Professional Guidance from the Wiki Adult
editWikipedia is a primer for newcomers who wish to share their knowledge for free, through publishing neutral and objective articles featuring diverse branches of information. Wikipedia needs successive generations of newcomers, who bear the latest information on several branches of knowledge, to aid the website to maintain its relevance. Although not a professional, I have built my profile by updating comments and also uploading one article on Wikipedia: The Korea Society. Professor Reagle, Amanda Rust, and Brooke Williams, who I identify as Wiki Adults, have been a source of motivation for throughout the course. They’ve guided me in every step and encouraged me to upload or update content that is reliable. As a newcomer, I encourage the entry of other newcomers into the Wikipedia community has at least one friendly Wiki mentor. Newcomers are a source of information and innovation, which in turn improves the efficiency of the web-based encyclopedia[1]. I encourage the newcomers that enjoy the vibe of Wiki community to contribute more and participate in the community to match the energy of the seasoned members. This will ensure a smooth transition of positions in the web-based encyclopedia, from the seasoned members to the newcomers.
As newcomers to Wikipedia, my classmates and I learned, in the class, to identify Wikipedians with malicious intent who may be out to destroy the good reputation of Wikipedia.[clarification needed] Malicious newcomers face disciplinary actions and decisions taken based on the conclusion of the stakeholders. Wikipedians who constantly violate rules often have less motivation, and most will fail to display good interactive skills in the course of their engagement with other community members. Newcomers do not fully understand the expectations of the group, and their actions may offend other players on the platform. I am still learning and understanding the expectations of the online community. It is not wise to expel newcomers on breach of rules immediately, but it is in the best interest to take them through the rules of the platform and make them understand what the online community expects of them.
Moderation
editModeration of the online community does not only involve deleting the negative content posted by members but also leading other newcomers through rules and guidance. In both class and Wikipedia, for example, Professor Reagle, ensured that we, as newcomers, understood the policies of the online community so as to avoid dealing with members who constantly operate under the expectations of the platform.[clarification needed] He created pages for our newcomer groups that is protected under his authority. This gives me and others a proper chance to some adjustments our works and adopt the community atmosphere. There are new members who may simply be ‘lurkers’ in the online space, but the policies will ensure they obey the rules of the platform[2]
Professor Reagle initiated a routine of ensuring our group of newcomers understand the branches of education we are given, properly respond to critical conversations regarding new content posted on the web space. He ensured that we are appreciated for our work so as to enable us to contribute more to the platform. As a wiki adult this is a way to push for the aggressive moderation of new member activities. Some newcomers tend to be wild while engaging in conversations, where they would want to post anything, even that which is not appropriate to the platform. Professor Reagle put in place rules that tame such behaviors and ensure that newcomers understand the expectations of the platform. There were lessons put in place to identify sensitive information such as vulgar language, plagiarized work, bias information. There was also proper group discussion over newcomers’ pitch over ideas and articles.
Community Governance
editAs part of the new stakeholders who took part in the formulation of the community governance policies, I prioritized simply stated governance policies, easily understood by both seasoned players and newcomers to the platform. The policies simply clarify what members can do and what they cannot do while in the online community. This policy only permits certain members to post official sanctioned content, while normal members and newcomers post moderated content[3]. The policy also propose against the duplication of content.
Plagiarism remains a menace in most web-based encyclopedias. Wikipedia ensure that new members do not duplicate other members' content and credit themselves with the work. It is important that members are appreciated for their work so that they continue contributing more content to the online community. Wikipedia emphasize the important of authentication. Posting scholarly articles on the Wikipedia online community requires members to be registered and that they meet certain qualifications, which will allow them to post their scholarly articles to the web encyclopedia. This will also help keep track of the member interactions and behaviors, to help take disciplinary action to incase any issues arise.
Conclusion
editMy lessons in the online community module have contributed significantly to my understanding of the general management of online communities and to my role as a newcomer in the Wikipedia online community. The lessons have helped me execute good governance through my contribution to the Wikipedia community platforms. I have learned immensely on critical areas such as the management of newcomers in the encyclopedia’s community platform. In that note, although joining Wikipedia is a straightforward affair, there needs to be professionals who will guide newcomers. For example, Professor Reagle specialized a course in the execution of community governance, offering insightful policies to aid in the governance of the web-based encyclopedia community platform. He has been instrumental and an inspiration. He has guided me on what to do in order to publish proper wiki article. Although still a newbie, I also understand there remains several things I need to learn.
My first draft of the article was published in October 25th. After then, I received my First Feedback from Professor Reagle on sentence structures. I was able to revise the article into a second draft. At the same time, Henry pointed out grammartic errors. As I revised according to the feedbacks I got, I've published my lastest version
References
edit- ^ Young, Colleen (2013-06-11). "Community Management That Works: How to Build and Sustain a Thriving Online Health Community". Journal of Medical Internet Research. 15 (6): e119. doi:10.2196/jmir.2501. ISSN 1438-8871.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) - ^ Lampe, Cliff; Zube, Paul; Lee, Jusil; Park, Chul Hyun; Johnston, Erik (2014-04). "Crowdsourcing civility: A natural experiment examining the effects of distributed moderation in online forums". Government Information Quarterly. 31 (2): 317–326. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2013.11.005. ISSN 0740-624X.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Wirtz, Jochen; den Ambtman, Anouk; Bloemer, Josée; Horváth, Csilla; Ramaseshan, B.; van de Klundert, Joris; Gurhan Canli, Zeynep; Kandampully, Jay (2013-06-14). "Managing brands and customer engagement in online brand communities". Journal of Service Management. 24 (3): 223–244. doi:10.1108/09564231311326978. ISSN 1757-5818.