Christy R.’s blog

What is the wikiality individual project?

Our last project was a group project. We edited an article on wikipedia altogether and it was formative. The differences here really, is only the fact that we’re going to do it independently, it’s summative, and we could also create our own article if we really want to.

This project relates to me because I get to edit articles that I want, and get to know how one of the most used informative site on my list functions.

This project would benefit me in research, grammar, and knowledge because in order for the information I add/edit to remain on the site, it would have to be of good quality.

My method:
Step 1: Find an inadequate/wanted(but not yet created) article under the ‘Fix-up projects’ tab on the ‘Community Portal’ page.
Or, on the main wikipedia page, go to a category I may want to edit(’art’, for example), on the upper right side and go under ‘Things You Can Do – Open Tasks’ in the category to find an article, or, go to the category’s subtopic and find an article/requested article there.

Either way, I should find a category I’m well informed in so I could easier, better judge inaccuracies when I see them or create a wanted article on, otherwise I’d have to read up before, and gather completely new knowledge… which takes more time… !

Step 2: Check the suspected inaccuracy with at least 2 other sources. Make sure the other sources are reliable.
Step 3: Edit the article, have at least two other people review my corrections. (And, if Ms. Wilson was to be an additional review to it, then that would be +1 review, meaning a total of 3 reviews either way! =)

My original method:
Step 1: Find an inaccurate article through the ‘Community Portal’ page. Find a category we’re well informed in so we could better judge inaccuracies when we see them, otherwise we’d have to gather completely new knowledge… which takes time… :P.
Step 2: Check the suspected inaccuracy with at least 2 other sources.
Step 3: Before editting, have each group member check it over once again; that’d be + 3 reviews.
Step 4: Edit the article, but before doing so, ask for teacher’s permission.

What I did was shorten my method to 3 steps, with an easier, more achievable goal of having two other people review it because what I had been interested in may not click with others, and backing it down to 2 people would make it easier for me to complete my method. I barely changed my first step but rather added more information to it because I think it’s the easiest way to find an inaccurate article or a most wanted article; going to the website itself, and check for the articles it wants me to edit/create.

Testing out the method:

1: What am I good at? What do I know a lot about? What do I like/what am I interested in? I love dancing, I love sports, I love animals, and I am definitely interested in becoming a vet. Some things I’ve always wanted to do was to get back to normal sleep (since 3 years ago) and learn how to be able to pick up a book, a long story book – and read. My sleep pattern has been messed up a lot lately(and late late before …!!!), and I’ve never truly liked reading a book – or at least, sticking through with it without taking a long long break in between. My reading is like this: pick up a book, read 15 pages, put it down, 95% of never picking it up again(most of the 5% is dominated by school assignments). Another thing I’ve always wanted to do was travel. I’m often blown away by all the details of different cultures. On the surface they all seem so similar but as you find out more and more you often find details that differ people’s ways of lives and their traditions. (And when you can experience it for yourself, it’s even more fascinating! :)) However, I admit to kind of feeling bad too because as a Vietnamese girl adopted to a Norwegian father and Chilean mother, I know very little about Vietnam itself, or Norway, or Chile. Even most of the countries I lived in – I know very little about their true cultures and history. I usually only know the basics – where the country is on the map, what the flag looks like, a main history, percentage of religion, percentage of different nationalities in the country, main languages spoken in the country. Then, I know the prices of things such as chocolate (not that truly important, but I know it very well!!), I know the criminality rate, I absorb in the culture that’s around(I don’t often dig deeper because I usually keep myself preoccupied!), and, well, I know things that are considered ‘taboo’.

2: When I saw the categories, my first instincts was art. Now that I’ve brainstormed, I’m also thinking about biology, or culture, or history too. For sleep, perhaps that goes under science? And for reading, maybe it goes under society? I’m not sure – but now that I’ve viewed all the portals, and there is the ‘General reference’, ‘History and events’, ‘Philosophy and thinking’, ‘Culture and the arts’, ‘Mathematics and logic’, ‘Religion and belief systems’, ‘Geography and places’, ‘Natural and physical sciences’, ‘Society and social sciences’, ‘Health and fitness’, ‘People and self’, and the ‘Technology and applied sciences’ category, I’m thinking of either doing something along the category of ‘Culture and the arts’, ‘People and self’, or ‘Natural and physical sciences’. I realized how it would probably be easier to write in ‘People and self’, and ‘Natural and physical sciences’ because it deals with more facts than interpretations, less research than the usual. Then I realized the number of people that are probably already at it because wikipedia not only attracts random people – but it also attracts highly educated teachers, students, business women, business men, etc. I gathered learning about the cultures that were supposedly a part of me would be fairly important and rather interesting, and that would leave the ‘culture and arts’ category. Besides, there are so many other things there. And I could still change my mind… heheh. (I’m very extremely tremendously highly amazingly greatly weirdly strangely funnily indecisive afterall >.<…!!!!!!)

3 Browsing ‘cultures and arts’. First off – Vietnam. I could not find a thing about Vietnam. Or Norway. Or Chile. Then, I went on the numismatics wikiproject page and I found out that an article on the South Vietnam dong of Vietnam needed expanding. I realized that my task was fixed … for now. I’ll have to print out the article and brainstorm on things to add or edit.

Self-grading for investigation: 5 – Because I didn’t complete the whole task on time (finished step 3 + self grading Wednesday morning).