Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/New College of Florida/Wikipedia and Bias - Add your voice to the conversation (January 2017)

Students will learn about the fundamental principles of Wikipedia and draw 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 Wikipedia, focusing on the fundamental principles of neutrality, authority, and civility, and evaluate 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.

Project Overview:

• Wikipedia: Core principles, controversies, and introduction to editing.

• Define scope of project, analyze existing content, and conduct secondary research.

• Create annotated bibliography, and add content to Wikipedia in your chosen area of interest.

• Revise Wikipedia articles, conduct peer review of student work, and respond to peer reviews.

• Give oral presentation reflecting on your experience.

• Complete and submit reflection paper and Wikipedia portfolio.

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

Due 1/10 at 1pm:


 * Create a Wikipedia user account.
 * Identify 2-3 existing Wikipedia articles of interest.
 * Find and read at least 2 articles about a Wikipedia controversy and be ready to lead discussion. See Wikipedia controversies here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wikipedia_controversies) and also on supplemental reading list at the end of the syllabus.

Tuesday’s workshop agenda:


 * Introduction to Wikipedia’s five pillars
 * Student-led discussion about Wikipedia controversies.
 * Link to course page; upload article links.

Resources:


 * Wikipedia:Help
 * Wikipedia:Cheatsheet
 * Wikipedia:Help Wiki markup


 * Complete Wikipedia online training (link to training modules below).
 * Visit the instructor's Wikipedia Talk Page and respond to questions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:tburress
 * Read this guide on evaluating Wikipedia articles and evaluate at least one of your articles. Make suggestions for improvement on the article’s talk page and ping the instructor.
 * Begin preliminary research. Find 3-5 sources that you may want to add to your Wikipedia articles.

Thursday's workshop agenda:


 * Submit assignments.
 * Article structure and evaluation.
 * Add comments to article Talk Pages.
 * Research essentials.

Week 2

 * Complete online training (link to training modules below).
 * Make at least 10 edits on Wikipedia (proofreading/copyediting).
 * Research your topic; create and submit &quot;scope of work&quot; and preliminary bibliography (at least 5 sources).

Training and edits should be logged automatically via the Wikipedia Dashboard. Please make sure you are logged into your account so that your work is documented.

Please submit your research scope of work and preliminary bibliography via email or on your Talk Page.

Please turn in project scope and preliminary bibliography via email. We will meet next on Thursday at 11am, LBR 141, as part of a joint workshop offered by Alyson Gamble, Sciences Librarian.

If you have trouble finding sources, please contact me for a one-on-one meeting on these topics:


 * Identify databases.
 * Improve your search strategies.
 * Evaluate resources.
 * Move article text to sandbox, begin editing.


 * Read all sources from bibliography (at least 5) and submit an annotated bibliography (summary of each source).

Research Workshop agenda to be determined.

Week 3
No group meeting today.


 * Complete online training (link to training modules below).
 * Schedule one-on-one consultation with instructor to report on progress.
 * Submit final bibliography (at least 15 sources).
 * Move draft articles into main space.

Also:


 * Continue research and editing.
 * Begin working on presentation and reflection paper.


 * Review peer Wikipedia drafts; add feedback to article talk pages.

Peer review workshop agenda:


 * In-person feedback on each project.
 * Trouble-shooting session.

Week 4
Peer review workshop agenda:


 * Students bring their contributions and provide feedback to one another.
 * In-person feedback on each project.
 * Trouble-shooting session.

Final reflection paper and portfolio of completed Wikipedia articles via Wikipedia “book” (i.e., pdf).