User:TessBroll/subpage

Tess Broll Wikipedia Experience Reflection
Boston Ballet School

I found Wikipedia to be one of the most rewarding online communities I have joined. Wikipedia is also by far the online community I am the least comfortable and confident participating in. With this being said, it still stands as the most rewarding. I think of many social media platforms more of a means to be self promotional. I post pictures to outline a life that looks aesthetically pleasing, that conforms with what society wants to see, to get "likes". I seek social validation through my posts, in the most simplistic and superficial of ways. Participating in the online community of Wikipedia has been nothing like what I have previously experienced in an online setting. From my time exploring Wikipedia I have learned a lot about myself, a lot about the methodology of such online communities, and a lot about the ways that a smaller community like this class can teach you so much about a greater community.

Firstly, I would say that Wikipedia has been one of the more intimidating communities I have joined. Not because Wikipedia itself is scary, but the vast knowledge and experiences of the people who participate are far outside of my comfort zone. I didn’t feel as if I was smart enough to participate in the ways my fellow Wikipedians were. Not only was I intimidated to post on the site itself, I was nervous to interact with others as well. It was as if I felt they could sniff out my inexperience. This fear might have been in association with my deep discomfort with anything coding-related, but I suspect it stemmed from an insecurity of the unknown. Luckily for me, Wikipedia was not what it seemed at first impression. Wikipedia is a structured community. I often am uncomfortable with spaces without a rhythm or set of rules. Wikipedia has all of the above. There are specific ways to act within the space, and an outline to follow to post and to comment. There are even guidelines on how to interact with your fellow community members. This is the kind of guidance I need when contributing to a new app. Probably the article that finally put me at ease was the Seven Ages of Wikipedians. It outlined the various stages in participating in this community. This helped ease my concerns about being inexperienced, as it directly outlined the growth pattern of the participants in this community. For example, I am certainly not a "Wikiteen" yet as I do not have enough experience to be cynical of the platform yet. Even this review is overwhelmingly positive in regards to Wikipedia, which might not be the case if I continue being an active participant in the future.

I have also found the collaboration within this community more involved than any other platform that I have experienced. As I had previously mentioned, the motivations of the users of Wikipedia seem to be genuinely pure. The purpose of a Wikipedia article is to present knowledge in a neutral, fair, and honest way As described by Joseph Reagle, in his essay on Wikipedia Norms for Supportive Communication “With respect to characterizing the surveyed norms, the twenty-six pages in the behavioral and conduct categories (many of which are a Wikipedia policy or guideline) are supportive. " (Reagle, 2010) I have experienced few online communities with such an emphasis on being kind to each other. When I had done the assignment on “wikilove”, I truly saw how good it can be to make others feel good. Reading others comments on pages with constructive criticism, compliments, and admiration, it became clear to me that this was a unique platform. Not many online communities act in this way. As stated by Joseph Reagle in his chapter on Good Faith Collaboration "...Whereas other communities may have a culture of good faith (i.e., assume good faith on the part of others, and acting with patience, civility, and humor), few are concerned with producing an encyclopedia. The dovetailing of an open perspective on knowledge claims (epistemic) and other contributors (intersubjective) makes for extraordinary collaborative potential, and harkens back to the universal vision of increased access to information and social accord." (Reagle, 2010) This statement meant a lot to me and my viewpoint of this platform. It notes how a foundation of good faith and neutrality can produce something quite beautiful. Not only is this something that can be applied to many communities, but I think it can also be applied to the greater world. I really like how it is emphasized in this particular community.

As the world we live in becomes increasingly online, I think it is important to understand the ways in which these online communities affect us. The communities we participate in have a correlation to the way we feel and act. The claim that that emotions can spread throughout a network has validity despite the controversial experiment that was used. Although Wikipedia is not an emotionally charged platform per se, I would still argue there is an emotion that was transmitted through usage. I think the best way to describe this feeling would be comfort or stability. As there are so many regulations and supervision on the site, there is a feeling of control. I think this was evident to me the more I participated on the site. I knew that if I had done something wrong, that it would be flagged. Although I personally did not get much attention on my page, from what I learned from my classmates, people are quick to let others know if pages should be done differently. The feeling that this particular community gave me was unique to other online platforms. I think due to the way we studied and interacted with the site, I felt increasingly comfortable the more knowledge I gained on the purpose of Wikipedia. The methodology of Wikipedia creates a safe space for the neutral, fair and accurate dispersal of knowledge, and for me that gave me a keen sense of comfort.

In relation to my personal usage on Wikipedia, I had a uneventful experience. This was absolutely partly my fault as I was too intimidated to actually reach out to other Wikipedians for advice. If I could do it again, I would have taken a leap of faith earlier on. Additionally, I think I would choose a topic I had less experience with or even no prior knowledge of. I might even consider doing a rather controversial topic. I stayed well within my comfort zone when choosing Boston Ballet School as my topic as I typically do when trying a new experience. As I mentioned, I was intimidated by the pages and comments of experienced users. I was nervous to interact with someone who clearly knew more than me. I found comfort primarily in interacting with my fellow classmates. As I got more and more comfortable with Wikipedia I found myself very entertained with what my fellow classmates were experiencing. Although my own contribution may not have sparked much attention, I learned a lot through the community that was my class. I found it very interesting that Mia received quite an abrasive edit on her page, and even more intriguing why Suki’s page got completely deleted. I learned a lot from reading Will’s wiki article on the 2020 New York Yankees season, and took a lot of advice from Tess’ page on Love Lies Bleeding. The community within the community we built taught me a lot about the word of online platforms.

In reflection, I feel as if this was the ideal class to have marked the closing of my preliminary studies of communications and media. The academic knowledge I gained from the readings about Online Communities were of course interesting, but I would say that the experience of the class itself taught me even more. As I think I have mentioned in every paper of this semester, we are living in an odd world. To be studying online communities, in a small community, in an online format showed me more from experience than any reading could have. The amount I learned from my fellow classmates in this section far exceeded my expectations. Throughout the semester I had time to reflect on my own personal usage of media within online communities. I had found myself to be rather tentative, maybe a bit insecure, but definitely increasingly confident with practice. I have found comfort in regulations, admiration for “wikilove”, and pride in our own little online community that this class has formed.

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