Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University of Chicago/Content Analysis (Spring, 2016)

A vast expanse of information about what people do, know, think, and feel lies embedded in text, audio, and images—from transcribed interviews, snapshots, YouTube and the academic cannon to constitutions, poetry, and idling online chat. With the rise of literacy, and more recently of computers, cellphones, scanners and the internet, there are both greater supply and demand for textual and image information, providing us with access to a greater variety of texts, images, video and sound that reach further into the human condition, past and present. This class will begin by considering the nature of text and images and the possibilities for (and limits to) analyzing society and culture through their content. We will spend each session cultivating skills for close, interpretive content analysis (so-called “qualitative content analysis”/QCA) or counting and verifying discovered meaning across text and images (classic “content analysis”), while simultaneously exploring computational methods that could be used to facilitate discovery and assessment of meaning on larger scales. These include introductions to approaches from natural language processing, information retrieval, signal processing, network analysis, and machine vision.

The course is designed to assist those seeking to enhance or expand a small-scale coding project (think interviews, field notes, snapshots, footage), those hoping to efficiently summarize large samples of text and images, or those in search of tools to sift through quantities of documents to find ones meriting closer analysis. The course balances an empirical paper with experimentation using techniques. Students will be evaluated based on their participation, a presentation/report on a chosen method and a final paper.

Week 1

 * Overview of the course
 * Introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course
 * Understanding Wikipedia as a community, we'll discuss its expectations and etiquette.

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Handout: Editing Wikipedia


 * Basics of editing
 * Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish between good and bad articles
 * Collaborating and engaging with the Wiki editing community
 * Tips on finding the best articles to work on for class assignments

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Handouts:, Evaluating Wikipedia


 * Create an account and join this course page.
 * Complete the introductory training modules. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.
 * Create a User page.
 * To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself on the user talk page of one of your classmates, who should also be enrolled in the table at the bottom of the page.
 * Explore topics related to your topic area to get a feel for how Wikipedia is organized. What areas seem to be missing? As you explore, make a mental note of articles that seem like good candidates for improvement.

All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page.


 * Be prepared to discuss some of your observations about Wikipedia articles in your topic area that are missing or could use improvement.

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Handouts:

Week 2

 * Be prepared to explain close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia.

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Handouts: and

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Supplementary training: Sources and Citations


 * Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia article related to the class.


 * Research and list 3–5 articles on your Wikipedia user page that you will consider working on as your main project. Look at the talk page for existing topics for a sense of who else is working on it and what they're doing. Describe your choices to your instructor for feedback.


 * Discuss the topics students will be working on, and determine strategies for researching and writing about them.

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Supplementary training: Sandboxes and Mainspace


 * Finalize your topic selection and assign it to yourself on the course page.
 * Create a one-paragraph to one-page description of what you plan to contribute to the topic. You may wish to post that to the article's talk page.
 * Compile a bibliography of relevant, reliable sources and post it to the talk page of the article you are working on. Begin reading the sources. Make sure to check in on the talk page (or watchlist) to see if anyone has advice on your bibliography.


 * If you are starting a new article, write a 3–4 paragraph summary version of your article—with citations—in your Wikipedia sandbox. If you are improving an existing article, create a detailed outline reflecting your proposed changes, and post this for community feedback, along with a brief description of your plans, on the article’s talk page. Make sure to check back on the talk page often and engage with any responses.
 * Begin working with classmates and other editors to polish your short starter article and fix any major issues.
 * Continue research in preparation for expanding your article.

Week 3

 * Talk about Wikipedia culture and etiquette, and (optionally) revisit the concept of sandboxes and how to use them.
 * Q&amp;A session with instructor about interacting on Wikipedia and getting started with writing.

All students have started editing articles or drafts on Wikipedia.


 * We'll discuss moving your article out of your sandboxes and into Wikipedia's main space.
 * A general reminder: Don't panic if your contribution disappears, and don't try to force it back in.
 * Check to see if there is an explanation of the edit on the article's talk page. If not, (politely) ask why it was removed.
 * Contact your instructor or Wikipedia Content Expert and let them know.

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Handout:


 * Move your sandbox articles into main space.
 * If you are expanding an existing article, copy your edit into the article. If you are making many small edits, save after each edit before you make the next one. Do NOT paste over the entire existing article, or large sections of the existing article.
 * If you are creating a new article, do NOT copy and paste your text, or there will be no record of your work history. Follow the instructions in the &quot;Moving out of your sandbox&quot; handout.
 * Begin expanding your article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic.

Week 4

 * Demo uploading images and adding images to articles.
 * Share experiences and discuss problems.

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Resources: Illustrating Wikipedia and Evaluating Wikipedia


 * Select three classmates’ articles that you will peer review and copyedit. On the table at the bottom of this course page, add your username next to the articles you will peer review. (You don’t need to start reviewing yet.)


 * Expand your article into a complete first draft.

Week 5

 * As a group, offer suggestions for improving one or two other students' articles, based on your ideas of what makes a solid encyclopedia article.

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Supplementary training: Peer Review


 * Peer review two of your classmates’ articles. Leave suggestions on the article talk pages.
 * Copy-edit the two reviewed articles.

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


 * Open discussion of the concepts of neutrality, media literacy, and the impact and limits of Wikipedia.


 * Make edits to your article based on peers’ feedback. If you disagree with a suggestion, use talk pages to politely discuss and come to a consensus on your edit.


 * Continue discussing how the articles can be further improved. Come up with improvement goals for each article for next week.


 * Return to your classmates' articles you previously reviewed, and provide more suggestions for further improvement. If there is a disagreement, suggest a compromise.
 * Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on your classmates' suggestions and any additional areas for improvement you can identify.

Week 6

 * Add final touches to your Wikipedia article.

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Handout:


 * Put together a Wikipedia portfolio.

Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading.