Wikipedia:Rice University/Poverty, Justice, Human Capabilities Section 1 (Fall 2013)/Review Existing Page

Due Date: 4 pm Wednesday, September 4
"Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge." -Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia

The typical Wikipedia editor has been described as “a college degree [educated], 30-years-old [male], [who] is computer savvy but not necessarily a programmer…and lives in the US or Europe.” As a consequence, certain topics (Star Trek, for example) are much more thoroughly represented on Wikipedia than others. In particular, topics related to gender, race, class, development, poverty and sociology are underrepresented on the site. Through the Wikipedia assignment, you will actively contribute to improving the representation of these topics on a publically accessible and widely used source that more than 400 million people reference per month. With this assignment, you will learn and practice how to evaluate existing Wikipedia articles.

1. First, read the following items from the Wikipedia resources handed out in class:
 * “Life of an Article” (p. 10) and “What Makes a Quality Article?” (pp. 12-13) from the blue introductory booklet ~ also available online at: http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Welcome_to_Wikipedia_brochure_EN.pdf
 * Evaluating Article Quality (green cover) booklet ~ also available online at: http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Evaluating_Wikipedia_article_quality_2010-11-26_(web).pdf
 * “Contributing to Wikipedia: Overall Guidelines and Evaluation Criteria” handout (contains links to more information and guidelines)

2. Review the Wikipedia Featured Articles page showing the list of the articles designated as the highest quality in Wikipedia.


 * a. Which areas are well covered?
 * b. In which areas are there gaps in representation?
 * c. Comment on the classification of subject areas.


 * Provide your answers in a Word Document

3. Compare the Wikipedia articles on the following topics using the attached evaluation sheet:


 * a. Confirmation Bias
 * b. Gender Mainstreaming


 * Reflect on the quality of the article, the type of information included, organization and readability. Fill in the chart below for each article, considering areas where each page may benefit from improvement.

4. Submit your answers to item 2 and the filled out charts for 3a and b to the relevant assignment tab on OWL-Space by 4 pm Wednesday, September 4. For full credit, compile your answers and two evaluation sheets into one Word document. Be sure that your name is at the top of the page and that you use 12 point font size. Label your file as follows:  PageReview.doc (or .docx)