Pfowler17

I am pretty intimidated to edit Wikipedia. It's strange to be in a space@Pfowler17: where everything (I guess, even my own profile?) is "live" and solely exists to support the medium it exists on (Wikipedia itself).

I completely understand where you're coming from. The concept of working in Wikipedia felt strange to me in the beginning as well, but as one of the most prominent online sources of user-generated content it makes sense. Here's to learning how to contribute to this community together! Ereed23 (talk) 06:52, 11 January 2020 (UTC)

Just now seeing this, so sorry @Ereed23:! Still learning to shuffle through these notifications, I suppose. And same: although it's challenging to use the interface, this really is the best medium for a class like this. There's no better example of "writing and publishing in digital environments!" -Pfowler17 (talk) 01:05, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

@Pfowler17: Yes I found the interface to be a little strange at first as well. However, it does remind me of Xanga a little bit. It has a retro yet complex feel to it. --Kyle Tucker (talk) 07:48, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

Here's my log

1.7.2020: Read over the syllabus, schedule, and most of the imbedded links on the course website. [1].

1.8.2020: Created my Wiki and WikiEdu accounts. Did the trainings Wikipedia policies and Sandboxes, talk pages, and watchlists. Read all of the Week 1 text (including articles) except the 2nd chapter of Carroll.

I hope I'm doing this right, Grlucas Pfowler17 (talk) 02:33, 9 January 2020 (UTC)

@Pfowler17: Looking good. Your signature will supply your date, so you needn’t in your post. Welcome. —Grlucas (talk) 12:14, 9 January 2020 (UTC)

Today I played around with my userpage (yay for userboxes!) and reread some of the newcomer material. Finished the second chapter of Carroll. Pfowler17 (talk) 00:26, 13 January 2020 (UTC)

Over the last few days, I've done all of Week 2's training (including the Norris Church Mailer exercise) and caught up on the reading. Tomorrow I need to do the reference work for "The Faith of Graffiti." --Pfowler17 (talk) 02:34, 21 January 2020 (UTC)

Been trying to "log" more in my sandbox and the various training modules, as those have been where I'm working. Been doing research on reflective writing and hope to have 4-5 paragraphs added to my article by Wednesday 2/12. Struggling with "being bold"/still very intimidated by the Faith project but will add more to the Analysis this week if appropriate, as that needs beefing up. --Pfowler17 (talk) 02:59, 10 February 2020 (UTC)

Collecting more research over last few weeks on reflective writing; keeping it on my computer, not Wiki, so I don't risk storing information on Wiki that hasn't been cited yet--I remember that being a big "no" from some earlier training? This past weekend I did a peer review. Assigned myself peer review for this article, too, but there wasn't much edited on it until this week, unless I was looking in the wrong spot. Will give feedback there this week. -Pfowler17 (talk) 02:42, 20 February 2020 (UTC)

Made my final edits, and about to submit my reflection. -Pfowler17 (talk) 01:18, 27 February 2020 (UTC)

Final reflection

"Critiquing articles: What did you learn about Wikipedia during the article evaluation? How did you approach critiquing the article you selected for this assignment? How did you decide what to add to your chosen article?"

Learning how to critique articles was probably my biggest takeaway from this class/learning Wikipedia. I’ve learned to be a lot more judicious about sources.

I decided to add what I added to my article, “Reflective writing,” based on the content that already existed on Wikipedia surrounding it. “Reflection” and “reflective practice” already had pages, so I didn’t have to go too far in depth over the actual practice of reflection. I stuck as best I could to the actual writing aspect.

"Summarizing your contributions: include a summary of your edits and why you felt they were a valuable addition to the article. How does your article compare to earlier versions?"

For my article, “Reflective writing,” I’m really proud of the content I added. I took the warning seriously at the beginning of class (and on Wiki Training) on only using strong sources, so all the ones I added are from universities or journals. When I first got to the article, it had basically 1 paragraph and absolutely 0 references, I believe. It was basically blank. I added enough that I was able to remove the “this article needs serious work” template, which was more rewarding than I expected.

I also added an image, which was intimidating but doable. I wish I could’ve added more pictures, but I honestly felt like images weren’t helpful in supporting the text for my particular topic.

"Peer review: If your class did peer review, include information about the peer review process. What did you contribute in your review of your peer’s article? What did your peers recommend you change on your article?"

Kerry did my only peer evaluation. At the time, she indicated it needed “more content and references” as it looked “incomplete.” She was right—it was—and I jumped in and added more.

The peer review I did was also for Kerry. See it here.

"Feedback: Did you receive feedback from other Wikipedia editors, and if so, how did you respond to and handle that feedback?"

The only direct feedback I really received was from Kerry. However, I got “indirect” feedback in the sense that some people edited my content, removed things, rearranged things, added citation neededs on me, etc. Those were more helpful than anything else, honestly. I thought I would hate people moving my stuff around—I’m a very independent learner, which is why I struggled in this class—but I honestly didn’t mind the changes. I tried to “assume good faith,” and it paid off.

"Wikipedia generally: What did you learn from contributing to Wikipedia? How does a Wikipedia assignment compare to other assignments you've done in the past? How can Wikipedia be used to improve public understanding of our field/your topic? Why is this important?"

I learned that I do have something good to contribute. When I first started this class, the thought of editing Wikipedia stressed me out to no end. I didn’t snap out of this fear until around midterms when I got that C. I was just so nervous and overwhelmed at the thought of collaborating with 10+ other editors that I felt I had nothing to contribute of value—that everyone else was better than me and was handling it. And since this class is given in a short semester, I didn’t get time to completely find my footing. But that’s OK. I learned a lot in this class and learned to trust myself, and not to be scared of making contributions. I found my stride in the last few weeks, for sure. Better late than never.

I can honestly say I’ve never worked on a project like Wikipedia. It feels like more of a computer science project than a writing project, half the time, which was challenging. But maybe that’s a good thing. I’ve never been in a class where my work was “live,” all the time, 24/7 for the world to see. I’ve never been in a class where complete strangers—i.e., people not even in my class—can comment on my work and make changes to things I’ve done. It was a completely alien experience to me that was good and bad in a lot of ways.

Regardless of my struggle in this class, I fully recognize how important Wikipedia is, and how truly noble its mission. It’s empowering and frankly, really faith-restoring that people with access to databases and people privileged enough to have research skills band together to curate content for the public. It’s one of the most generous, wealth-distributing things I’ve ever seen, actually, and I was glad to play a small part in it.

Toward the end of my “Reflective writing” project, another user (JayKatJay) jumped in and did some editing/additions. That was nice: I wasn’t expecting to see an actual Wiki user “in the wild” so to speak, helping me out. This person just added 2 quotes, but for some reason those 2 little additions made me feel a lot of solidarity with the Wiki community.

See all of my contributions here. My raw notes for reflective writing are in my sandbox.

Welcome!

Hello, Pfowler17, and welcome to Wikipedia! My name is Shalor and I work with the Wiki Education Foundation; I help support students who are editing as part of a class assignment.

I hope you enjoy editing here. If you haven't already done so, please check out the student training library, which introduces you to editing and Wikipedia's core principles. You may also want to check out the Teahouse, a community of Wikipedia editors dedicated to helping new users. Below are some resources to help you get started editing.

Handouts
Choosing an article to edit Editing an article • Add images to articles Citing sources on Wikipedia
Additional Resources
You can find answers to many student questions on our Q&A site, ask.wikiedu.org

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me on my talk page. Shalor (Wiki Ed) (talk) 16:08, 13 January 2020 (UTC)

Hey, Shalor! Thanks for reaching out. The community has been great so far. I'll let you know if I need anything. --Pfowler17 (talk) 00:39, 21 January 2020 (UTC)

Peer feedback

Hi Pfowler17, I just finished doing an evaluation on the article "Reflective writing," It looks like you might still be working on it but I wasn't sure. The article needs more content and references it looks incomplete as on today. Usertalk:Pfowler17KerryMoniqueMcNair (talk) 00:13, 20 February 2020 (UTC)kerrymonique

Hey, User:kerrymonique! You're right. I'm playing catchup this weekend. Thanks so much! -Pfowler17 (talk) 02:35, 20 February 2020 (UTC)

DYK nomination of Reflective writing

Hello! Your submission of Reflective writing at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and some issues with it may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Farang Rak Tham (Talk) 08:23, 29 February 2020 (UTC)

Hello!

Hi Pfowler17, I see that you and I have effectively collaborated on the Reflective writing article. I think you did a great job! For the record, although I finished my graduate work about eight years ago, I am just as new to editing in wikipedia as you are, and it sounds like you were just as surprised as I was to discover that we were both working on the same article. Also like you, I assumed good faith, and everything clearly worked out well. Wishing you all the best in your future wikipedia adventures -- and in your grad program! Now that I've gotten warmed up, I'm looking forward to doing more in the wikipedia community! :) JayKatJay (talk) 06:09, 1 March 2020 (UTC)

Oh, and by the way, I think you userboxes are cool! :) JayKatJay (talk) 06:13, 1 March 2020 (UTC)

@JayKatJay: Ditto! Thanks so much for reaching out. You've been awesome. And thanks-- I love userboxes! :) -Pfowler17 (talk) 04:09, 2 March 2020 (UTC)

DYK for Reflective writing

On 10 March 2020, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Reflective writing, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that reflective writing is a good way to increase empathy in medical students? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Reflective writing. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Reflective writing), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

— Maile (talk) 00:02, 10 March 2020 (UTC)

A belated welcome!

The welcome may be belated, but the cookies are still warm!

Here's wishing you a belated welcome to Wikipedia, Pfowler17. I see that you've already been around a while and wanted to thank you for your contributions. Though you seem to have been successful in finding your way around, you may benefit from following some of the links below, which help editors get the most out of Wikipedia:

• Introduction
• The five pillars of Wikipedia
• Contributing to Wikipedia
• How to edit a page
• Help pages
• How to write a great article

Also, when you post on talk pages you should sign your name using four tildes (~~~~); that should automatically produce your username and the date after your post.

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! If you have any questions, feel free to leave me a message on my talk page, consult Wikipedia:Questions, or place {{help me}} on your talk page and ask your question there.

Again, welcome! Ganesha811 (talk) 15:13, 10 March 2020 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of The Faith of Graffiti

Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article The Faith of Graffiti you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Usernameunique -- Usernameunique (talk) 23:01, 26 April 2020 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of The Faith of Graffiti

The article The Faith of Graffiti you nominated as a good article has passed ; see Talk:The Faith of Graffiti for comments about the article. Well done! If the article has not already been on the main page as an "In the news" or "Did you know" item, you can nominate it to appear in Did you know. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Usernameunique -- Usernameunique (talk) 05:41, 5 June 2020 (UTC)