Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign/New Media, Culture and Society (Fall 2015)

Digital media is an immensely pervasive and powerful form of communication that despite its rapid growth has yet to reach most of the world's population. This lecture-based survey course for undergraduates traces the history and formation of personal computing and the Internet, the development of virtual communities and virtual worlds, evolving forms of digital representation and communication, digital visual cultures, features of new media industries, and the rise of participatory media. Evaluation and assessment is based on written papers and exams, as well as class discussion in section. The course will also include practice-based assignments involving Wikipedia editing, photo, audio and video editing. Emphasis is on mastering key concepts of digital media through theory and history, and on critical discussion of distinctive features of multimodal systems, objects, and practices realized in digital form.

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


 * Begin the online training for students in class and complete on your own. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.

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Resources: Online Training for Students

Week 2

 * Review pages 4-7 of the Evaluating Wikipedia brochure. This will give you a good, brief overview of what to look for in other articles, and what other people will look for in your own.
 * Evaluate an existing Wikipedia article related to the class, and leave suggestions for improving it on the article's talk page.
 * A few questions to consider (don't feel limited to these):
 * Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference?
 * Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
 * Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
 * Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
 * Check a few citations. Do the links work? Is there any close paraphrasing or plagiarism in the article?
 * Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
 * Some potential pages to look at:
 * Article for the keyword you chose from Assignment 1
 * Biography articles of writers we are reading in class
 * New Media
 * Concepts, films, theorists, film directors, artists referenced in class presentations (uploaded on Compass 2g)

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Resources: Evaluating Wikipedia,

Week 3

 * Choose one article, identify ways in which you can improve and correct its language and grammar, and make the appropriate changes. (You do not need to alter the article's content.)