Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Virginia Commonwealth University/The Rise of Social Media (Fall, 2021)

ENGL 391 (crosslisted as AMST 391 and NEXT 383): The Rise of Social Media (W. Gardner Campbell) In the first five years of the 21st century, rapid developments in Web technologies and broadband access fundamentally transformed the way many people interacted with the Internet. These changes, in turn, shaped and responded to historical/cultural crises (for example, 9/11, the Iraq War, and the so-called “Twitter Revolution” in Iran). This course studies those technological developments in their cultural context by focusing on the most influential and enduring early platforms for what has come to be called “social media”: blogging, discussion forums, Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook, and the invention that empowered and accelerated their growth and influence, Google. Readings will include selections from works such as The New Media Reader (Wardrop-Fruin and Montfort, eds.), The Age of Surveillance Capitalism (Zuboff), The Information (Gleick), Here Comes Everybody (Shirky), The Young and the Digital (Watkins), Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out (Ito et al.), and Remix (Lessig). Assignments will include tests, short papers (including research and reflective essays), and vigorous participation in various online modes of reading and writing, including editorial work in Wikipedia.

Course Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmtE5ORQgZc

Week 1
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 2
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 3
Art History

Books

Cultural Anthropology

Films

History

Psychology

Science Communication

Sociology

Women's Studies

Week 4
9/11 due date is for completion of this module.

Due date for letting me know your article choice is 9/26 (see below).

Week 7
Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9

Week 8
Guiding framework

Week 9
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.

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 10
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
Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.

Week 14
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

Week 15
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!

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