User:Hayden.L/WikipediaReflection

I recently wrote a Wikipedia article for the American Institute of Wine & Food, but my experience on the site was more than just writing about a topic I’m interested in. I saw firsthand how a large online community is able to foster positive collaboration amongst members in order to produce a valuable knowledge database as vast as Wikipedia. Looking back, there are a few things I would do differently but I believe my experience overall was a balanced mix of direct participation and community observation.

A Warm Welcome

The day I joined Wikipedia, I was welcomed to the community with several messages. The first was a message from an administrator at the Wiki Ed Foundation along with useful links and tutorials for new Wikipedians. The second message was from a moderator in The Teahouse which is a Wikipedia forum for new members. I liked the acknowledgement from other members that I joined Wikipedia. Of course, these messages are automatically sent to all new members, but early interactions, automated or not, with experienced members encourage contributions from new members .

Newcomers are also introduced to the community and its practices through tutorials, which are tailored to different users such as newcomers, educators, and students. Although formal socialization processes typically increase community commitment and contributions from members , I think I learned the most and became more dedicated to editing once I actually got involved on the site. I believe this may have been caused by my relatively passive use of the tutorial; I did not take notes and instead simply read the material. I knew that I would have to look up some of the information in the tutorial once I had a need for it, so I didn’t attempt to commit the skills to memory. Although there were some experiential aspects to the tutorial, it would have been more useful to practice more. For example, I would have liked to personalize my user page at the beginning of my experience. Not only would I have been able to practice Wikimarkup, but it also would have increased my initial commitment to the community by helping me define my user identity on the site.

Community Commitment

Many Wikipedians decorate their user pages by writing biographies and listing projects they contribute to. User pages are a key platform for building identity-based commitment, which improves norm compliance and commitment in an online community. Well-developed user pages could also lead to bonds-based commitment by differentiating users from one another and allowing them to build relationships. In a community where contributions require a considerable amount of effort, like Wikipedia, building commitment is an important part of the site’s sustainability.

User pages are also where Wikipedians can share Wikilove, an important expression of gratitude. An we read in class showed how Wikilove plays a vital role in encouraging contribution and commitment in the community. I received some Wikilove, but it was even more interesting to send the appreciation to other members. I wanted to send my thanks to a Wikipedian who initially welcomed me to the site, but I wasn’t sure what was appropriate to send. A Barnstar? A cake? A picture of a kitten? For all I knew, these awards could have different meanings that I wasn’t aware of since I was new. Eventually, I settled on a cookie. After, the user wrote a message back to me and another person ‘thanked’ me for sending Wikilove. Although I was initially skeptical of my actions, I felt good after recognizing another editor for his contributions.

Writing My First Article

After becoming acquainted with Wikipedia, I was eager to start my own article. It was important to me to select a topic that I was personally interested in, and I eventually found the American Institute of Wine & Food on a requested articles page. As I began researching and writing the article, I found it very difficult to decide what was relevant since Wikipedia articles should be thorough without being lengthy. I found a wealth of news articles and controversies, and could have easily spent the whole semester researching and outlining my article. However, I eventually found a page on editing tips which remind editors that "Wikipedia is a work in progress" and “perfection is not required”. This sentiment was very reassuring and helped me focus on producing a foundation for what could eventually be a featured article.

For me, the biggest challenge during the writing process was finding a citation system that I liked using. My professor had taught my class [to cite sources on Wikipedia] in several ways, and provided us with several resources that would help us figure out how to reference material. I was very overwhelmed by all the options, and at one point wished my professor only told us one way to write citations. I dedicated an hour or so to reading about citation styles on Wikipedia, and eventually just picked one that kept my Wikimarkup organized. I was concerned that I would implement citations incorrectly, but knew that these minor errors would not be a major problem and that Wikipedia is a community that works together to produce high quality articles.

This idea, as described by Reagle in Chapter 3 of Good Faith Collaboration, emphasizes how the Five Pillars of Wikipedia contribute to a welcoming environment in which editors assume that their peers are producing the best work they can. These readings in particular were reassuring to me, a new Wikipedian, that my contributions would be welcomed into the community even if they weren’t perfect. As I gained experience editing Wikipedia, I found opportunities to “assume good faith” on the part of others. I recently stumbled across the article for Child Identity, and was able to help tag the article as one that needed editing assistance. I hope to help improve this article by working with other Wikipedians, rather than the relatively individual experience I had while writing my own article.

I would like to acknowledge the limited interaction I had with other Wikipedians on my article. I know that I did not share the American Institute of Wine & Food article enough throughout the Wikipedia namespace. I originally did not add my article to any categories and only recently requested assessment within WikiProject Food and drink.I should have added more tags and shared my drafts with the larger Wikipedia community in order to attract more attention and edits. Again, I think the reason I was hesitant to share my work was because I was concerned about breaking norms online.

Based on our work in class, I know social breaching is typically looked down upon in communities and can make members feel uncomfortable. Sites take measures to regulate behavior including a variety of gags and bans. However, I also know that Wikipedia engages in a few design claims outlined by Kraut and Resnick; posts are moved to the correct pages if they are placed in the wrong area and instruct the offending members where to appropriately post. These tactics combined with Wikipedia’s reputation of good faith are what empowered me to start taking more risks on the site. At this point, I’m still not familiar with all of Wikipedia’s rules and norms but I am looking forward to learning more as I continue to edit.

Thanks

All of my experiences on Wikipedia are also underscored by my participation in a class that works with the Wiki Ed Foundation. I’ve learned principles and practices of online communities that can influence their success. Therefore, my Wikipedia experience is very different from an average user. Additionally, I had the support of my professor, another experienced Wikipedian, and my peers throughout this process. The warm welcome and commitment I felt to the online encyclopedia may have been different if I joined the community on my own. However, I am glad I had this support system available to me and would not have wanted my first article writing experience to go any other way. Huge thanks and Wikilove to Reagle, AmandaRR123,and my peer editors who made the Wikipedia article on the American Institute of Wine & Food possible.