Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/New College of Florida/Become a Wikipedian (January Inter-term)

Students in this group ISP will explore the world of Wikipedia, learning about the fundamental principles of Wikipedia and drawing conclusions as to whether the Wikipedian community successfully follows these principles.

Wikipedia is a free, web-based, multilingual encyclopedia written by a community of anonymous Internet volunteers using collaborative “wiki” technology. Since Wikipedia’s inception in 2001, Wikipedia has become a ubiquitous resource consulted by millions of people around the world. But is it a reliable, objective source of knowledge?

We will explore the evolution of Wikipedia, focusing on the fundamental principles of neutrality, authority, and civility, and evaluating whether these principles have been successfully implemented (or not) by the Wikipedian community in order to maintain the integrity and usefulness of the resource.

Students will critically analyze existing Wikipedia articles, conduct research in an area of their interest, and contribute new content to a selected article using WikiCode. The ISP will involve reading, secondary research, writing, Wikicoding, and collaborating with NCF Wikipedians as well as the Wikipedian community at large.

Week 1
Please bring your laptop to Tuesday's workshop. Before Tuesday's workshop:

 Create a Wikipedia user account.  Enroll in this course page.  Read this brochure on evaluating Wikipedia articles, especially pages 4-7. This will give you guidance on what to look for in other articles, and what other people will look for in your articles.  Identify at least 3 existing Wikipedia articles of interest, and post links to them on your talk page along with a brief summary (scope) of your topic.  Resources:  Wikipedia:Help </li><li> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Cheatsheet">Wikipedia:Cheatsheet</a> </li><li> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Wiki_markup">Wikipedia:Help Wiki markup</a> </li></ul>

<ul><li> Complete the online training for students before Friday's workshop (scroll down and use below links to start training modules). </li><li> Evaluate at least one of your chosen articles. Use <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Evaluating_Wikipedia_brochure_%28Wiki_Education_Foundation%29.pdf">this brochure on evaluating Wikipedia articles</a> as a guide and leave suggestions for improving them on each article’s talk page. </li><li> Begin preliminary research. Find 3-5 sources that you may want to add to your Wikipedia articles. </li></ul>

For Friday's workshop:

<ul><li> Complete the Wikipedia training. </li><li> Add your chosen articles to this course page via the &quot;Student Tab&quot; if you haven't already. </li><li> Bring your draft evaluation of your article (you can print and mark it up manually, or paste the article text into a Google doc and annotate with comments); also, add a summary of your comments to the talk page of the chosen article. </li><li> Bring your 3-5 sources (full text and citation so we can review/evaluate during the workshop). </li></ul>

Week 2
Schedule a meeting with instructor to submit working bibliography (at least 7-10 sources and report on progress. Post bibliography to the appropriate section of your article(s) and/or talk page as appropriate. Tasks for the week:

<ul><li> Spend time researching your topic, finding high quality resources to improve your chosen articles. </li><li> Spend time editing, re-organizing, and drafting new content. </li><li> With the new sources that you’ve identified and vetted for quality, begin adding sources to each Wikipedia article. </li><li> Submit any WikiCoding questions to instructor via talk page messages by Monday, January 17. Solutions to technical issues will be the first topic of Tuesday's workshop. </li></ul>

Week 3
Before Tuesday's workshop:

<ul><li> Send instructor any technical WikiCode questions via talk messages. </li><li> Move draft articles into main space. Read brochure <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Classroom_handout_-_moving_out_of_your_sandbox.pdf">Moving out of your sandbox</a> for instructions. If you are creating a  new  article,  do NOT copy and paste  your text, or there will be no record of your work history. </li><li> Optional: For new articles or qualifying expansions of stubs, compose a one-sentence “hook,” nominate it for “Did you know,” (see <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/%22Did_You_Know%22_submissions.pdf">detailed instructions</a>) and monitor the nomination for any issues identified by other editors. Wiki Education Foundation staff can provide support for this process. </li><li> Share experiences and discuss problems via talk pages. </li><li> Handouts: &quot;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UploadingImagesHandout.pdf">Uploading images</a>&quot; </li></ul> Peer review workshop agenda: <ul><li> Instructor will offer solutions to any technical issues that are identified in advance. </li><li> Students will begin reviewing each other’s drafts. </li></ul>

Before Friday's workshop:

<ul><li> Submit peer reviews of a classmate's Wikipedia contribution. </li><li> Begin responding to peer review and Wikipedia editorial review of your draft. </li><li> Prepare presentation reflecting on your Wikipedia experience and whether Wikipedia has successfully implemented its fundamental principles of neutrality, authority, and civility. </li></ul> Friday's workshop agenda: <ul><li> Open campus workshop will be a public edit-a-thon. Instructor will give introductory workshop. </li><li> Students will give their oral presentations. </li><li> Students will act as docents and assist workshop participants with Wikipedia. </li></ul>

Week 4
Submit final Wikipedia portfolios to instructor by January 29 @undefined 1pm:

<ul><li> Complete content of contributions, including final bibliography (submit as Wikipedia &quot;book,&quot; which is a pdf portfolio). </li><li> Responses to classmate's peer review </li><li> Responses to Wikipedia review </li><li> Reflection paper/slides from presentation </li></ul> Please schedule a meeting with instructor if needed for help with WikiCode or research questions.