User:Vjspez/Report

Vinny Speziale 2/12/22 COM 481 Wikipedia Assessment

The Wikipedia community is very strong and informative in the way that they incorporate feedback and suggestions from others to provide thoroughly detailed encyclopedic explanations across a magnitude of topics. The way Wikipedia incorporates feedback from others, as well as a specific code of conduct, allows for an interactive yet accurate experience that promotes an inclusive community. By utilizing feedback from others, the Wikipedia community does an exceptional job maintaining accurate and updated information but also includes many drawbacks and difficulties that could be addressed as well. The way that the Wikipedia community enforces its code of conduct allows for a strong user browsing experience. Stating the specific rules and regulations throughout the editing process provides a clear understanding as to what is and isn’t allowed within the community. It also provides guests with a reliable browsing experience to research certain topics with confidence as information is constantly updated and maintained throughout the community. There is a strong commitment within the community based on the foundation built by members before. Wikipedia offers an incentive for writers to begin producing articles with free access to advice and suggestions from others, allowing for a strong bond to build within the community. The overall tone within the Wikimedia foundations offers insight into their commitment to accuracy, safety, and fairness. Wikipedia also offers a multitude of drafting options from the sandbox to the talk page, which allows fair criticism and critique to help members of the community improve and build on their work. In my experience utilizing Wikipedia and engaging with the community, I felt for the most part it was a very positive experience. I learned a lot of information and skills being part of a larger community and got to experience the benefits within it. I was able to engage with the peer reviews I received from my classmates and utilize their notes to enhance the strength of my article. I also received feedback from other Wikipedia users which provided neutral advice that I could use to make the strongest article possible on Wikipedia. The engagement with members within the community keeps Wikipedia strong and continues to offer opportunities for those seeking to join. There are also drawbacks within the Wikipedia community that they can make changes on in hopes to enhance the overall experience. For example, I struggled to fully understand all the possible resources to use within my Wikipedia article, and it was very time-consuming to further attempt to understand them. It felt difficult to identify the critique and feedback that was being left for me by my peers and professors. It also felt like a lot of additional work maneuvering between the sandbox and editing my article when it came to drafting my final product. It was also difficult to identify where I could find additional information for very concise topics such as my article, which was very specific and lacked information that I could further use to enhance the article. It would be nicer if there was a more in-depth home page to Wikipedia that was easy to access with very specific details to assist users with whatever difficulties that may arise. The Wikipedia main page is very random as far as what they feature and does not offer enough for users to engage with others or their articles. It feels as if it is a very complex process for new users to identify the steps they need to take to edit articles or engage in the class that they have selected. A simplified system would provide a better opportunity for the Wikipedia community to stay closely engaged with each other and easier for newer members to familiarize themselves with the specific aspects of utilizing Wikipedia. Wikipedia has largely utilized a similar structure for a long time. I believe it would be beneficial to begin incorporating slight changes to the database overall to promote a more modern and updated experience. Certain communities such as Facebook are constantly adapting and updating to further enhance the user experience and allow for users to stay committed to the community for longer periods of time. Another appealing aspect that could be utilized to further enhance the Wikipedia community experience would be the incorporation of subcommunities like Reddit. Although we have the opportunity of experiencing that subcommunity experience within our classroom, the Wikipedia community could diversify and expand by allowing for broader topics and ideas to be analyzed and reviewed by a specific portion of people who then can stay committed to that sub-community for longer amounts of time. I also believe an enhanced messaging system among users would provide a much more convenient and accessible way to utilize peer feedback as well as communication among others within the community. I personally find it difficult to access talk pages because of how complex the process is to find certain messages. For example, I would have to go to my professor’s specific talk page to see what updates or advice he had for me. Incorporating an easier and updated inbox system that makes communication easier among users may be a very impactful change within the Wikipedia community. Overall, utilizing Wikipedia allowed me to gain a lot of valuable insight working with an online community. It allowed me to identify challenges in the editing process, but also allowed me the opportunity to rely on peer review and analysis from others within the community to help strengthen my article overall. Wikipedia continues to be reliable in providing a rundown of any specific topic to understand it in a non-biased way. As someone who started this project with very little understanding of Wikipedia, I have been able to embrace this online community to strengthen my skills and identify the patterns to what creates a strong, impactful community. Vjspez (talk) 03:01, 13 February 2022 (UTC)