Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Trent University/Gender and Politics in Canada: Cultural and Media Interventions (Fall 2019)

This course introduces the study of gender and politics in Canada. We will examine gender identities as lived experience and as citizens at the intersection of disability, race, class, LGBTQ, and Indigeneity, and consider how gender is approached in selected political issues in the Canadian context. Specifically, liberal and a range of feminist conceptions of subjectivity, citizenship, and political ideology will provide the frameworks for examining the meaning of gender experience and understanding. This course will also provide students the opportunity to make critical contributions to Wikipedia by strengthening Wikipedia articles using scholarly sources. Because Wikipedia is the most accessed public information source, contributing to the quality of Wikipedia articles that relate to gender will support the quality of knowledge of gender available to the public and give students first-hand experience in knowledge creation for Wikipedia, a skill that is transferable to many contexts.

Week 1
Welcome to your Wikipedia assignment's course timeline. This page guides you through the steps you'll need to complete for your Wikipedia assignment, with links to training modules and your classmates' work spaces.

Your course has been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. You can reach them through the Get Help button at the top of this page.

Resources:


 * Editing Wikipedia, pages 1–5
 * Evaluating Wikipedia

Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. (Because of Wikipedia's technical restraints, you may receive a message that you cannot create an account. To resolve this, please try again off campus or the next day.)

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Write down your experiences with Wikipedia as you go. What are you learning? What are you observing and experiencing? Your journal will help you provide content for the reflective essay.

Thinking about sources and plagiarism

Exercise
When evaluating your selected Wikipedia article, consider the following questions (but don't feel limited to these):


 * 1. Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you? If so, why?
 * 2. Is the article balanced? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position? If so, what were they?
 * 3. Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
 * 4. Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?
 * 5. Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
 * 6. Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
 * 7. Check out the Talk page of the article. What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
 * 8. Is the article rated/ How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
 * 9. How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?

Evaluate an article

What's a content gap?

Biographies

Cultural Anthropology

Films

History

LGBT+ Studies

Political Science

Sociology

Women's Studies

Exercise
Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have questions using the  Get Help  button at the top of this page.

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9

Add a citation

Copyedit an article

Week 4
Answer the following questions in your Evaluation:


 * 1. Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you? If so, why?
 * 2. Is the article balanced? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position? If so, what were they?
 * 3. Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
 * 4. Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?
 * 5. Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
 * 6. Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
 * 7. Check out the Talk page of the article. What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
 * 8. Is the article rated/ How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
 * 9. How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?

Guiding framework

Thinking about Wikipedia

Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.

You probably have some feedback from other students and possibly other Wikipedians. Consider their suggestions, decide whether it makes your work more accurate and complete, and edit your draft to make those changes.

Now's the time to revisit your text and refine your work. You may do more research and find missing information; rewrite the lead section to represent all major points; reorganize the text to communicate the information better; or add images and other media. Remember to contact your Wikipedia Expert at any time if you need further help!

Resources:


 * Editing Wikipedia, pages 12 and 14
 * Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have any questions.

Now that you've improved your draft based on others' feedback, it's time to move your work live - to the &quot;mainspace.&quot;

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 13

Week 5


Present about your Wikipedia editing experience.



Consider the following questions as you reflect on your Wikipedia assignment:


 * Critiquing articles:  What did you learn about Wikipedia during the article evaluation? How did you approach critiquing the article you selected for this assignment? How did you decide what to add to your chosen article?
 * Summarizing your contributions:  include a summary of your edits and why you felt they were a valuable addition to the article. How does your article compare to earlier versions? What was the process by which you created your contribution (i.e., the main steps you took, was the process iterative)?
 * Peer Review: Include information about the peer review process. How did your draft contribution change after the peer review? What did your peers/instructor recommend you change on your article? Did their recommendation improve your work and how?
 * Feedback:  Did you receive feedback from other Wikipedia editors, and if so, how did you respond to and handle that feedback?
 * Wikipedia generally:  What did you learn from contributing to Wikipedia? How does a Wikipedia assignment compare to other assignments you've done in the past? How can Wikipedia be used to improve public understanding of our field/your topic? Why is this important?

Exercise
Add links to your article

Week 6


Consider the following questions for your Reflective Essay (4 pages double spaced, 12 pt font):


 * Critiquing articles:  What did you learn about Wikipedia during the article evaluation? How did you approach critiquing the article you selected for this assignment? How did you decide what to add to your chosen article?
 * Summarizing your contributions:  include a summary of your edits and why you felt they were a valuable addition to the article. How does your article compare to earlier versions? What was the process by which you created your contribution (i.e., the main steps you took, was the process iterative)?
 * Peer Review:  If your class did peer/instructor review, include information about the peer review process. What did you contribute in your review of your peers article? What did your peers/instructor recommend you change on your article? Did their recommendation improve your work and how?
 * Feedback:  Did you receive feedback from other Wikipedia editors, and if so, how did you respond to and handle that feedback?
 * Wikipedia generally:  What did you learn from contributing to Wikipedia? How does a Wikipedia assignment compare to other assignments you've done in the past? How can Wikipedia be used to improve public understanding of our field/your topic? Why is this important?

Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia.