is because I'm one of the people less given to the willing-to-fight attitude I mentioned a few questions ago.
 * What about Wikipedia itself would you change if given the chance?
 * I would make editing more user-friendly, both technically - our help pages, for example, are a complete, incomprehensible disaster - and socially - we tolerate too many people who refuse to play well with others just because they have a "big" name. If editing Wikipedia isn't a pleasant experience for someone, they're not going to stick around to give us the benefit of their knowledge or passion.
 * What is your favorite thing about the Wikipedia discourse community?
 * The influx of opinions in any discussion can be overwhelming, but it can also be valuable. Five people could be trying to make the same point, but none doing it perfectly, and after reading each other's thoughts and collaborating on the problem, the five could collectively reach a better understanding of what they're trying to say and how best to say it. That's the sort of input you don't get on, say, a business document, and it means that we're capable of drilling down in a more exacting manner than a one-author document is.

A fluffernutter is a sandwich! (talk) 15:35, 14 October 2011 (UTC)

Answers by Chzz

 * Describe yourself demographically (as specific as you are willing to get).

English; mostly anonymous.
 * What activities are you involved in on Wikipedia?

I've been involved in almost all areas of Wikipedia; the #1 thing I do is, helping other (mostly new) users. I've also written many articles, including GA/FA, joined in hundreds of discussions (WP:AN, WP:ANI, WP:AFD, WP:RFA, etc), patrolled new pages (WP:NPP), and many other things.
 * What made you start editing Wikipedia, motivated you to continue editing, and what is the main reason you continue editing today?

a) Decided to improve an article about a place I know, b) met nice people who helped me, and then got involved with helping them, c) I'm actually not sure I will continue editing, but if I do, the main motivation is because I like helping people add to the 'sum of all human knowledge'.
 * What makes Wikipedia special compared to other websites?

I don't know how Wikipedia can be compared to 'other websites' in general; that's like trying to compare one specific meal to 'other foods'. I don't think there is anything even similar to Wikipedia, certainly not in terms of an online Encyclopaedia of this size/popularity. There's really no serious 'competition' at this time; it's unique, so that makes it special.
 * What are some examples of things about Wikipedia and its community that contribute to it being a unique discourse community (things such as unique vocabulary, things about the people who participate, etc.)?

As noted above, it is unique, so it has a unique dynamic. Like other communities, we've developed our own acronyms and terminology, which often makes it harder for new users to understand things; that's a well-known issue (WP:WTF). The type of people who participate are not as diverse a group as we'd like, being mostly male/American/geeks; that is also a well-known problem (WP:SYSTEMIC)
 * How do people outside of Wikipedia view Wikipedia?

I have no idea, really; I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'outside wikipedia' - if you mean the ratio of readers to editors, then that's about 1000 to 1 (see the various surveys). As to their view of it, I don't really know; I suppose they mostly find it useful, but many are skeptical about its accuracy - and rightly so; it doesn't guarantee it is accurate. There's lots of detailed analysis of this available; I can't really sum it up in a few words here.
 * How do people view your participation with Wikipedia?

Nobody outside Wikipedia knows much about my involvement with it
 * What about Wikipedia itself would you change if given the chance?

I'd shift our focus away from warning/blocking people, and towards helping them; to try and stop it being treated as a game where people battle vandals/socks - instead, we should focus on quality content. New users need *much* more help than they presently get.
 * What is your favorite thing about the Wikipedia discourse community?

Most Wikipedians, most of the time, are helpful and friendly.

 Chzz  ► 17:18, 17 October 2011 (UTC)