User:TeresaVarrialeGonzalez/subpage

= FINAL REFLECTIVE ESSAY = Critiquing article

1.What did you learn about Wikipedia during the article evaluation?

I started this training with some doubts and concerns on Wikipedia. Many people, especially in higher education settings, do not consider Wikipedia as a reliable and valuable source. However, I changed my mind when I realized how complex and “bureaucratic” this cyber encyclopedia is. While I was evaluating the article I chose, Cross-cultural communication, I had the opportunity to learn more about my methodological topic, Challenges in cross-language qualitative research (QR) and how to edit an article using the Wikipedia tools. Also, I had the possibility to expand my knowledge on focus groups and visual anthropology, while reviewing the works of my peers, Allyson and Siffat. Lastly, I discovered a variety of methodological topics related to QR, such as phenomenology, multimethodology, hermeneutics, visual ethnography, and semi-structured interviews.

2.How did you approach critiquing the article you selected for this assignment?

After reading the article on cross-cultural communication, created from a group of students taking a course in cultural anthropology, I gave a look at the Talk and the History page. I realized that this article has multiple issues. Many of the perspectives and examples deal with the United States. Clearly, the article does not offer a worldwide view of the topic. Therefore, I searched for studies on cross-language research outside of the United States such as Bassnet (1994), Bhabha (1994), Karsera and Hopkins (1987), Lee (2017), Ly (2011), Mill & Ogilvie (2003), and Thomson et al. (1999).

3.How did you decide what to add to your chosen article?

The article I chose does not have any reference to qualitative research. It focuses on anthropology because and the United States. Therefore, the article does not provide a global and cross-disciplinary perspective. For this reason, I included sources from nursing and education to give the article a multidisciplinary touch. In addition, I added a section to describe the problems that researchers encounter in conducting cross-language studies. In order to expand the article geographically, I included references to studies conducted in other countries such as Africa, Canada, and France.

Summarizing your contributions

1.Include a summary of your edits and why you felt they were a valuable addition to the article.

First, I extended the bibliography by adding some of the sources afore mentioned to give the article a comparative and multicultural tone. Second, I included a new section, which I named Challenges in cross-language qualitative research, to create a liaison between the article and QR. Third, I linked the new section to Wikipedia articles related to my topic such as cross-cultural studies, comparative cultural studies, and qualitative research. Then, I created a link from those articles to my section using the edit function. In this way, readers can have access to other articles and get a better understanding of the topic. Fourth, I added an image to my section with two colorful people talking to represent communication among people who speak different languages. I am planning to continue working on this article and adding more images to make it more captivating. Lastly, I expanded my piece adding the following sections: historical discussion of cross-language issues and QR, relationship between cross-language issues and QR, current state of affairs of cross-language in QR, significant contributions to cross-language in QR, and cross-language concerns in QR (this section includes a table). I decided to break down my piece in subsections to make it clearer to possible readers.

2.How does your article compare to earlier versions?

Originally, the article did not have many sources. Including more sources in the bibliography section gives the article more value. As I mentioned early, the article has been written from an anthropological perspective. Adding studies conducted by researchers in other disciplines opens the article to contributions from other fields such as education and nursing. The piece I added on cross-language QR not only expand the knowledge on cross-cultural communication, but it also makes room for more sections on this topic. Furthermore, the inclusion of links to other Wikipedia articles creates a bridge between cross-language QR and other topics such as intercultural communication, interculturality, and comparative cultural studies. Lastly, the table I incorporated into my piece makes clear what concerns cross-language raise in QR. Also, the links in this subsection gives potential readers the possibility to deepen their knowledge on issues of interpretation, positionality, reflexivity, and trustworthiness in research contexts.

Peer Review

If your class did peer review, include information about the peer review process.

1.What did you contribute in your review of your peers’ article?

I reviewed Allyson’s piece on focus groups and Siffat’s article on visual ethnography. Allyson’s contributions to focus groups is relevant to the topic and written in a clear and concise form. I suggested adding more images since the article did not have photos. Allyson added an image to the article that represents in-person focus group interview. Moreover, she added more links and created a new section and expanded the history paragraph, as I recommended. Regarding Siffat, she created a new article on visual ethnography. The information that Siffat included in her piece are clear and easy to understand. I suggested including more studies in the section on significant contributions to the topic. In addition, I recommended eliminating the section on how Siffat became interested in this topic and create links to similar articles.Now, Siffat’s piece has a clear connection to QR and more sources.

2. What did your peers recommend you change on your article?

Four peers reviewed my piece on challenges in cross-language QR, Maria, Allyson, Siffat, and Tsvetina. Maria suggested that I delete the section on how I became interested in this topic, which I did in order to give my piece a neutral tone. Allyson left a message in my TalkPage, recommended the inclusion of more images. I included only one picture so far. It is not easy to find a photo that represents my topic. Siffat sent me a message suggesting the use of left block style for the paragraphs and the addition of links. Finally, another student reviewed the article, Tvsetina. She made minor changes to the first part of the article, but not to my section. Like my other peers, Tsvetina suggested that I give the article an “intercultural” tone and add more images. In fact, I included studies conducted in other countries and added one photo, like I mentioned before.

Feedback

1.Did you receive feedback from other Wikipedia editors, and if so, how did you respond to and handle that feedback?

After I started working on this article, I noticed that more people revised it. Kibrain deleted a couple of sentences from the introduction, suggested adding more theorists, and modified some external links. Sidebot added a couple of sources and proposed to change the name of the article from cross-cultural communication to intercultural communication. Even Allyson and Alyssa made minor changes to the first part of the article. While reading the comments of my fellow Wikipedians, I realized that we all agree that this article is incomplete, US centric, and needs further revisions. This is one of the reasons why I added a section on QR, studies conducted outside of the US, a table, and a picture.

Wikipedia generally

1.What did you learn from contributing to Wikipedia?

I am thankful for the opportunity that you, Professor Davidson, gave us by taking the Wikipedia training. As you know, I just added a small section to the article I selected. However, I learned a lot and changed my mind on Wikipedia. I thought that there were no rules for making contributions to articles. Instead, by taking this training, I realized how complex Wikipedia is. At the beginning, I had problems with my Sandbox and TalkPage. Now, I feel more confident and ready for making more contributions to articles in my areas of interest, particularly in second language acquisition. Wikipedia is a large international and intercultural community, which gives people the possibility to share their knowledge and contribute to the creation of a virtual encyclopedia. For this reason, I am planning to write more pieces on cross-language and include sections in Spanish and Italian.

2.How does a Wikipedia assignment compare to other assignments you've done in the past?

This was my first time working with Wikipedia; I never had the possibility to explore it before. In the past, I have taken other online classes, but I did not have the same kind of support. While I was doing the Wikipedia modules, I felt supported by you, Professor Davidson, my peers, and Elysia. The QR mini-paper assignment, for example, is a successful example of collaborative work. We had the opportunity to review each other work several times, make comments and suggest changes before moving our piece to a public space. In addition, I like the organization of the Dashboard because we can “monitor” what we do and access to peers’ feedbacks through the TalkPage. It took some time before I became familiar with the Dashboard, but I feel more confident now.

How can Wikipedia be used to improve public understanding of our field/your topic? Why is this important?

Wikipedia is an amazing tool for students, instructors, researchers, scholars, and academics in general. Now, more people are recognizing its value and use, especially in education. Wikipedia can be used as a teaching and learning tool. It is a platform for education that gives students and teachers the possibility to interact creating a virtual intercultural community. Wikipedia helps students develop media literacy and critical research skills, as well as collaborative and motivational skills. Regarding cross-language QR, the contributions made to this article can help people grasp a better understanding of this topic and critically evaluate them. Wikipedia is a sort of free land; everyone can “respectfully “contribute to its expansion. This is important because, by engaging people from different parts of the world, Wikipedia has opened the doors to a community without borders. I am happy and proud of being part of this online community, share my knowledge, and collaborate with my fellow Wikipedians, no matter where they are.

References

Bassnet, S. (1994). Translation studies. Routledge.

Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The location of culture. Routledge.

Karseras, P., & Hopkins, E. (1987). British Asians’ health in the community. Chichester, UK:

John Wiley & Sons.

Lee, S. (2017). The Bilingual Researcher’s Dilemmas: Reflective Approaches to Translation

Issues. Waikato Journal of Education, 22(2), 53–62.

Li, Y. (2011). Translating Interviews, Translating Lives: Ethical Considerations in Cross-

Language Narrative Inquiry. TESL Canada Journal, 28(5), 16–30.

Mill, J.E., & Ogilvie, L.D. (2003). Establishing methodological rigour in international

qualitative nursing research: a case study from Ghana. Journal of Advanced

Nursing, 41 (1), pp. 80-87

Thomson, A.M., Rogers, A., Honey, S., & King, L. (1999). If the interpreter doesn’t come there

is no communication: A study of bilingual support services in the North West of England.

Manchester: School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting, University of

Manchester.