User:Yulu Lei/Online Communities

Introduction

My first impression of wikipedia was quite negative because professors repeatedly warned us not to use any sources on Wikipedia. I thought Wikipedia was unprofessional and unacknowledged. This semester, we were required to write an uncovered article on Wikipedia. I was working on the article during the past 3 months. After the short editing experience, I found that Wikipedia is no longer an unprofessional and unacknowledged website, because most of the sources were approved by experienced Wikipedians. Moreover, Wikipedia is the biggest free encyclopedia in the world as well as one of successful online communities. Wikipedia community has its own design mechanisms; old members are patient to train newcomers, and Wikipedia motivates many people to contribute their knowledge in the community. In this reflection paper, I am going to discuss the mechanism of online training and sandbox, “Don’t Bite the Newcomer” Policy, and motivations and influence of Wikipedia based on my editing experience as a newcomer.

Online training and sandbox

Formal online training is an effective tactic to socialize newcomers how to behave appropriately in the group. At the beginning of the semester, we were required to read an online orientation about Wikipedia. The online tutorial was helpful to me as a newbie to learn the community’s culture, basic rules, and then gave me general explanations of how to edit articles in Wikipedia’s style. Joseph Reagle stated a few benefits of giving orientation before entering a group in his article "The Obligation to Know: From FAQ to Feminism 101." He indicated “documentation is useful for newcomers to learn what they wish or need to know; and is efficient for experts by saving them the need to redundantly tutor newcomers on rudimentary topics.” The online training contains enriched tips, which qualify new members in short time. I took a lot advantages of the tutorial, such as the norms of the community and basic editing skills. Wikipedia orientation provides a lot helpful information to socialize newcomers how to behave.

Another excellent mechanism of Wikipedia is sandbox, and every member has a personal sandbox after creating a user page. Sandbox is a great textual space for newcomers to practice writing and editing skills. Robert Kraut and Paul Resnick talked about sandbox in the book “Building Successful Online Communities.” They defined the sandbox as a “safe and isolated area for exploration and skill development.” Like what the authors said, sandbox is a private and isolated space because no one is able to access the article before it be published. Sandbox has several benefits to an online community. The design claim that Kraut and Resnick explained in the book, “sandboxes both speed up the learning process for newcomers and reduce the harm to the community that newcomers might otherwise cause." Firstly, sandbox provides a platform that allows users to practice skills and increase their editing abilities. When I was editing article, the biggest challenges to me was citation in Wikipedia format. I went to the sandbox and practiced it again and again until I made it correct. After practicing, I was able to cite sources quickly and accurately. Secondly, sandbox is like a buffer zone which avoids any negative consequences from inexperienced members to the main stage. Newcomers may unaware causing some harms to a community if they do not have enough practices. Therefore, online training and practice space for newcomers are helpful and valuable mechanisms, which are required for any online communities.

“Don’t Bite the Newcomer policy”

Newcomers are potential sources to the community, and positive interactions motivate newcomers to contribute. Wikipedia has the “Don’t Bite the Newcomer policy” which protects newcomers from old members; at the same time, the policy can regulate old members’ normative behaviors in the community. The policy helps the community keeping many valuable new members. Fortunately, all the Wikipedians that I have encountered treated me friendly. The first Wikipedian I have met is called User: Wgolf. He was the first person who left the first comment under my talk page after I officially became a member. He sent some kind words and a picture of cookies to welcome me. His warm welcome made me truly feel I am a part of the community, which made me increasing my identity-base commitment. Kraut and Resnick talked about challenges of dealing with newcomers, they stated that “ when newcomers have friendly interactions with existing community members soon after joining a community, they are more likely to stay longer and contribute more." User: Wgolf gave me courages to interact with him or other Wikipedians. This was a kind of positive association between me (new member) and Wgolf (old member), and the interactions increased my commitment to the community.

The second Wikipedian that I have met is called User: CabbagePotato. He left a comment after I thanked his edits to my article. In the message, he explained how to write appropriate section headers, because I was confused about whether headers should be capitalized for every word or only the first word. He helped me to find the right answer and linked the specific section under my talk page. He helped me to clarify the question and left a positive impression to me. User: CabbagePotato showed me a kind of precise attitude of being a Wikipedian. The third Wikipedian that I have met called User: MirandaKeurr. She picked out a simple but serious mistake from my article that made me so embarrassed. I wrote that Ming Xi is a Victoria’s Secret Angel; however, I totally misunderstood the meaning of Victoria’s Secret Angel. I thought every model who walked for the show is allowed to be called an Angel, but it was not. User: MirandaKeurr pointed out and corrected my mistake. [1] I appreciated User: MirandaKeurr who paid extra attention on my article, and corrected my mistake as soon as possible. The design claim that Kraut and Resnick indicated, “ encouraging newcomers to reveal themselves publicly in profiles or introduction threads gives existing group members a basis for conversation and reciprocation with them and increases interaction between old-timers and newcomers.” Within our small group, Reagle, AmandaRR123, SamDiamond88, andHortonV provided me some great advices to improve the article.[2] Although I made mistakes in the writing, there were always some random experienced Wikipedians helped me to correct the errors, and helped me to improve my editing ability. Wikipedia is a cooperative community. We have built some positive interactions and we together made contributions for the community.

Motivations and conclusion

After the short experience of being a member in Wikipedia, I have increased the intrinsic motivation to the community and I have changed the negative impression of Wikipedia. At the beginning of the semester, I did not have any intrinsic motivations which encourages me to behave actively in the community. I was full of extrinsic motivation which forced me to do the tasks because the Wikipedia project was a part of class activities. However, when my article was approved by Wikipedia, I had a sense of achievement. I finally did a contribution on Wikipedia even it was a small one. The feeling of satisfaction fulfilled my inner desire of being approved. Now, I started to have some intrinsic motivations because it is meaningful to share knowledge with others. In the future, I will edit more on Wikipedia, especially concentrate on my original article, and make the article more completed and professional.