Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University of Rhode Island/Digital Authorship (Spring)

We're applying what we are learning about digital authorship and copyright to a hands-on, minds-on collaborative and creative project contributes new content to Wikipedia.

Week 1
You and your partner will be creating visual content for Wikipedia, one of the largest online repositories of media files. Built from the works shared by thousands of volunteers, the Wikipedia Commons hosts educational images, videos, and audio files that are used by Wikipedia and the other projects of the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation.

All of the works on Commons are under a “free license.” That means they can be used and shared by anyone, for free, just by following the license rules – usually by giving credit to the author and preserving the license so that others can re-share the work as well.

In this assignment, you and your partner will impove a Wikipedia entry of your choice by creating and sharing at least 2 images/media files.  When your original work is posted to Wikipedia, it may be used by other educational websites, news media, bloggers, artists, filmmakers, students, teachers, and many others.

We'll complete our collaborative work using this Dashboard, which is provided by WikiEdu, the part of Wikipedia that supports the educational use of Wikipedia.

We have access to a Wikipedia Expert who will answer any questions we have. Check your Talk page for notes from them. You can also reach them through the &quot;Get Help&quot; button on this page.

To get started, please review the following handouts:


 * Editing Wikipedia pages 1–5
 * Evaluating Wikipedia


 * Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you.
 * It's time to dive into Wikipedia. Take time to complete the two training for this week to understand how Wikipedia editing works.

Week 2
You and your partner use any level of collaboration to create 2 photos, illustrations, or  video/audio to add to a Wikipedia article of your choice.


 * Take time to complete the short modules to learn how to contribute image files and media files.
 * When you're ready to start creating images, remember to follow Wikipedia's policies. Never grab images you find through an image search, or those found on Instagram, Tumblr, Reddit, Imgur, or even so-called &quot;Free image&quot; or &quot;free stock photo&quot; websites. Instead, you'll want to find images with clear proof that the creator has given permission to use their work. Many of these images can be found on search.creativecommons.org.
 * Don't merely upload an image to Wikipedia. Instead, upload it to Wikipedia's sister site for images, Wikimedia Commons. For instructions, read the Illustrating Wikipedia handbook.

Week 3
We share our creative work and reflect on the process of learning about Wikipedia as we consider how copyright laws shape new forms of digital authorship. We'll use the Pathwright LMS for Digital Authorship to write and comment on this unique learning experience.