Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Northern Illinois University/Spies, Lies and Secret Wars - History of the CIA in the World (Spring 2017)

Perhaps no other institution is so heavily mythologized in the popular consciousness than the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States. It is both hailed by some as the stealthy protector of world liberty and freedom, and reviled by others as the epitome of tyranny and democratic hypocrisy. Our course, Spies, Lies and Secret Wars: CIA in the World examines the history of this influential and controversial agency not solely from an American perspective but also from a global historical vantage, drawing attention to its impact worldwide. The course employs a case study approach, with secondary readings drawing from a rich and critical historiography and primary research materials sampled from declassified, leaked and otherwise open archival sources.

Week 1
Welcome to your Wikipedia project's course timeline. This page will guide you through the Wikipedia project for your course. Be sure to check with your instructor to see if there are other pages you should be following as well.

Your course has also been assigned a Wikipedia Content Expert. Check your Talk page for notes from them. You can also reach them through the &quot;Get Help&quot; button on this page.

To get started, please review the following handouts:


 * Editing Wikipedia all pages
 * Evaluating Wikipedia all pages


 * Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you.
 * It's time to dive into Wikipedia. Below, you'll find the complete set of online trainings you'll need to take in order to start the Wikipedia project.
 * You should re-take the trainings again later in the term if you need a refresher. You are expected to take ALL of the trainings and can check your status and progress on the Students tab above.
 * When you finish the trainings, practice by introducing yourself to a classmate on that classmate’s Talk page. You can view a list of all the students in the class on the Students tab above.

Due each week for the new Case File.

'''Part 1: Contribute content to improve the assigned page or related pages ''' Each week we will be examining a different country Case File dealing with the CIA activities in that country. The Case Files are under the “Content” tab in Blackboard. A key part of your week with a given country Case File is to delve deeply into the primary source documents (most of which are held electronically at the National Security Archive at George Washington University).

Your assessment, due on Friday of each week, will be to examine the documents and use them to revise, rewrite, edit and supplement the Wikipedia page of “CIA activities in _______” for our country of the week. You will be working &quot;live&quot; - not in a sandbox. And your edit can be done in any number of ways.

You can improve the narrative and add detail to the “CIA activities in _______” page or any subsection of the page. You can make image files of passages and photos from the National Security Archives documents and add them to the Wikipedia page. You can add detailed footnotes to document exact pages where assertions in the Wikipedia page come from. You can correct misreadings or misinformation. You can copyedit. You can re-write a passage that is poorly written or confusing and improve it for clarity. Impress me.


 * Week 1: CIA activities in Iran
 * Week 2: CIA activities in Guatemala
 * Week 3: CIA activities in the Philippines
 * Week 4: CIA Tibetan program
 * Week 5: CIA activities in Indonesia
 * Week 6: CIA activities in the Congo
 * Week 7: Cuban Project
 * Week 8: CIA activities in Vietnam
 * Week 9: Spring break
 * Week 10: Brazil
 * Week 11: CIA activities in Laos
 * Week 12: US interventions in Chile
 * Week 13: Southern Cone
 * Week 14: CIA activities in Afghanistan
 * Week 15: CIA activities in Nicaragua
 * Week 16: Intelligence affairs

Part 2: show a &quot;diff&quot; of your edits

Every Friday, you will need to attach as your assessment a PDF copy of your “diff” page. A diff is Wikipedia-speak for a report that shows a side-by-side comparison of the differences in a Wikipedia page before and after your revisions. You can access your &quot;diff&quot; by heading to the Students tab above and diving into your recent contributions. Your name is part of a row - click your row and a drop down of your recent edits will appear. You can select &quot;show&quot; to see a &quot;diff&quot; of each individual edit. From the &quot;show&quot; bar you can also &quot;view live on Wikipedia&quot;. It might be easiest to take a screen shot of your contribution(s) each week and turn those in as PDFs.

Part 3: write up

Each week after you have submitted your diff page assignment, you will write a short (1-2 paragraph) summary of your contribution, from your perspective. Your summary should include:


 * 1. What your contribution was as a whole.
 * 2. Why your contribution was important.
 * To answer this question think about: Why are the details you added important? What do they change about the event/situation? Why might these details have been left out before? Who would have benefited from including or excluding these details? If those details were missing, how might understandings of this event/situation be different?
 * 3. What are your hopes for your contribution? How do you want people to understand why you chose to add these details instead of others?

Post your summary in the Discussion Board Forum under the appropriate Case File country thread. Be sure to make your own thread. Threads will be graded so make sure you create your own. Your Thread Post should include Your Last Name, the Country/Region you contributed to, the Due Date of the Diff Assignment. Feel free to attach your diff page here also if you choose.

By 5 PM, Sunday January 22, hand in on Blackboard your updates to the webpage CIA activities in Iran drawn from your Case File Iran, especially the documents. Also, post a narrative summary of these contributions to the appropriate Blackboard Discussion Board thread.

Week 2
By 5 PM, Friday January 27, hand in on Blackboard your updates to the webpage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_Guatemala drawn from your Case File Guatemala, especially the documents. Also, post a narrative summary of these contributions to the appropriate Blackboard Discussion Board thread.

Week 3
By 5 PM, Friday February 3, hand in on Blackboard your updates to the webpage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_the_Philippinesdrawn from your Case File Philippines, especially the documents. Also, post a narrative summary of these contributions to the appropriate Blackboard Discussion Board thread.

Week 4
By 5 PM, Friday February 10, hand in on Blackboard your updates to the webpage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_Tibetan_program drawn from your Case File Tibet, especially the documents. Also, post a narrative summary of these contributions to the appropriate Blackboard Discussion Board thread.

Week 5
By 5 PM, Friday February 17, hand in on Blackboard your updates to the webpage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_Indonesia drawn from your Case File Indonesia, especially the documents. Also, post a narrative summary of these contributions to the appropriate Blackboard Discussion Board thread.

Week 6
By 5 PM, Friday February 24, hand in on Blackboard your updates to the webpage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_the_Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo drawn from your Case File Congo, especially the documents. Also, post a narrative summary of these contributions to the appropriate Blackboard Discussion Board thread.

Week 7
By 5 PM, Friday March 3, hand in on Blackboard your updates to the webpage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Project drawn from your Case File Cuba, especially the documents. Also, post a narrative summary of these contributions to the appropriate Blackboard Discussion Board thread.

Week 8
By 5 PM, Friday March 10, hand in on Blackboard your updates to the webpage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_Vietnam drawn from your Case File Vietnam, especially the documents. Also, post a narrative summary of these contributions to the appropriate Blackboard Discussion Board thread.

Week 10
By 5 PM, Friday March 24, hand in on Blackboard your updates to the webpage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Brazilian_coup_d%27étatdrawn from your Case File Brazil, especially the documents. Also, post a narrative summary of these contributions to the appropriate Blackboard Discussion Board thread.

Week 11
By 5 PM, Friday March 31, hand in on Blackboard your updates to the webpage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_Laos drawn from your Case File Laos, especially the documents. Also, post a narrative summary of these contributions to the appropriate Blackboard Discussion Board thread.

Week 12
By 5 PM, Friday April 7, hand in on Blackboard your updates to the webpage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_intervention_in_Chile drawn from your Case File Chile, especially the documents. Also, post a narrative summary of these contributions to the appropriate Blackboard Discussion Board thread.

Week 13
By 5 PM, Friday April 14, hand in on Blackboard your updates to the webpage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Condor drawn from your Case File Southern Cone, especially the documents. Also, post a narrative summary of these contributions to the appropriate Blackboard Discussion Board thread.

Week 14
By 5 PM, Friday April 21, hand in on Blackboard your updates to the webpage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_Afghanistan drawn from your Case File Afghanistan, especially the documents. Also, post a narrative summary of these contributions to the appropriate Blackboard Discussion Board thread.

Week 15
By 5 PM, Friday April 28, hand in on Blackboard your updates to the webpage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_Nicaragua drawn from your Case File Nicaragua, especially the documents. Also, post a narrative summary of these contributions to the appropriate Blackboard Discussion Board thread.

Week 16
By 5 PM, Friday May 5, hand in on Blackboard your updates to one or more of the various webpages dealing with Intelligence Current Affairs (see Case File). Also, post a narrative summary of these contributions to the appropriate Blackboard Discussion Board thread.