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Wikipedia Reflection
I sat in my English 1010 course my freshman year listening to my teacher reiterate what every other teacher tries to etch into a student’s mind, “Wikipedia is not a credible source!” I began to tune out my teacher because it was the same mumbo jumbo stuff I had heard for years. I personally never explored Wikipedia for fun to see what was available. Usually if I searched something on the internet and it offered me a site on Wikipedia I dismissed it. I believed that nothing could be trusted on the evil site of Wikipedia! We recently had an assignment in my English 2035 course that would make my English 1010 professor ill. Our assignment was to take a deep look into Wikipedia and explore the site and eventually edit an article on the site. At the end of this assignment I had changed my opinion. I feel that Wikipedia is a good tool that students should use when trying to find up to date information.
As I mentioned earlier when I first received this assignment I thought that Wikipedia was a joke. I had been told that it was a place people with no intelligence could spread their stupidity to the entire world by a click of a button. Obviously it was an assignment so I had decided that I would simply complete it for a grade and move on. As we started exploring the site I began to find it somewhat entertaining. There were so many things you could search and so many things you could learn. Some had a very goofy nature while others contained beneficial information. As I searched the site I can’t say that my opinion was any different. I did find myself thinking this would be a fun place to mess around on if you are searching for something in particular. Once I began to read the articles that support Wikipedia I began to question my previous opinions. My goodness, one professor actually encourages his students to use Wikipedia in research papers! Are you joking me, this professor must be crazy. All my teachers had repeatedly told how bad it was and unbeneficial for research. As I kept reading, the professor justified why he felt Wikipedia was useful. After reading that article my opinion had changed a little.
When I was exploring Wikipedia I was very overwhelmed with all the things you could search for and the different areas that were offered. I found them all to be very interesting but at the same time I wasn’t sure how I had even got to that place on the site. There is a good possibility I wouldn’t be able to find it again. As I was searching, I decided that the best thing for me was to search for the things I was interested in. That may be in wiki-how or on the main page of Wikipedia. To keep myself from feeling jumbled I searched the things I wanted to learn about and that filtered out the junk that I was less interested in. I did read the FAQ because I found it confusing not knowing all the different places I could go. After I went to all the different places and pages, I narrowed it down to where I would want to be. However, feeling like a complete idiot for awhile really helped me when it came to trying to find something I wanted to edit. I knew exactly where I wanted to go because I had already been to all the places I didn’t want to be at. So in that sense it was helpful, but at the same time frustrating. I could see how it would be unattractive to someone new to Wikipedia.
When I finally decided to edit something I choose a topic that I am very familiar with. I run track at the University of Wyoming so as I was searching I found the race I participate in. I decided to change the article for the 400 meter race. I also added something to the article on the Mountain West Conference. Track is something I do all year round. The training is very rigorous and it takes up a lot of my time. I love every moment of it and I am very passionate about the event I do. It is something I do know a lot about so I felt I could contribute to the article. I didn’t want to write on an article I had no interest in, because I always feel the best information comes from people who have a strong passion for what they know and do.
In the article regarding the 400 meter race I added that you need strength and endurance to compete in that race. I also added the more strength and endurance you have the better you can finish the last part of the race which tends to be the hardest. Wikipedia didn’t accept all of my entry but they did accept the part where I mentioned needing strength and endurance. After you edit something the article is then updated with your information. I never received an e-mail or post saying it was accepted. I just happened to check a few days later and saw that a part of my entry was cut out. The next page I edited was the article about the Mountain West Conference. Our school is in this conference and as I was reading I noticed it failed to mention that it offered an indoor track and field championship. It just happened to be that the championship was coming up the next week. That was also accepted and hasn’t been changed since I added it.
Overall I really enjoyed the assignment. It was somewhat fascinating being able to change information with a click of a button, that the entire world is able to access. There felt like an added pressure because of that as well. I didn’t want to add something that could possibly be wrong because the whole world can see you have no idea what you are talking about. It was amazing to me that we are able to do so much with our technology and knowledge so the rest of the world can have access to it. So in that sense, the assignment was just a really impacting idea. The ability to release information to whoever wants it is beyond amazing. On the side of a consumer, my opinion has changed as well. As I noted above, my thoughts on Wikipedia at first were very negative. However, at the end of this journey I have changed my opinion. The regulations Wikipedia has for changing an article make me feel better about the information I am looking at. I can now say that I feel better about using the information I gather whereas before it was not that way. I think the people who doubt Wikipedia should try this assignment and see how they feel about the site upon its completion. I can say I feel much different than before, and I feel that is a good thing.
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Posted by achilder on 2008-03-11 11:26:50 | Rating: | Views: 140
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