Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University of Pittsburgh/Introduction to Film, ENGFLM 0400-1015 (Fall 2015)

Introductory course to Film Studies. Within this course, students learn to analyze a film in relation to its themes and structural discourses within a consideration of the international history of history, in particular social, political, cultural and historical contexts.

Week 1: Introduction

 * Overview
 * Overview of this project and its expectations and key deadlines.
 * Introduction to how we will be using Wikipedia in the course.
 * Understanding Wikipedia as a community: we'll discuss its expectations and etiquette.

Editing Wikipedia Handout


 * Create an account and sign up for the Wiki Edu Course Dashboard.
 * Complete the online training for students. 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 to another student on their user talk page.
 * Explore Wikipedia entries about film directors, cinematographers, writers, and related jobs to get a feel for how Wikipedia is organized.

Online Training For Students

All students complete Online Training by 10-5-15.

Week 2: Choose Filmmaker

 * Start researching and find filmmakers who either do not appear on Wikipedia or have only a short &quot;stub&quot; entry. As indicated by the list of resources below, you will find that women and filmmakers of color are generally the least represented. This is, of course, something we can and will discuss, but it's especially useful to keep in mind when looking for a filmmaker.
 * Once you've decided on a filmmaker, go to the dashboard course page and list the filmmaker's name under the &quot;Students&quot; tab. (Make sure that no one else has already chosen this filmmaker first.)
 * Once you've found at least two independent sources, you should submit the following information in a word doc via CourseWeb: your username, the name of your filmmaker, and list the two sources.
 * You may choose someone from any time period and any country. If you can read a language (or languages) other than English, I encourage you to use sources written in those languages.

Here are some places to look for filmmakers:

Books about little-known women filmmakers, such as: * Gwendolyn Audrey Foster, Women Film Directors: An International Bio-Critical Dictionary (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995) * Gwendolyn Audrey Foster, Women Filmmakers of the African and Asian Diaspora (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1997) * Barbara Quart, Women Directors: The Emergence of a New Cinema (New York: Praeger, 1988) * Janis L. Pallister and Ruth A. Hottell, Noteworthy Francophone Women Directors: A Sequel (Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2011) * Gabrielle Kelly and Cheryl Robson, Celluloid Ceiling: Women Directors Breaking Through (Twickenham: Supernova Books, 2014) * Patricia White, Women's Cinema, World Cinema: Projecting Contemporary Feminisms (Durham: Duke University Press, 2015) * Mary G. Hurd, Women Directors and Their Films (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2007) * Judith M. Redding and Victoria A. Brownworth, *Film Fatales: Independent Women Directors( (Seattle: Seal Press, 1997) And more!

Websites about women filmmakers, such as: * The Women Film Pioneers Project * Sundance Indigenous Filmmakers * The Director List: Women Directors at Work * MUBI List of Films Directed by Women, by Ally the Manic Listmaker * Pinterest List of Women Directors, by Destri Martino

Lists of Wikipedia &quot;stubs&quot;: * Film Director Stubs * Screenwriter Stubs * Film Producer Stubs * Cinematographer Stubs * Film Editor Stubs * List of Wikipedia requested articles

You must find at least two substantial, independent sources written about the filmmaker (and ideally more). Interviews, film festival blurbs, and the filmmaker's own website do not count, although you can use them in addition to the independent sources.


 * Wikipedia Resources for Writing about Film
 * Media History Digital Library
 * PittCat Film Databases
 * Google Scholar
 * Google News

Remember: All contributions to Wikipedia must be properly cited, just like an academic essay, so keep track of where you get your information! Sources must be both independent and reputable. That means that the subject’s own website is NOT considered a reliable source, nor is IMDB.

Week 3: Article Drafting Begins
Post selected filmmaker by 10-14-15.



Week 4: Article Drafting
Article Draft Submission


 * Craft a complete draft of your article, including sources, in your sandbox. This will be a first draft that can be worked on, but it should include all of the required elements.
 * You must contribute a minimum of 500 new words of writing about your filmmaker. You should also add lists of information (such as filmography, awards, etc.), but these will not be counted as part of your word count.
 * Make sure to include a meaty introductory paragraph at the beginning of the article. State the filmmaker's achievements clearly but objectively, so that it doesn't come off as promotional page for that filmmaker (This is particularly important with living persons.). Passion is great, but Wikipedia is clear about its intentions to be a dispassionate encyclopedia.


 * Use as many citations of independent sources as possible so that your page doesn't get taken down.
 * I recommend keeping a backup copy of your draft on Word in case you experience technical difficulties or in case your page does get take down (this is very rare, but it happens).

Please use existing Wikipedia headings. Career, Filmography, Awards and Nominations, and References are required sections, but you can feel free to include others.


 * What I'm looking for when I eventually grade your article: The (as near as possible) Perfect Article
 * Wikipedia Policy on Biographies of living persons
 * Guidelines for Writing Biographies from Project Biography
 * Guidelines for Writing about Filmmakers from WikiProject Actors and Filmmakers

Week 7: Move Article to Mainspace and Peer Reviews
Move your sandbox article 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. * 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 me and let me know.

Move article draft to mainspace by 11-9-15.

Select two 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.


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

Edit two classmates article drafts by 11-16-15.

Week 8: Revise Article Draft
Make edits to your article based on your classmates’ feedback. If you disagree with a suggestion, you can use talk pages to politely discuss and come to an agreement on the proposed edits.

Week 9: Polishing and Submitting Final Article

 * Add finishing touches to your Wikipedia article.
 * Make sure that your page links to as many other pages as possible and that other pages link to yours. You can do this by listing your page on pages like: American filmmakers, female filmmakers, Silent film directors, Academy Award winners, Independent Spirit nominees, directors and producers of documentaries, etc. The goal is to embed these filmmakers' achievements in as many cross-references as possible!



Write a 2-3-page reflection in which you reflect on this assignment. Your reflection should answer some (but not necessarily all) of the following questions: What did you learn about the politics of auteur construction? How is a filmmaker a cultural product? How does media coverage and available information determine how we think about &quot;great filmmakers&quot;? What are the gendered and racial politics of auteur construction? Your reflection can also respond to broader questions: What did you learn about Wikipedia as a site of knowledge production? Were you surprised by what goes into the creation of a successful entry? What was the difference between writing for Wikipedia and the writing you do in most other college assignments? What did you learn by doing this assignment?

Post your reflection to CourseWeb.

All students submit final article by 11-25-15.