Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Univ. of California Santa Cruz/History 101D Topics in the World History of Science (Summer 2019)

Human curiosity and inquiry changed and varied widely across Eurasia. We will survey and understand how the curiosity and inquiry were framed in three major civilizations (China, Islam and Judeo-Christian) from the Mongol conquest of Eurasia in the thirteenth century to the beginning of industrial capitalism in the nineteenth century. During this period, most people lived in an agrarian society and political hierarchy of various kinds. It was a different world from our industrial and even post-industrial world and it will take quite a lot of imagination and understanding to venture into their world: Why and how did they watch sky, track the movement of the Sun, draw maps, make tools and weapons, heal the sick, preserve and pass on what they had learned?

We will examine a small segment of the elite membership in each complex societies across Eurasia. The elite members across Eurasia (1300-1800) could recognize their differences in the ways they dressed, the linguistic systems they used, and the role they played in their own political hierarchy. When they traveled to a different society in a different civilization, they could identify their elite position in a given society more strongly and readily than their dresses or languages. Their political roles were way more important than their cultural and linguistic ones. For instance, when the missionaries from the Society of Jesus traveled to China in the 1600s, they were quickly identified as &quot;masters&quot; and &quot;scholars&quot; at the top of Chinese social hierarchy despite the fact they could barely speak any dialects in China.

More importantly, the &quot;European superiority&quot; in science, technology and medicine as we reckon today was NOT yet apparent across Eurasia. In fact the European elite perception was quite the opposite. As we will learn, the elite members in the Judeo-Christian world regarded the East as the land of wisdom and wealth. In this course, we will challenge the conventional argument known as &quot;the rise of the West&quot; and question how far we could trace the European (industrial and scientific) superiority back in history.

Week 1
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.)

Begin a blog about your experiences. You can use discussion questions to frame your entries, or reflect on the research and writing process. Create at least one blog entry each week during the Wikipedia assignment.

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Week 2
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

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 3
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

Exercise
Add links to your article

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.

Continue to expand and improve your work, and format your article to match Wikipedia's tone and standards. Remember to contact your Wikipedia Expert at any time if you need further help!