User talk:Haleyjlerner/reflections

To be honest, I never saw Wikipedia in my future growing up. That is, other than for homework answers. However, coming into this course, that all changed. Joining the Wikipedia community has been challenging and also rewarding. With only being halfway through this course, I have already learned so much. I have learned to how to correctly use and edit Wikipedia in a way where I am actually contributing. I have learned how online communities work, like Wikipedia, and the steps in which online communities form. After "completing" my experience with Wikipedia (though I do plan to continue), it was easy to make connections between what we had read and discussed in class with the actual experience itself. I made connections with how motivations affects one's experience with an online community, how norms fit into being a member of an online community, how online communities are governed by certain rules and the finality of one community - whether it expands to subgroups or stays whole. Motivation is a huge and relevant aspect within online communities, as we learned in class. When joining Wikipedia, I experienced both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. The intrinsic motivation came from the feeling of actually contributing so a community so "large." Before joining Wikipedia, I had never imagined that I would be "smart" enough to contribute and once I had, I felt accomplished. The extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, came from the process of learning how to use Wikipedia. After completing the training and learning how to edit, I became motivated to continue because it felt good to know how to work Wikipedia. In continuation, I experienced identity based commitment where I was no longer just completing the assignment of joining Wikipedia, but I was helping to achieve Wikipedia's goal, which is to "benefit readers by acting as an encyclopedia, a comprehensive written compendium that contains information on all branches of knowledge within its five pillars." With learning how to edit Wikipedia and becoming motivated to contribute, I also became familiar with Wikipedia's norms. Like other online communities, a set of norms and rules are what would help govern the community in a sense that everyone would know how to act. Norms were relevant while joining an online community because it helped puzzle pieces together, rather than leaving new members to roam free. Interestingly, I found Wikipedia's norms well worded and honorable. They include: to assume good faith, to be neutral and bold, to sign your messages with four tildes, and to be notable. "Norms will, and should, vary enormously between communities. But these norms are far from common in other communities." Similar to the lecture in class where we discussed how people tend to litter in a previously littered area, I found that with Wikipedia, I and other classmates would follow the actions of other users. For example, we were assigned to sign up to peer review two other articles from our classmates. However, one user signed up to peer review three. After I observed this, I realized that another person also signed up to peer review three articles, concluding that people DO follow certain norms, especially when preformed before them. Being a new member of the Wikipedia community was nerve wrecking, so that intimidation forced me to comply to the Wikipedia standards and not try anything risky. Like in class, I learned and observed that "norm compliance may be higher if participants are involved in writing their own rules" which is how Wikipedia began - as a people's contribution site. Also, what was important to know and understand when joining an online community was how the community would be monitored like whether material could be deleted, labeled, rated, hidden, etc. Finally, what was relevant in my learning experience about Wikipedia was understanding not just how online communities begin but how they grow into more. Like discussed in class, I believe that Wikipedia is no longer one community, but many communities as it has grown along with the growth of members and participation. While looking to join communities, potential members look for  good signals such as good web designs, visible expenditure of resources, and evidence of many people. Despite the fact that joining Wikipedia was an assignment, all of these signals were visible and made it more appealing to join the online community. In total, I felt that almost all theories we covered could apply to my experience with Wikipedia. For example, the theory discussing that individuals making their own choices within communities have increased utility applied completely the experience I had with Wikipedia; this applied because since my experience was not extremely restrained, I got to make many of my own decisions (like choosing what article to write.) There isn’t much I would want to add or change about my experience with this online community. If anything I would have wanted more practice editing other random articles to feel an even closer connection to Wikipedia, outside of our class. In fact, I felt that it was a community that matched our course material extremely well and wouldn't have wanted to learn about any other online community to start with.