User talk:Yoshi-dawg/Report

Wikipedia Reflection
The Wikipedia community should think about offering classes in community colleges and universities like the one we have taken. They should give people the opportunity to learn from other well-experienced Wikipedia contributors to be able to better understand what goes into making/improving a Wikipedia page.

Another thing the Wikipedia community and the Wikimedia Foundation should do is be more transparent about their security features when it comes to plagiarism and misinformation. Before writing this article I thought you could just post anything you wanted on Wikipedia without being reprimanded, which I think is a common assumption. There are many assumptions about the validity of Wikipedia information but in fact there are many barriers in place which make it hard for just anyone to post whatever they want. Lastly, I think Wikipedians would all benefit if they had some prior knowledge of some coding or at least how to properly format content.

My experience improving this Wikipedia article was frustrating at times but overall rewarding. One of the challenges I had in the beginning was finding quality sources about my subject. In my mind, one of the most legitimate forms of sources are academic journal articles. However, due to the nature of the topic (coffee shop) it was difficult to try and find an academic journal article on the topic. However, I realized that credible news sources were the most helpful in this particular scenario. Another thing I enjoyed while adding on to this article was how attentive and kind the other Wikipedians in the community were. The day I made my article live I had already had feedback from a fellow Wikipedian. They made a suggestion that helped to strengthen the validity of my article and did so in a very nice and pleasant manner.

My experience in Wikipedia at first was very rocky. I wasn’t particularly interested in participating in Wikipedia so I knew I wanted to pick a topic that seemed relatively simple or easy to extend. I was utilizing the Utility Model of Motivation which means an individual will do something if the benefits to that individual outweigh the costs to them. Therefore, I didn’t really want to do this project at first so I opted for something that I thought was going to be “easy”. The benefit I was pursuing in this situation was receiving a good grade for improving the article I selected.

I had no prior experience writing for Wikipedia before this assignment so I really had no idea what would be easy or not. I just knew I wanted to pick a topic that I had some intrinsic interest in and would be relatively easy to dig up some research. Intrinsic motivation is when you are motivated to do something because it is “fun” to you or makes you happy. You are motivated by your emotions to do something instead of extrinsic motivations like money. I ended up picking this topic because it is a business I had seen a lot and have actually visited a few times. It is a local small business in Seattle and I was motivated to improve their very small Wikipedia page. I felt like I owed the topic a credible and well thought out article because I want to be able to represent the business properly while taking in all the information. Luckily because it had been around for so long I was able to find a good amount of sources that contained information about my subject.

My recommendation based on these key concepts would be to select a topic that you are willing to do the work for. If you decide to pick a really challenging article that may be difficult to find credible sources for, be prepared to put in the work and make sure it is worth it to you. If you want to pick a topic that is easier to research you should do that. Also I recommend picking a topic that sparks intrinsic motivation in you.

Some concepts we covered in our class regarding commitment were the types of commitment. There are four main types of commitment: identity based, bonds-based, normative, and needs based. In the case of our Wikipedia assignment I felt these types of commitments did not apply to us because we were assigned this project. I think if we had the initial freedom to pick which online community we wanted to participate in then these types of commitments would come into play more.

Something that I would change about this experience would be adding more time to work on the Wikipedia page. I think I added a substantial amount of content but I am sure if I had more time I could have made it even better. Also I think if we did some sort of collaborative aspect with our classmates like add on to each other’s pages that could have been interesting too. Wikipedia is unique because it is a giant community that manages to check many articles including mine. As I have previously mentioned, when I went live and immediately got a suggestion from another Wikipedian. It is a nice community where people look out for you and want you to present the best content possible. Overall, a very pleasant experience.