Wikipedia:United States Education Program/Courses/Political Participation (Tess Marchant-Shapiro)

Comparing DYK and Feature Articles 1
I read 2 articles today. One was the Women in Madagascar. This was the DYK. The article was about the women in Madagascar. The article went into detail about the inequality of women, even though the country states that women are equal in its constitution. Women would receive 1/3 of the property if divorced from men. The man would receive 2/3. If the event of the death of a husband, the property would bypass the wife, and go to the offspring. This is an example of the injustice and inequality of property rights in this country. Other details include that women must be 14 to marry legally in this country. Even though discrimination is legal, it happens repeatedly. Women are a major part of the rice production, yet they rarely have any other employment opportunities. The article has been edited six times since 9/12/11. It uses three references, a book, an atlas, and an article. Added information should come from gender studies, unassessed women's history, and the importance of women's history articles.

The Featured Article was the Second Ostend Raid. This article had 500 edits since the year 2007. This article went into detail about the Royal Navy created a blockade (a strategic defense move) on Belgium. There was a need for military history reviewers, maritime reviews, and British armed forces reviewers to post their knowledge. Wikipedia most likely wants accurate accounts of this event, which created turmoil in the sea. There were 12 references at the moment. Since the record has been ongoing since 2007, I would say that it would be more accurate than my first DYK article.

Kristen46 (talk)22:14, 18 September 2011 (UTC)

Bryanw3: 1)Thank you for all of your help, and not wanting to wring my neck. 2) Gumbo- is this argument Creole v. Cajun? 3)I would think that you could only answer that if you were a true Southerner. I am pretty sure they take their gumbo seriously. I think we should call Paula Deen.

I think the DYK articles are the "newbies" of Wikipedia. Mine was also only a week old. Maybe we can grab our participation questions from those. They seem to be easier to work with.

Kristen46 (talk) 18 September 2011 (UTC)

Comparing DYK and Feature Articles 3
It appears that the article I viewed, "History of the New York Jets" under the article of the day section, had a lot of references and information in comparison to the “Did you know…” factorial section that I observed which was about Ronald Ngala. The article I looked at contained a lot of edits to fix material from sources, as well as rephrasing and other grammatical actions. The “Did you know…” section contained fewer people and less editing work. It was also sponsored by another Wikipedia section which in this case was about Africa, it went hand in hand with the group search.

Aslscsu1990 (talk) 00:52, 19 September 2011 (UTC)

I came to the same conclusion. I am thinking that the article we should take would most likely come from the DYK section. Kristen46 (talk)

I liked the article History of the New York Jets. It was very interesting and had a lot of information. What confuses me is why they have that article and New York Jets. They seem like redundant articles and probably could be combined into one. I wonder if it is common for there to be multiple articles with the same information, and if anyone checks up on that. Bythefire (talk) 22:19, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Comparing DYK and Feature Articles 4
While reading the Did you know facts and the Feature article of the day I learned alot of new information. The piece of information that stood out the most to me was that the State of Michigan has a Truckline Highway called M-78 which is used just for trucks. I also learned that American Airline Flight 111 was responsible for the death of over 1500 people deaths on September 11th, 2001. I also learned from the did you know article that the acts that took place on September 11th, 2001 was only the second time in United States History that we were attacked on our own home front. Ronald06514 (talk) 00:31, 15 September 2011 (UTC)

Hi Ronald,

I'm glad you learned some new information and are enjoying this assignment.

Juliejones24 (talk) 17:30, 18 September 2011 (UTC)

Hey Ronald,

The 9/11 fact you read seems interesting. How do you think they determined that? I can take a few guesses but I wasn’t sure if the article gave an explanation as to how they determined that number.

Connellys3 (talk) 02:05, 19 September 2011 (UTC)

Comparing DYK and Feature Articles 5
The 'Today’s Featured Article' I read was on Sherman Minton, a United States Senator and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, in the early 1900s. There had been over 500 edits since the article's birth in March 2010, and over 60 of those on the day the article was featured -- with very few edits by the same user. In the discussion section users were discussing issues like the wording of certain sections to keep the article objective -- as well possible additions that could be made. In the references section there were ten references which have mainly been collected from books and some online government journals. In the 'Did you know. . .?' section I learned that a former professional basketball player Orlando Lightfoot once scored 50 of his team's 69 points in a game.

ChrisMcBSCSU (talk) 16:53, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

Hi, I liked your choice in the selection of your article. One interesting fact I am learning about former Senator Minton was that during the days of the Great Depression he felt it wasn't necessary to uphold the Constitution - all in defense of the New Deal pieces of legislation. Definitely an interesting Democrat! Stshymansky (talk) 23:48, 18 September 2011 (UTC)

Hey i think the Orlando Lightfoot piece is very interesting as well. I also read part of that article and I was amazed at how he did that. He sort of reminds me of Michael Jordan Ronald06514 (talk) 18:42, 19 September 2011 (UTC)

Comparing DYK and Feature Articles 6
I read a feature article about Gumbo and a DYK article about the Treaty of Kepno. Both were extremely interesting. Aside from the substance of the articles though, I learned what an laborious process it is to put an article together for Wikipedia. Numerous contributors are involved, sometimes for a period of several years. I also learned about their personal interactions. They argued about everything from technical errors to template configurations,but unfortunately they also engaged in petty commentaries, criticisms and complaints ad infinitum. Nevertheless, I suppose we can indulge them in this, since its all for the noble cause of increasing our collective knowledgeSeymoura2 (talk) 02:00, 17 September 2011 (UTC)

Definitely agree with the abundance of commentary. Glad you learned something new Aslscsu1990 (talk) 00:57, 19 September 2011 (UTC)

Comparing DYK and Feature Articles 7

 * The Feature Article I read was Pinkerton (album). I learned that it was Weezer's second album. It was a mildly interesting article, but what really interested me was how much work went into creating it. The Wikipedia page for the Pinkerton album has existed and was continually worked on since March of 2003. There have been several contributors and the article has been heavily discussed. It was selected as a featured article because of how much work went into it. By contrast, the DYK article that I read had very little info on it, and was only written by a few contributors. The DYK article I read was Lighthouse and naval vessel urban legend. It was a very interesting article and I found it funny as well.

Looking into both articles gave me a much better understanding of Wikipedia and how much work goes into it, and how dedicated it's contributors are. Bythefire (talk) 22:10, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Comparing DYK and Feature Articles 8
While reading through the two different articles I learned that one of the major jobs in dealing with article review is to make sure all information is accurate. It's important that all information being posted has correct dates and whatnot. It was interesting to see different users interacting with one another and the constructive criticism they gave one another. Every editor made sure they correctly cited their sources and kept quoting to a minimum. Most sources were from online databases and were accountable. I look forward to contributing to the course page and learning about the topic I choose. I am going to choose a topic that interests me so I can do extensive research. Juliejones24 (talk) 17:26, 18 September 2011 (UTC)

I read the two articles that were assigned to us. Juliejones24 (talk) 18:27, 19 September 2011 (UTC)

Comparing DYK and Feature Articles 9
Today's featured article dealt with the Second Ostend Raid, which revolved around attempts by the Royal Navy to block channels accessing the Belgium Port of Ostend in 1918. This port had been used since 1915 by the German Navy as a base for activities during the battle of the Atlantic. There have been a total of 500 wikipedians involved in the creation of this article and has been regularly edited since 8.28.2007. Conversations are having discussions of old requests for military history peer reviews, maritime warfare task force articles, and British military history task force articles. There were a total of 12 references supplied for this particular article and many references that were used were books, as well as, data books in the collecting of reference material pertaining to the topic.

Regarding the DYK article: I focused on the article: "Women in Madagasscar" - Information that was noted regarding the article dealt with gender studies, unasessed women's studies, and women history articles. There was a total of 6 wikipedians involved in the creation of this article and has been edited since last week after its original posting. There were a total of three references used: a book, atlas, and article - sources that were mentioned dealt with "women as rice share-croppers in Madagasscar," and "Health, Nutrition, and Population in Madagasscar." The premise of the article was that women in Madagasscar were constitutionally inequal to men and if they got divorced the man gets 2/3 of the property. Clearly showing an unequal property rights for women in Madagasscar.

Stshymansky (talk) 23:21, 18 September 2011 (UTC)

I completely forgot that the Belgium Port was used by the German Navy. Now the significance is making sense. Do you think that the comments are censored (regarding any German/Nazi/illegal/activities)? That would definitely bring a lot to the table. I am not sure who censors Wikipedia, but if "certain" countries had their way, I am sure "some" activities would not be published. :) Kristen46 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 01:41, 19 September 2011 (UTC).

Not sure about that but as in anything, comments are always censored; however, a definite interesting thought you raise - you should consider looking into.

Stshymansky (talk) 02:06, 20 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Just another thought on this, seeing as it is one of my interests – the Nazi's were not around in 1915. ;-) Also, the being part of a task force is not a conversation, just a categorization! Regards, Ed [talk] [majestic titan] 02:34, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

Comparing DYK and Feature Articles 10
In completing the DYK and Feature Articles portion of assignment two there were a few things I learned with regards to the facts/articles and Wikipedia in general. In general, Wikipedia makes it fairly simple to view statistics regarding the editors and life of a given article. What I found most interesting were some of the graphs and actual statistics that are presented under some of the tabs within “View History.”

With regards to the actual articles I did learn some information that was surprising. The featured article I came across was titled “Stark Raving Dad”, which was the title of an early 1990’s “The Simpsons” episode. On a personal note, I am not a fan of cartoons; however some of the details given within the article were interesting. The particular episode had guest appearances from Michael Jackson whose voice was used for one of the characters in the episode, Leon Kompowsky, who is a MJ impersonator. In total about 3 characters had collaborated in recording Leon Kompowsky’s voice. Michael Jackson guest starred as Kompowsky’s “Michael Jackson” voice, while two others actors provided his singing voice, and regular speaking voice. The article has been edited and worked on since 2005 and has had a total of about 306 editors. For this article in particular I feel as if the discussion amongst authors may be a bit different given the context etc. Here editors discussed basic plot additions and improvements and cleared up confusions found within character info and the overall message of the episode. Basic grammar corrections were also present. This article had limited to no references used! The only noticeable references were links to other episodes and even a movie.

The DYK article I read revealed that the Burrunan dolphin is the only the 3rd new dolphin species since the 19th century. This article had 21 users and was originated in 2011. As the article is fairly new, there have been no references within the editions thus far.

Connellys3 (talk) 01:59, 19 September 2011 (UTC)

-Reply I am on the same boat as you when it comes to not being a fan of cartoons. I was always more into the realistic shows, crime shows, etc even as a kid. I was also shocked about the references situation. I figured a feature article had to have some kind of hefty list for references..

MikeySwetz (talk) 17:00, 19 September 2011 (UTC)

Comparing DYK and Feature Articles 11
I had recently read the featured article on the Simpson;s episode "Stark Raving Dad". It seems as if this page took a lot more cooperation and effort from multiple parties compared to the Did you know article on the Peruvian woman that I had also read. The feature article has been in the process of being created fully since April of this year. It took dozens of editors to create an article worthy of being a feature article on the English version of Wikipedia. I did learn things that I never knew about the Simpsons though. I didnt know how old the show was until i read into the article. I never got into the television show and never realize that season three, which this artcle was about, was in the 90's. I was always into the crime shows as a kid because my mother couldnt keep her eyes off the TV when they aired.

I also clicked on the DYK article about Peruvian women titled "Women in Peru". There are some very interesting facts in their describing the culture. Most of the sources in this article come from Amnesty International which is understandable. There werent as many editors on this project as there were for the feature article. My guess is because of lack of interest. The simpsons carries a large audience, where as information on Peru probably isnt the first thing on anybody's mind. MikeySwetz (talk) 16:57, 19 September 2011 (UTC)

Comparing DYK and Feature Articles 12
This Feature article today is about Stark Raving Dad. This article has been around since 2006 with many authors editing and speaking about "The Simpsons". Most of the authors speak about the culture reference in the episode of "The Simpsons". What I found interesting was Michael Jackson guest starred in the episode as the speaking voice of Leon Kompowsky. I also learned that on this today in 1991 "The Simpsons" was first aired on FOX network. Emoni12 (talk) 15:42, 19 September 2011 (UTC)

This DYK article had to do with Women in Peru. I learned that they are able to marry at the age of 16 but the age of consent is 18. Women get less pay than men and women are also abused with repercussion. They are not able to get other contraceptives so many of their pregnancies are aborted. The women have a higher illiteracy than men, but women are starting to indulge in higher education. It is extremely sad that most pregnancies that occur are due to rape. I learned that the women work in farming and take care of the house work and received almost 50% less than men. Emoni12 (talk) 17:06, 19 September 2011 (UTC)

Its always sad to hear about the conditions in less fortunate countries. FYI, you wrote "said" where I assume you meant "sad" in the second to last sentence. AugieC (talk) 01:36, 20 September 2011 (UTC)

Comparing DYK and Feature Articles 13
Today's featured article was about Rhabdomyolysis. It is a muscle condition where damaged muscle breaksdown and is released into the blood stream. This can be harmful to the kidney's and cause kidney failure. It can be caused several different ways including: medications, drug use, infections, and physical factors. Symtoms can include vomitting, confusion, and muscle pain.

My DYK article was about ex-NFL coach and running back, Steve Crosby. He was drafted to the NY Giants in 1974 and played there for just 2 years when he was forced to retire due to a knee injury. He later became an NFL coach for 8 different teams, including the New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins, and Philadelphia Eagles. He ended his career as the special teams coach for the San Diego Chargers. He did very well for most of his career with the Chargers and helped to create multiple Pro-bowler players and the most accurate kicker of all time. However, his 2010 season was a complete turn around. In 2010, the Chargers had one of the worst special teams in NFL history, and his contract was not renewed following that season.

AugieC (talk) 01:30, 20 September 2011 (UTC)

Comparing DYK and Feature Articles 14
My DYK article was about Potato Valley Cafe, the Cafe is in Maryland, and is owned by Barbara Ripani and her husband Anders Ekbladh. They got their idea from a Swedish chain resturant. The potatoes are served as meals, and have many toppings. There were 7 users on the page. There are no references for this article. Smallozzi (talk) 17:36, 21 September 2011 (UTC)

Comparing DKY and Featured Articles 15
My Featured article was about a severe hurricane which affected Florida,the Bahamas, and the southeastern United States in 1941. The storm had peaked winds of 120 miles per hour and was estimated to have done $675,000 in damages. The DYK article I choose was about the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary in the Indian state of Goa which is responsible for recording at least 257 species of butterfly. Cargosm1 (talk) 12:36, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

Article
I have chosen to expound/write on the article "The Center for Law and Social Policy" on Wikipedia.

For this article; I plan on expounding on the mission statement of the organization. I plan on developing a more in depth version of the organization's early days when 4 lawyers began CLASP in August of 1969. In the 1980s, the organization went through various changes in the scope to their policy work and I plan on discussing these changes. Furthermore, there have been many people who began at CLASP that have branched off and created various successful ventures/organizations. I plan on discussing these various organizations and their contributions.

Stshymansky (talk) 19:06, 26 September 2011 (UTC) [edit] References

In its first few years, the organization began addressing women's rights, mine health and safety, international affairs, including environmental issues and human rights, and employment.[1][2]

In 1982, under a new executive director, Alan W. Houseman, the organization shifted its focus from general public interest law to extensive anti-poverty policy, with particular emphasis on child and family poverty and civil legal assistance. [3]

Today, the organization focuses on policy solutions in the areas of child care and early education, child welfare, postsecondary education, workforce development, disadvantaged youth, and civil legal assistance. [4]

The organization employs several policy specialists, each of whom focuses on one of the organization’s issue areas.[5] These experts publish research pieces and advocacy writing and testify before Congress and other government groups to promote its low-income policy.[6]

In 2010, CLASP was selected by Philanthropedia as one of the leading nonprofits in the area of workforce development. [7]

Stshymansky (talk) 17:48, 9 October 2011 (UTC)

Comparing DYK and Feature Articles 16
The Lost River Sucker is a fish that is endangered and is very susceptible to environmental pollution, specifically ammonia, which gives it gill rot. It seems to have a limited habitat, which is bad news for it, because the area it lives in is subject to degradation, invasive species and pollution. About 10 wikipedians have worked on the article. There has been one post in the discussion on it, relating to the scientific classification of the fish in question. The article stood out in the Did You Know because it had a horrific autopsy photo of the fish, suffering from gill rot. the Royal National College for the blind is a school that has facilities adapted for the vision impaired. The college offers liberal arts style classes and vocational classes. while reviewing this it was hard not to wonder how the school could provide a European Computer Divers License, as both "Driver's License" and "Computer" are not things that usually are associated with the visually challenged. Many wikipedians edited and reviewed the article, ending with an exhaustive check list on every chapter in the article that had been fulfilled, down to the fact that Prince Charles is the only Patron who gets a capital P on the list of patrons. DaemienC (talk) 04:24, 19 October 2011 (UTC)