Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University of California, Berkeley/Civic Technology (Fall 2021)

As you prepare to cast a vote in what may be your first election, you will be invited to explore the ways in which social media and related technologies are reshaping political landscapes around the world. In the course, we will look at the ways in which politicians have already adopted social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, paying close attention to current developments in national, state and local politics as events unfold in real time during the semester. We will also closely examine an array of emerging “civic technologies,” including those developed by new political parties (Pirate Party, Partido de la Red), nonprofit organizations (Democracy.Earth, Participatory Democracy Foundation), for-profit startups (Hustle.com, PopVox) and government agencies (We The People, Tunisian and Icelandic crowdsourced constitutions, eStonia, Participatory Budgeting). Students will be encouraged to develop critical perspectives on the strengths and weaknesses of new approaches to democracy from technical, political-economic and critical-theoretical perspectives.

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.)

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Week 2
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

Week 3
Thinking about sources and plagiarism

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 6

Week 4
What's a content gap?

Week 5
Biographies

Books

Films

History

Political Science

Sociology

Week 6
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

Thinking about Wikipedia

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 8
Guiding framework

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

Week 9
Guiding questions

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.

Resources:


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

Week 10
Nominating your article for Did You Know

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.

Week 12
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!

Week 13
It's the final week to develop your article.


 * Read Editing Wikipedia page 15 to review a final check-list before completing your assignment.
 * Don't forget that you can ask for help from your Wikipedia Expert at any time!

Week 14
Guiding questions

Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.