User:Merlinderhindergrinder/Evaluate an Article

Evaluate the article
Lead Section

Gives a fairly brief overview of the history of the perennial hoax image. Could be clearer that the hoax image tends to appear in the aftermath of many big storms. Perhaps puts too much emphasis on the one instance in which what may have been a baby shark was photographed on a flooded street in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in 2022.

Content

The content is mostly up-to-date, with the most recent examples from 2022.

Tone and Balance

The article perhaps gives too much coverage to potentially real cases, and could perhaps tamper this by more clearly explaining that these cases are not totally verified and there remains some disagreement among shark experts about the veracity of the images and claims in the Goodna and Fort Myers cases.

Sources and References

The article uses news reports from trusted and responsible media outlets such as Time, BBC, and The New York Times, as well as primary sources of the meme appearing on Twitter.

Organization and Writing Quality

There are a few places where the writing could likely be condensed or clarified. The article is fairly well organized.

Images and Media

The article embeds the original composite image that appears to be the source of the hoax and links out to Peschak's original image of the shark that is used in the composite, which was published in National Geographic.

Talk Page Discussion

The discussion on the talk page focuses on whether the "concept" of Hurricane Shark is real, rather than the authenticity of the photos, which could further contribute to a reader's difficulty in determining whether or not the phenomenon of sharks appearing on roadways after storms is actually a common occurrence. The article is rated C-class, which seems appropriate.

Overall Impressions

Further discussion of examples as well as media attention and social media trends might further develop this article.

Evaluate the article
Lead Section

One of the strengths of the lead section is that it acknowledges that the field of research on digital media use and mental health is growing and that there is not yet consensus among researchers in criteria for diagnosing disorders. It is useful to understand that the field is developing as technologies develop and change and how people use them, and their effects, also develop and change.

One way the lead could improve would be to provide a source or sources for this sentence: "Several large technology firms have made commitments or announced strategies to try to reduce the risks of digital media use."

Content

The content of this article is robust. It covers many different aspects of digital media use and mental health, including gaming, internet addiction, online gambling, and social media. It addresses populations with specific underlying mental health conditions.

One of the points made on the talk page is that the content spends a lot of time discussing the findings of individual studies. The majority of these appear to be from 2019 and earlier. While that is not necessarily a bad thing, it does mean that there is less attention on later studies, which might matter since, as acknowledged in the lead sections, this field of research is developing all the time.

The content of this article is pretty long and it covers a lot of ground. It is possible that this article might benefit from being split into a few different articles addressing the subtopics in this article, linked to one another, of course.

Tone and Balance

It examines both negative and positive effects, so it is trying to be balanced. The writing achieves a neutral tone.

Sources and References

This article is exceptionally well sourced with peer reviewed academic journal articles and books, as well as reports from respected journalistic outlets. This article gives an overview of the state of research on the topic in a way that is accessible to the average reader. Adding more current sources and potentially condensing findings from similar studies could potentially benefit this article.

Organization and Writing Quality

This article is organized and the table of contents is valuable. However, it's possible that splitting the many subtopics covered in this article might make for a better, clearer, reading experience for the reader. I especially think this might be true for the section on social media and mental health - that seems to me to be a candidate for its own article.

Images and Media

This article is illustrated by a stock image of people looking at smartphones, a screenshot of a wellness app, and a diagram from a journal article. This seems reasonable for the topic.

Talk Page Discussion

As mentioned above: One of the points made on the talk page is that the content spends a lot of time discussing the findings of individual studies. The majority of these appear to be from 2019 and earlier. While that is not necessarily a bad thing, it does mean that there is less attention on later studies, which might matter since, as acknowledged in the lead sections, this field of research is developing all the time.

This was a featured article in 2019. I think if it were reviewed again at this moment, it might be downgraded to Good Article.

Overall Impressions

In my opinion, this article could benefit from streamlining the literature review and breaking into smaller, more targeted articles on the subtopics of social media, internet addiction, gaming addiction, and online gambling addiction.

Evaluate the article
Lead Section

This article is pretty short, so the lead section is not set apart as it often is in longer articles. The lead section does provide a general overview / definition of what an internet challenge is and provides two examples.

Content

The content is relevant, if a little thin. There are a few examples provided in the body of the article, and more are provided below in the related pages section and in the list of internet challenges.

Tone and Balance

Tone is mostly neutral and the information is fairly balanced, although I do think it could be both more robust and clearer.

Sources and References

There is room for improvement in sources and references. Some statements do not have sources, such as: "While some challenges have emerged solely within the digital realm, there are instances where challenges or tasks predate the Internet and have resurfaced in a modified form online." There is also a Dutch language source for the claim that someone died doing the Tide pod challenge - this should be replaced with an English language source, if one is available. It would be better for the in-text citations boxes to pop up rather than highlighting the source in the reference list when hovering over the superscript.

Organization and Writing Quality

I think that this article could benefit from a revision and reorganization that both provides more examples and more robust discussion, organized by subheadings naming each aspect of the discussion.

Images and Media

No images or media are embedded in the article.

Talk Page Discussion

This article is rated as a stub, and is rated low importance. I agree that it is currently a stub. In my opinion, the topic warrants a bit more than "low importance" in the history of internet culture.

Overall Impressions

One way I can imagine this article could be improved would be if there was more explicit discussion of the potential benefits and drawbacks of internet challenges. For instance, while the article mentions the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge (and links to that Wikipedia article), it could save the reader's time and help the reader think critically about challenges by mentioning that the goal of this challenge was to raise awareness - and in some cases, money - about ALS and for ALS research. And while the article mentions that people have been injured during challenges and the desire for social validation as a factor motivating people to do, film, and post such challenges, it could more clearly lay out the potential physical harm from doing some challenges and the psychological factors that contribute to people doing them. It also would make sense to me to draw the connection between internet challenges and the popularity of programs like Jackass.

Evaluate the article
Lead Section

This article's lead succinctly sums up the article, giving a very brief overview with pertinent facts about the cartoon, its artist, its publication, and its impact.

Content

The content of this article is helpful. It gives an overview of the history of the cartoon, as well as its interpretation and symbolism over the years in the general cultural discussion of anonymity on the internet. There is potential that there are more recent sources providing relevant discussion of this cartoon and its cultural significance; the most recent reference is from 2016, so it might be worth looking for more recent sources to see if the discussion has changed in any way, or, indeed, if it remains largely the same.

Tone and Balance

The tone is largely neutral overall, but it could be improved in the Implications section. In that section there is a discussion about anonymity in situations where it may be used for legal or illegal purposes, and also in the sense that anonymity allows the user to pose as someone else, essentially trying out different identities. This section could be more general in these examples - the article references child pornography and "computer cross dressing" in this section, in my opinion unnecessarily and to distracting effect.

Sources and References

The sources here document the cartoon's creation, publication, and cultural reception. Some are contemporary or near-contemporary to the cartoon's publication and are therefore archived on Internet Archive, which is a great way to introduce that site to your peers (I will ask you to do this in class).

As mentioned, the most recent reference is from 2016, so it might be worth looking for more recent sources to see if the discussion has changed.

Organization and Writing Quality

This article is clearly organized, with helpful subheadings, and is written in a clear and generally neutral tone.

Images and Media

This article includes an image of the original cartoon and a supplementary image of a dog at a computer.

Talk Page Discussion

The talk page covers the issue I mentioned in the Implications section, but that issue remains unresolved.

There is fairly substantive discussion on the talk page about the nature of privacy online, where you may mask your identity, while meanwhile tech companies are harvesting data about what you click on, read/watch/look at, and buy, to create and sell data profiles to targeted advertisers. In my opinion. this discussion is robust and relevant to the modern internet and should be moved into the main article.

The talk page also raises the idea that perhaps this no longer qualifies as a "good article" - I wonder what your group has to say about that. I'll withhold my opinion until class, at which time I will share if you would like to hear it.

Overall Impressions

This article gives a good overview of the history of the cartoon, its publication, and critical and cultural reception. It could be potentially be improved with more recent sources, a revision of the Implications section, and a more robust discussion of the nuanced conversation around privacy and anonymity as the internet has evolved over the past 20-ish years.

Evaluate the article
Lead Section

The lead gives a brief definition of the term and its origin.

Content

The content gives a more substantive discussion of the qualities of a cursed image and the Tumblr blog responsible for popularizing both the aesthetic of the images as well as the term. The content could potentially be improved with more examples and/or a check for more recent or updated information about the term and its cultural significance.

Tone and Balance

The article achieves a neutral tone and the discussion of the appeal of cursed images reads as balanced to me.

Sources and References

The article references articles from well-respected journalism outlets such as The New Yorker and Wired, as well as more recent but also respected pop-culture journalism outlets like Paper and Gizmodo - reputable sources that are independent of the Tumblr account mentioned in the article.

The content could potentially be improved with more recent or updated sources, if they exist.

Organization and Writing Quality

The article is clearly written and well organized. It's possible that it would benefit from a subheading for Cultural Significance, in addition to the History subheading.

Images and Media

There is one image on the page with is a pretty good example of a cursed image. Credit is given to the creator of the image and its original source is linked.

Talk Page Discussion

The is no conversation happening on the talk page. This article is classified as stub class on that page, but I think it is substantive enough to be a start class article, in my opinion. With additional attention, it could be transformed to a C-class article or better.

Overall Impressions

This article is on its way and could probably be significantly transformed with some more attention into the cultural significance of cursed images, including how the aesthetic and/or terminology has been adapted or can be seen as expressed in other forms of internet culture over the years.