Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/California State University, Fullerton/Gender and Technoculture (Spring 2017)
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- Course name
- Gender and Technoculture
- Institution
- California State University, Fullerton
- Instructor
- Karyl E. Ketchum
- Wikipedia Expert
- Adam (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- Technology, digital culture and identity.
- Course dates
- 2017-01-30 00:00:00 UTC – 2017-04-26 23:59:59 UTC
- Approximate number of student editors
- 38
Our understanding and experience of gender identity, gender expression, the body and desire, are influenced by our increasingly technologically mediated world in ways that are surprising, provocative and endlessly fascinating. Throughout this course we will be looking at these inter-relationships and exploring the ways in which these may shape and delimit our ability to work, play, and create with technological forms. For our Wikipedia editing assignment, we will be specifically thinking through various biases present in this important resource and working collaboratively to help correct these. We will be questioning the processes of knowledge production in this resource and, in culture in general. Questions we will consider include, who creates knowledge?; Through what social systems is knowledge produced?; What are the processes behind the legitimization of knowledge? and; How do collaborative tech platforms such as Wikipedia contribute to and perhaps challenge historical systems of knowledge production?
Timeline
Week 1
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 13 February 2017 | Wednesday, 15 February 2017
- Assignment - Step 1 and Step 2
- create an account, enroll in our course page
Our course has also been assigned a Wikipedia Content Expert. Check your Talk page for notes from them. You can also reach them through the "Get Help" button on this page.
Step 1 & 2:
- Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link.
- Assignment - Step 3 & 4
- Why do Wikipedia biases matter & student trainings
It's time to dive into Wikipedia. Below, you'll find the first set of online training you'll need to take & readings you need to review.
To get started, please review the following handouts & readings:
- Editing Wikipedia pages 1–5
- Evaluating Wikipedia
IMPORTANT! Also, please read THIS Feb 16, 2017, article that discusses the latest discriminatory practices on Wikipedia. Note that several of the articles worked on by previous Gender & Technoculture students are among those recently marked for deletion--UGH! Here's a link to the article: http://boingboing.net/2017/02/16/40-of-wikipedia-is-under-thre.html
- 5. from the New York Times: Define Gender Gap? Look Up Wikipedia’s Contributor List
- Milestones
This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.
Week 2
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 20 February 2017 | Wednesday, 22 February 2017
- In class - Step 5
- Wikipedia policies
STEP 5: Carefully read Wikipedia's "neutral point of view" policy here and Wikipedia's "Don't-Give-a-Fuckism" page here.
- In class - Step 6 & 7
- Peruse Wikipedia & present your topic for approval
STEP 6: Review page 6 of your Editing Wikipedia guidebook then peruse these pages and choose a Wikipedia editing project*:
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Feminism/Open tasks
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:United_Nations_biography_stubs
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Women%27s_rights_activist_stubs
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Women%27s_history_stubs
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Stub-Class_Women_scientists_articles
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Feminism_stubs
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Stub-Class_WikiProject_Women_articles
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Indigenous_peoples_of_North_America_stubs
- Or, you can also peruse Wikipedia on your own and identify an article that demonstrates either gender, heterosexual, racial or other Western biases. Check the page's "Edit" page to make sure its not under any protected status, which would limit your ability to edit it! Also, you MUST read through the article's "Talk" page to become familiar with the work of other editors watching this page before you edit!
Choose 1-2 potential articles that you can tackle, and post links to them on your Wikipedia user page. For articles that already exist, check the Talk page to see what other Wikipedians might be doing.
STEP 7: Get Professor Ketchum's (AKA: Dalton Hird's) approval of your editing project!
Week 3
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 27 February 2017 | Wednesday, 1 March 2017
- Assignment - Step 8 (part 1)
- Evaluate your article & compile your sources
After your topic has been approved and before you start working on your draft make sure you assign yourself your chosen article topic on the Students tab.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _
STEP 8: Carefully read through the page's History Page and Talk Page so you understand how the Wikipedia community has been working with this topic. Then, do your research! Gather all citations that you will be using to document your corrections and additions and, compile all edits and citations in a Word document (which you will turn in along with your reflection paper!).
While you work, you should also compile a list of relevant, reliable books, journal articles, or other sources. Post that bibliography to the talk page of the article you'll be working on, and in your sandbox. Make sure to check in on the Talk page to see if anyone has advice on your bibliography.
- While you read through your article, consider some questions (but don't feel limited to these):
- Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference?
- Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
- Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
- Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
- Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
- Check a few citations. Do the links work? Is there any close paraphrasing or plagiarism in the article?
- Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
- Check the "talk" page and the "view history" page. What kinds of conversations is the Wikipedia community having about how to represent these issues? How has the article changed over time?
- Assignment - Step 8 (part 2)
- Draft your article
You've picked a topic and found your sources. Now it's time to start writing. To start, take the online trainings linked below. Then, continue to build your draft. Remember, you'll need to gather all citations that you will be using to document your corrections and additions and, compile all edits and citations in a Word document as well as be working on your draft in your sandbox. Later, you will turn in your word document with your draft and your citations with your reflection paper!.
Creating a new article?
- Write an outline of that topic in the form of a standard Wikipedia article's "lead section." Write it in your sandbox.
- A "lead" section is not a traditional introduction. It should summarize, very briefly, what the rest of the article will say in detail. The first paragraph should include important, broad facts about the subject. A good example is Ada Lovelace. See Editing Wikipedia page 9 for more ideas.
Improving an existing article?
- Identify what's missing from the current form of the article. Think back to the skills you learned while critiquing an article. Make notes for improvement in your sandbox.
Keep reading your sources, too, as you prepare to write the body of the article.
Resources: Editing Wikipedia pages 7–9
- Milestones
Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.
Week 4
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 6 March 2017 | Wednesday, 8 March 2017
- Assignment - Step 9
- Begin moving your work to Wikipedia
STEP 9: Make your edits!!! Be sure you are keeping with Wikipedia's guidelines, particularly Neutral Point of View and No Original Research, both of which can be tricky to catch. Also, be sure to cite all your changes/additions! See the "Citing Sources" Wiki pamphlet if you're unsure of what this means: Be sure to explain each edit in the box provided at the bottom of the editing window!
Editing an existing article?
- NEVER copy and paste your draft of an article over the entire article. Instead, edit small sections at a time.
- Copy your edits into the article. Make many small edits, saving each time, and leaving an edit summary. Never replace more than one to two sentences without saving!
Creating a new article?
- Read Editing Wikipedia page 13, and follow those steps to move your article from your Sandbox to Mainspace.
- You can also review the [[../../../training/students/sandboxes|Sandboxes and Mainspace]] online training.
Your Wikipedia edits are due live by midnight, March 6!!!
Week 5
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 13 March 2017 | Wednesday, 15 March 2017
- Assignment - Step 10
- Continue improving your article
STEP 10: Continue your editing in response to any concerns, questions or revisions from the Wikipedia community. If your article does not recieve any comments, please work with another student to complete a peer review. Dr. K can help you with this--this is the FUN part!!!
- Don't forget that you can ask for help from your Content Expert at any time!
Week 6
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 20 March 2017 | Wednesday, 22 March 2017
- Assignment - Step 11
- Reflective essay
STEP 11: Write your 2-5 page reflective essay, attach a Word document to this that shows me your Wikipedia contribution(s), turn both of these in to Dr. K by March 22!!! :-)
REFLECTIVE ESSAY REQUIREMENTS:
Your essay should be 2-5 pages (12-pt font, double spaced) and should be college-level grammar and writing.
In this essay you should discuss the following:
- Describe your Wiki editing experience;
- What have you learned about how Wikipedia functions?;
- What have you learned about how "knowledge" is produced?;
- How did you come to recognize the biases you helped to correct in Wikipedia?;
- Are the biases in Wikipedia different than biases in other texts (i.e. text books, literary works, photographs, etc.)?;
- How do you feel about Wikipedia as a source of knowledge in comparison to other kinds of texts?;
- What were your interactions with the Wiki editing community like and what might these tell us about the bias documented in Wikipedia?
- **Don't forget to include a Word document with a copy of your Wikipedia contribution(s) as part of your Reflective Essay!!!
- Milestones
Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.