User:Tmm113/Report

Wikipedia Reflection Essay
People in today’s society consume a vast amount of information through technology and it is often mediated by computers and the use of internet. It is very important to acknowledge who is providing the information we consume and think about which mediums we use the most to access this information. There are growing online communities that act as providers when it comes to passing along information to the most casual user and knowing how to navigate this growth of online communities can help people spread knowledge that is credible, resourceful, and continuously being improved upon. An example of an online community doing this would be the website Wikipedia – a community filled with viewers, contributors, editors, and moderators that all aim to create an accessible online encyclopedia.

Using Wikipedia can be a common thing for most people looking for answers to specific questions or topics. On the other hand, using Wikipedia for the purpose of creating new content and editing old content can be a very challenging endeavor. My first-time using Wikipedia for a different purpose besides looking something up, proved to be a challenging but rewarding task. There were four challenging steps I had to get through using Wikipedia. First, was learning how to navigate through the user page as a Wikipedia editor/contributor and using the tools given to editors/contributors such as talk pages, sandboxes, etc. Second, was finding a topic that wasn’t too much to take on at once. Third, was making sure my contributions were up to par and credible. Fourth, was keeping up to date with things after submitting my edits or contributions.

The first challenge of utilizing Wikipedia was user interface (UI) and user experience (UX). For me, as a new user, when I first am approached with new software or online tool, I consider how easy it is to navigate and how intuitive the pages and buttons are laid out. Consistently coming back to the same pages as a new user with poor UI/UX discourages my motivation for participation. Reflecting on my time using Wikipedia, I believe that navigating through the website was the most difficult part and that Wikipedia lacks visual appeal to motivate people to come back and have a good experience as a user. There is a lot of room for improvement in Wikipedia’s message walls, talk pages, and sandboxes which could all be addressed improving the UI/UX of the page. For an example, talk pages on a very popular and heavily edited page at first glance is very intimidating for a new user to keep up. A way Wikipedia can address this is organizing the messages in a way user can filter or sort through. For now, there isn’t much that incentivizes a user to get to know how to use the current interface and take the time to get familiar with it.

The second challenge was finding what I, as a new user, could contribute to the world through using Wikipedia. Because Wikipedia is such a vast source of information, it is hard to identify with one specific topic that resonates with the user. The problem I ran into trying to find a topic to edit/contribute was that either my topics were too big or not big enough. Another thing to help users find their identity in Wikipedia would be to create discourse with new users and see which groups they identify most with based on expertise or interest. At the same time allow members to create “editing groups” where members can apply to and build recognition within a group as the group gains notoriety for their contributions. Using this method will help new users find groups within the same levels and more decorated users gather in a same place, all while members can work on their skills. This “editing group” can have discussions and post topics that need to be covered on Wikipedia, all based on everyone’s interest and expertise.

The third problem was making sure my contributions to Wikipedia were up to par. This is also a problem user can have trying to commit to their edits or contributions to a page. Wikipedia should consider a process where users can receive feedback on their work before it is submitted. Besides talk pages and a user’s sandbox, finding other people willingly to give you feedback is a difficult task. Stated above, a group may be of help but also maybe making a “demo page” that is temporary, be made available with edits and contributions highlighted for the user to pass along for feedback. This is especially intimidating for pages that have a lot of traffic and are already notorious.

The last problem I had with Wikipedia was keeping up to date with talk pages, edits to my sandbox, and edits to my page because of the lack of incentives. A solution to this would simply be to gamify the community but only in ways the user can see. It would be insightful for users to have a page where they can track all current contributions or edits. An example of this would be if a user created a whole page on a topic, this user would be able to see what percentage of the page the original content and any updates to that page such as edits, additional citations, etc.

Overall, to increase participation in the Wikipedia community I believe an improvement to UI and UX will entice users to participate and increase users’ willingness to commit to the community. If the site is easily navigated and users can quickly identify with how they want to utilize Wikipedia, it can make Wikipedia a place where users will want to actively participate and engage. In order to engage, a potential idea to gamify the system just for users to have a sense of validation that they’re contributing is out in the world might help as well. Although it may present risk, the gamifying of Wikipedia only visible to the user seems to be a safer route so one can track their accomplishments. After using Wikipedia, it’s much easier to understand how online communities function but the challenge now is to welcome more new users and keep them in order to spread knowledge through Wikipedia.