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WRTC 240 Semester-long Project –Spring 2011

Wikipedia Public Policy Initiative: Writing and Editing for Wikipedia

I am so enthusiastic and excited that during this semester, we will have the opportunity to research, write, and edit for Wikipedia with the guidance of Wikipedia Ambassadors here at JMU. According to the requirements for this project, “Editing Wikipedia is an opportunity for students to write for a real-world audience of thousands of readers and to gain quick feedback from the large community of Wikipedia editors. Students also learn to follow editorial policies and how to collaborate with other editors. Wikipedia-editing, furthermore, has been found to improve students’ media literacy as well as their understanding of scholarly citations.” What this means is that this opportunity more than meets the objectives for my technical writing class.

Following are some of the assignment design mandates that we will follow throughout the semester:

• Your contributions to Wikipedia must be substantive, substantial, and must be articles directly related to U.S. public policy (we have numerous articles to choose from). You can expect to contribute to at least 10–20 paragraphs, or approximately 1,500 words.
• You will be paired with Online Wikipedia Ambassadors who will guide us throughout the semester. In addition, you will create and add your unique Wikipedia user name to selected articles onto the course page.
• Finally, we will participate in Public Policy Initiative pre- and post-term project evaluations so the Wikimedia Foundation can assess the effectiveness of various elements within the Public Policy Initiative.

Following is Wikipedia’s proposed schedule of Public Policy activities. Because this is a new project, I am reluctant to change much about Wikipedia’s recommended schedule; however, we will change this schedule during the semester if it makes sense, but we must work within the guidelines of this initiative. In addition, we will work together to figure out the best way to grade these assignments. As first-time Wikipedia contributors and editors, I am going to rely heavily on your input about every aspect of this assignment, including a fair grading schedule.

Assignment timeline

Week 1

• Overview of the course and meet with Ambassador
• Introduction to the Wikipedia part of the course
• Handout: “Welcome to Wikipedia” brochure
• Assignment, due week 2—Read “Wikipedia: Five Pillars” on the Wikipedia website

Week 2

• Campus Ambassador introduces Wikipedia.
  • Basics of editing
  • Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish between good and bad articles
• Assignments (due week 3)
  • Create a Wikipedia user account, create a user page, and add your name to the course page’s list of students (on the WikiProject)
  • Contact an Online Ambassador (using your Wikipedia user talk page) as a mentor. Mentors are available to offer advice and assistance as you start editing
  • To practice the editing features of Wikipedia, leave a message for a few classmates on their user talk pages

• By now, all students should have Wikipedia user accounts and should be listed on the course page.

Week 3

• In class, Campus Ambassador (CA) introduces students to the online chat system (IRC) where students can get live support; CA shows students how to contact Online Ambassador mentors
• Assignments (due week 4)
  • Critically evaluate an existing Wikipedia article related to the class, and leave suggestions for improving it on the article’s discussion page
  • Research and list 3–5 articles on your Wikipedia user page that you will consider working on as your main project. Ask your Online Ambassador (OA) mentor for comments

Week 4

• Instructor evaluates student’s article selections (by week 5). I may do one-on-one or group (if we do this project in groups) meetings

Week 5

• In class handout: “Referencing on Wikipedia” how-to
• Assignments (due week 6)
  • Decide which article you will work on and list it on the course page. Compile a bibliography of relevant sources, and begin researching the topic
  • Research and list 3–5 articles on your Wikipedia user page that you will consider working on as your main project. Ask your OA mentor for comments

Week 6

• In class, CA talk about Wikipedia sandboxes and Wikipedia culture/etiquette; CA hold question-and-answer session with class
• Assignments (due week 7)
  • Write a 3–4 paragraph summary version of your article (with citations) in your Wikipedia sandbox
  • Begin working with OA mentor to polish your short starter article and fix any major transgressions of Wikipedia norms
  • Continue research in preparation for expanding your article

• By now, all students have started editing articles or drafts on Wikipedia.

Week 7

• In class handout: “Moving article from sandbox into main space” how to; handout: “Did you know nominations
• Assignments (due week 8)
  • Move your sandbox article into Wikipedia’s main space (live articles)
  • Nominate your article for “Did you know” status, and monitor the nomination for any issues identified by other editors
  • Begin expanding your article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic

Week 8

• In class or outside of class, CA leads Wikipedia lab/workshop: article ratings on Wikipedia and how to get there; and, adding images to Wikipedia articles
• Assignments (due week 9)
  • Expand your article into an initial draft of a comprehensive treatment of the topic

Week 9

• Assignments (due week 10)
  • Peer review two classmate’s articles—leave suggestions and comments on their article discussion pages; and, copyedit peers’ articles

• By now, all students have peer-reviewed their classmates’ articles.

Week 10

• In class, conduct an open discussion around the concepts of neutrality, media literacy, and the impact and limits of Wikipedia
• Assignments (due week 11)
  • Revise your article based on peers’ feedback
  • Nominate your article for “Good Article” status
  • Prepare for in-class presentation about your Wikipedia-editing experiences

Week 11

• In class, in-class experience presentations continue
• Assignments (due week 12)
  • Add final touches to your Wikipedia article
  • Write a reflective essay on your Wikipedia contributions and editing experiences

Week 12

• Final version of article due

• By now, all students have submitted a reflective essay on their Wikipedia contributions and experiences.

This is a list of the students in your class (or rather their Wikipedia usernames), along with their Wikipedia articles (which students will select at the appropriate time). Please wiklink the articles where possible.

Campus Ambassadors

• Henni2me (talk · contribs)
• Mulforel (talk · contribs)

Lead Online Ambassador

• Sadads (talk · contribs)

Background and introductory literature

Item	Preview	Level	Description	Download
Welcome to Wikipedia brochure		Beginner	"Welcome to Wikipedia" gives you a basic introduction into contributing to Wikipedia. You will learn how to create a Wikipedia user account, how to start editing, and how to communicate with other contributors. You will also learn how articles evolve on Wikipedia and how to rate the quality of an existing article. The "Welcome to Wikipedia" brochure contains 17 pages and an additional quick reference that helps you to remember the most frequently used wiki markup commands.	PDF
Ten Simple Rules for Editing Wikipedia		Beginner	"Ten Simple Rules for Editing Wikipedia" is an editorial published in PLoS Computational Biology that gives advice for scientists (also relevant to other scholars and experts) on how to effectively contribute to Wikipedia.	PDF
Evaluating Wikipedia article quality brochure		Beginner	Evaluating Wikipedia article quality is a reference guide with specific steps you can take to get the most out of Wikipedia, as well as a look at how its quality system works.	PDF
Introduction to free licenses pamphlet		Beginner	Introduction to free licenses helps you understand the basic concepts of free licenses. It explains the idea of free licenses, as well as terms like "CC-by-SA" and "public domain".	PDF

Editing references, instructions and guides

Item	Preview	Level	Description	Download
Editing reference sheet		Beginner	This one-page quick reference helps you to remember the most frequently used wiki markup commands.	PDF
How to get help handout		Beginner	This one-page handout explains the recommended way to get help and feedback for classes supported by Wikipedia Ambassadors: by posting on their course talk page and notifying their mentor. It also includes a glossary of additional help resources students might use.	PDF
Citing sources handout		Intermediate	This handout explains why references are important, where to place them, and the basics of adding "ref" tags.	PDF
Plagiarism handout		Intermediate	This handout explains what plagiarism is on Wikipedia in addition to why and how to avoid it.	PDF
Moving out of your sandbox instructions		Intermediate	This handout walks through how to move an article draft from a userpage sandbox into Wikipedia	PDF
File licensing tutorial		Beginner	This short handout explains why and how uploaded files (images) should be licensed.	SVG image
Referencing: WikiCode Handout		Beginner	This handout explains the basics of "ref" tags and the "name" parameter as well as "citation templates."	PDF
Image uploading handout		Intermediate	This handout explains the basics of uploading an image on the English Wikipedia.	PDF
Submitting an article to the Did You Know process instructions		Advanced	This handout walks through how to submit a new or newly expanded article to the Did You Know process so that it will appear on the Main Page.	PDF
Visual explanation of the user contribution page		Beginner	Visual explanation of the user contribution page	SVG

Videos

• Account creation tutorial (2 min 35 sec)
• Starting a sandbox article tutorial (2 min 11 sec)
• Basic editing: bold and links (3 min 37 sec)
• Basic editing: citing sources, part 1 (2 min 3 sec)
• Article creation tutorial (7 min 50 sec)
• WikiProject U.S. Public Policy assessment tutorial (6 min 47 sec)
• Copyright licenses involved in uploading files (3 min 28 sec)
• HotCat and categories explanation (5 min 43 sec)
• How to use a watchlist (2 min 10 sec)
• Quick account creation walkthrough
• How to log in
• Quick starting a sandbox walkthrough
• Quick sandbox article test, with a reference
• How to use talk pages
• How to add an image
• Article improvement
• Article assessments (general, not WikiProject United States Public Policy)
• Article evolution
• RefTools (7 min 29 sec)