Wikipedia: A Group Effort

When I read Wikipedia pages online while trying to do research for a paper before starting this project, I usually look at them and criticize the small mistakes that I see whether its grammar, sentence structure, the lack of cohesion or just what seems like irrelevant information in the article. It wasn’t until, as a class, we began creating our own Wikipedia article, Public Sphere Writing, that I truly started to understand how much of a process this actually was. Not only is it a process but creating a Wikipedia page isn’t a task that one should try or even could accomplish on their own. It takes a community to make a successful page and luckily Wikipedia has a community that makes it possible.

Creating a Wikipedia page with a large group can have its ups and downs. It is nice to be able to bounce ideas off of each other while we were in the small groups of four but as soon as it gets into the larger group and people start criticizing your work it can be hard to accept. Jonathan Zittrain made a good point in The Lessons of Wikipedia about working in groups; he said, “More generally, order may remain when people see themselves as part of a social system, a group of people-more than utter strangers but less than friends- with some overlap in outlook and goals” (Zittrain 129). It is important to have a group such as our class or the Wikipedia community that has all have the same goal, which is to create a successful Wikipedia page to share with people so they can learn the information that we have found to be important about public sphere writing. Although it can be difficult for people to decide that your work isn’t necessarily relevant in the article, there is a reason for it. It can be hard to see in your own work but when a fresh set of eyes looks at it, it can make a big difference.

The reason it is so important for so many people to work on a Wikipedia page, whether in writing or editing it is so that eventually teachers and professors can agree that it is a valuable source for research. If teachers don’t find it a reliable source, then did the writers and editors really do their jobs right? Carra Hood says in "Editing Out Obscenity: Wikipedia and Writing Pedagogy," A teacher might permit students to cite Wikipedia entries as long as they consult additional resources too, or she might prohibit the use of Wikipedia altogether, directing students to journal articles, university web projects, and other peer reviewed materials. People don’t find Wikipedia to be a reliable source for the most part because anyone can edit them, that’s why it is important that we all do our job to make sure that the articles are well written with relevant information.

After helping to create the Wikipedia article, Public Sphere Writing, I can now see the amount of work that really goes into creating a Wikipedia article. Not only will I have pride in this article but I feel more encouraged now to help fix articles that need some attention still. I want people to look at Wikipedia as a reliable source and for people to understand that a lot of work goes into keeping it running smoothly.

Hood, Carra Leah. "Editing Out Obscenity: Wikipedia and Writing      Pedagogy." Editing Out Obscenity: Wikipedia and Writing       Pedagogy. Web. 4 Dec. 2014.

Zittrain, Jonathan. "The Lessons of Wikipedia." The Future of the       Internet and How to Stop It. Print.