Up until this point, working with Wikipedia has been stressful because it is unexplored terrain. I am a person who rarely ever trusts myself, and I would much rather listen or learn from someone else than from myself. So, to be the one that is relaying information onto the internet for other people to absorb is very much out of my comfort zone and not something I would willingly do. That is why I am at least glad that this is group work. Working with my group thus far has been smooth. We all agreed on what article we want to develop, and how we are going to go about it. The most interesting part for me so far has been gathering sources. It feels like a game because you click on so many hyperlinks and then more hyperlinks within those hyperlinks. In just a half hour I was able to gather three or four sources that I am confident will help expand the information in our chosen article. We chose the article “Commercialization of the Internet”, and I think we’re all genuinely interested in the topic which makes the information gathering portion of this project less tedious. Specifically, during my somewhat deep dive of related articles, I learned about a Web 2.0 and a Web 3.0. Elaborating on the timely development of the web in such a manner will surely help show how commercialization of the internet came about with such force.
The harder part is definitely going to be organizing the information in a coherent way. This Wikipedia article has more pressure to be good because of the reputation of the platform, so it must look concise and professional. For now, my group seems to have decided on organizing our information chronologically, and having subsections within each section that correspond to certain time spans.
As a writer, this project is definitely going to help take me out of my shell. Although I can say almost 100% that I will not be immersing myself in the Wiki community in the future because it is just not my thing, it will hopefully feel rewarding to know that I participated in developing a lengthy article on such a tough subject.
April 27, 2022 at 12:42 pm
Although this group project is out of your comfort zone, it makes me glad that it will help you grow as a writer. I can also somewhat relate to not trusting myself in some situations. I also hope to feel a sense of accomplishment after contributing to an underdeveloped Wikipedia article.