User talk:MacStudent1/sandbox

Article evaluation
Pop art

Evaluating Content -Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?

-Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?

-What else could be improved?

Evaluating Tone -Is the article neutral? Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position? slight slant to American artists over others

-Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented? Asian pop art is underrepresented

Evaluating Sources -Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article? not all links work

-Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted? missing some citations to back up facts

Checking the talk page -What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic? arguments about the representation of different nations

-How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects? yes, WikiProject Visual arts & WikiProject Philosophy

-How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class? not a topic we've gone over

MacStudent1 (talk) 06:43, 30 January 2019 (UTC)

Finding an article(ideas)
options for an article

1. Glacial Lake 2. Earth Sciences 3. Effects of climate change on terrestrial animals

the article I pick must have content gaps, be lacking in information and citations and have limited descriptions of topics

In the end, i chose Effects of climate change on terrestrial animals

Reasoning: -it is a c class article -many points lack details and are not cited properly -there is the potential for much improvement and additional information

MacStudent1 (talk) 22:25, 20 March 2019 (UTC)

Add to an article
In the wiki article Effects of climate change on terrestrial animals I made 2 changes regarding citations

1. I added the citation: Phenology of plant and animal species by the European environmental agency. URL: https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/plant-phenology-2/assessment It was added to the section Phenology where it was noted that a citation was needed.

2. I added the citation: How Do Kangaroos Survive The Aussie Outback? by National Geographic URL: https://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/how-do-kangaroos-survive-the-aussie-outback.aspx It was added to the section Factors contributing to adaptation under the part Broad climatic tolerance, where a point was made that kangaroos had a broad tolerance to climate changes, but no evidence was given. Thus the need for a legitimate citation to back up the point made.

MacStudent1 (talk) 02:02, 21 March 2019 (UTC)

Content Gap
What do you think a content gap is, and what are some possible ways to identify them?

'''What are some reasons a content gap might arise? What are some ways to remedy them?'''

Does it matter who writes Wikipedia? It does, it someone is writing on a topic they have bias against, the information conferring will have a slant rather than objectively explain a topic.

'''What does it mean to be "unbiased" on Wikipedia? How is that different, or similar, to your own definition of "bias"?''' To be unbiased on Wikipedia means to prevent giving your own opinions but rather explain the compiled the evidence given by as many other studies as possible, giving a well rounded viewpoint on a subject.

MacStudent1 (talk) 02:08, 21 March 2019 (UTC)

Copyedit an article
Assignment: find an article to edit. If you've chosen to improve an existing article for this process, you can choose that article for this exercise. Read through the article, thinking about ways to improve the language, such as fixing grammatical mistakes. When you're ready, click "edit" and make the appropriate changes, saving each edit with an edit summary when you're done. You don’t need to contribute new information to the article

Article edited: Heat wave

Changes made: fixed minor grammatical errors in the working for certain sentances

MacStudent1 (talk) 19:39, 21 March 2019 (UTC)

Finalizing your topic and finding sources
Final Topic chosen: Effects of climate change on terrestrial animals

bibliography sources to add to Talk page of the topic

1. URL: https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/plant-phenology-2/assessment

info: species changes in phenology in response to recent climate change.

2. URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature01333

info: how terrestrial habitats and breeding times are affected by climate change.

3. URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03413.x

info: species mechanisms to cope with changing climate.

4. URL: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/341/6145/504

info:Forecasts of potential species responses to future climate change

MacStudent1 (talk) 20:36, 21 March 2019 (UTC)

Final Wikipedia Article
In the section: Direct impact

Severe weather
With rising global temperatures, terrestrial organisms will face greater hazards in the forms of increasingly frequent and more severe meteorological conditions such as droughts, snow storms, heat waves, hurricanes, and melting glaciers/sea ice.

These harsher weather conditions will cause terrestrial wildlife many issues as their usual habitats will be significantly impacted leading them to go extinct, migrate elsewhere or find ways to adapt to their new conditions. These ecological responses vary based on the situation. This was shown even in a 2018 study done in the University of Queensland, where over 350 observational studies were done on terrestrial animal populations (for over a year), with results showing a positive correlation between increased severe weather conditions in ecosystems and population declines/extinctions.

In the section: Indirect Effects

Effects on Vegetation and Agriculture
The increasing global temperature has been devastating for the polar and equatorial regions and the change in temperature in these already extreme regions has destroyed their fragile equilibrium. In the Sub-Saharan regions deserts are experiencing severe droughts that affect both the water and agricultural resources in the regions since crop production is harshly affected (Wheeler, & von Braun, 2013).

Droughts, floods or changes in precipitation and warmth, all influence the quality and amount of vegetation present in a region in addtion to the soil fertility and plant diversity. A region with vegetation or crops that have minimal tolerances and resilience to changes is at risk due to the uncertainty of the future effects of climate changes on crops and edible vegetation.

This direct affect on climate change has an indirect effect on the health of terrestrial animals since changes in their dietary availability will impact not only herbivores, but all other terrestrial creatures in their food webs. Some of the negative impacts include   :
 * Extinctions or declines in populations
 * Increased competition for remaining resources
 * increased foraging difficulty: for example increased snowfall in northern latitude can make it harder for elk to find food
 * Migration
 * Changes in Phenology
 * Evolutionary favouring: species with less dietary restrictions will thrive in certain regions
 * Reduced Livestock Production

Effects on the Health of Terrestrial animals and Livestock
Humans may be significantly impacted as Terrestrial livestock will not be immune to the ravages of climactic changes. Temperature-related illness and death can be attributed to global warming with Homeothermic animals intaking less feed and exerting more energy to maintain conditions to function normally. This heat stress on terrestrial mammals can weaken their immune systems leaving them vulnerable to a multitude of associated illnesses and diseases.

Effects on the Movement of Disease
Changes in climate and global warming have significant influences on the biology and distribution of vectorborne diseases, parasites and their associated illnesses. Regional changes resulting from changing weather conditions and patterns within temperate climates will exuberate the reproduction of certain insect species that are vectors for disease. Therefore, tropical diseases common to certain places and affecting only certain terrestrial species may probably migrate and become endemic in many other ecosystems.

In the section: Adaption

Intro for Adaption section
In the face of impending climate changes, humans are realizing that environmental changes are acting as stressors on terrestrial populations. When changes in climate start to exceed optimal conditions for a population, an affected species will need to respond and adapt to new conditions in order to remain competitive and thriving.

MacStudent1 (talk) 18:11, 31 March 2019 (UTC)

Reflective essay
I've learn quite a bit during this article evaluation, and have critically evolved my understanding of the site. Before this class I had a limited understanding of how Wikipedia functioned or how content was updated. I, like many others, mistakenly believed that Wikipedia was the sort of site where anyone could load anything indiscriminately, and that was why many of us were advised to avoid citing Wikipedia as a source. However now after learning about the Wikipedia editing process and how others contribute towards articles continuously over time, i've realize that Wiki pages are actually very well edited and properly cited.

During this assignment we either created our own wiki pages or added to existing pages that had ratings of C or less, Wikipedia ranking the pages showed the pages that still required much work to be done before they could be considered good enough to give to readers as more complete, well-rounded product. A lacking article that looked as if it could use some addition was C ranked, Effects of climate change on terrestrial animals,but what really made me decide to choose this article was due to the fact that it meshed well with the topics we have been discussing in class and in our lab assignments.

The article i chose had the structure of a good Wikipedia page but lacked detail. I felt i could add a significant amount of information to the points in the Direct impacts section and Adaption as well as added a section on the Indirect effects of climate change on terrestrial animals. I felt these sections needed the most work because this page had the bare minimum in term of content and many parts had only 1 sentance to decribe the topic but no further information or examples. I also intend to later add some more information into other section of the Wikipedia page if i get the opportunity. I feel these changes add some fatty content to the article that was once a skelton bare of most information.

I didn't receive any peer reviews on my own article but i did receive good verbal advise from my TA and classmates during the process of writing my Wikipedia article. Some of advice given included, using more neutral terminology, avoiding adding my own opinions/biases and that i should cite basically every point i made. This really helped with the article making process as i wanted to improve the page without making it sound unprofessional or biased. I mostly advised my fellow classmates (in my peer reviews) to also take this advice and to be careful with their citations.

Overall the Wikipedia assignment has been a great experience that has taught me alot. Wikipedia proves that it really is the database of the world as it gives information on basically any topic, but what really makes it great is how it allows its global readers to contribute and share their knowledge using crowd-sourcing. This course has taught us to convey scientific findings on environmental issues in simple terms and i hope I've managed to do just that through my article contributions, I hope the public reading this article will appreciate the environmental knowledge I've shared and be inspired to contribute to Wikipedia as well.

MacStudent1 (talk) 01:12, 1 April 2019 (UTC)