Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Northeastern University/Digital Writing (Spring 2023)
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- Course name
- Digital Writing
- Institution
- Northeastern University
- Instructor
- Lawrence Evalyn
- Wikipedia Expert
- Brianda (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- Course dates
- 2023-01-09 00:00:00 UTC – 2023-04-19 23:59:59 UTC
- Approximate number of student editors
- 19
This class explores the ways in which composing processes and meaning are impacted when writing moves from material media (e.g., print, images, voice, and performance) to digital media (e.g., hypertexts, digital stories, and videos). Readings cover aspects of digital writing as semiotic (e.g., domains of meaning, mode, materiality, delivery, ensembles of meaning) and draw on theories of multimodality to explore digital remediations of writing.
Our experience on Wikipedia will acclimatize us to a particular context in which digital writing is produced. We will examine how the prose style and the platform affordances of Wikipedia reflect or shape its overall goals. We will also take the opportunity to practice some non-fiction composition skills. Finally, we will consider how all of the factors we've studied can contribute to systemic bias.
Timeline
Week 5
- Course meetings
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- Thursday, 9 February 2023
- In class - Monday
- Introduction to Wikipedia
Welcome to your Wikipedia assignment's course timeline. This page guides you through the steps you'll need to complete for your Wikipedia assignment, with links to training modules and your classmates' work spaces.
The steps have been broken down into "assignments" with specific deadlines in this timeline, but those deadlines are just guidelines to help you evaluate if you are 'on pace'. The full set of your edits will be evaluated at the conclusion of our Wikipedia unit, on February 22.
Our course has been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. You can reach them through the Get Help button at the top of this page.
- In class - Thursday
- Wikipedia's rhetorical style
On Thursday, our class will focus on non-fiction writing styles. In addition to the training linked above, there will also be an assigned reading available in Canvas. Remember to check there as well.
- Assignment - Edit #1
- Fix a typo
Make your first low-stakes edit(s) by focusing on typos. The Typo Team has some resources on how to find typos and how to address variation in English usage.
Use this exercise to familiarize yourself with Wikipedia as a platform, and to start thinking about Wikipedia articles from the writer's point of view.
- Assignment - Edit #2
- Copy-edit a complex sentence
In this edit, you'll practice applying the material on sentence stress from our class. First, find an article with a long, complex sentence. You can look up articles on topics you're interested in, or just use Wikiroulette until something comes up. (A good candidate is a sentence that doesn't make sense to you on the first reading.)
Then, improve its readability. Try moving the subject and verb closer together, or changing which information is contained in subordinate clauses, or re-ordering information to make clearer links with the surrounding sentences, or even splitting it into multiple shorter sentences.
Week 6
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 13 February 2023 | Thursday, 16 February 2023
- In class - Monday
- Truth and lies on the internet
On Monday, we'll talk about Wikipedia's definitions of "reliability" in conjunction with broader ideas about accuracy and misinformation on the internet. For your pre-class readings, complete Wikipedia's trainings on these topics. Read them with a critical eye: how does Wikipedia frame these problems?
- Assignment - Edit #3
- Add new information to an article
Drawing on the information and sources you collected for our trivia assignment, contribute a new piece of information to a Wikipedia article. Make sure your addition is appropriate for the article at hand, and make sure you include a citation.
- In class - Thursday
- Systemic bias and "notability"
In our last conversation about Wikipedia, we'll examine how the resulting encyclopedia is shaped by bias in all the factors we have discussed so far. In addition to the discussion prompt linked above (which we will examine as an example of how Wikipedia tries to present itself), there will also be an assigned reading in Canvas. Remember to check there as well.
- Assignment - Edit #4
- Comment on an AfD
Our Thursday class will include a detailed examination of the "Articles for Deletion" process (also called AfD), including the conversational expectations for contributing to AfD discussions. The AfD process is supposed to be open to all Wikipedians (and thus all people): as the capstone to your new expertise in Wikipedia, you will make your own contribution to the ongoing work of AfD.
- Examine the list of currently-open AfD discussions. Choose an AfD that already has at least one comment, and has not been commented on by a classmate.
- Examine the article, and identify a relevant Notability Guideline.
- Research the subject, and see if you can find sources to prove that it meets the guideline you are evaluating. Remember that the debate is not about the current state of the article, but rather the existence of sources that could make a good article.
- Write a "reply" in the discussion. Explain what guideline you evaluated, how you looked for information, and what you found.
- If you have formed an opinion regarding whether the article should be deleted or kept, you can provide your "!vote", but for the purposes of the assignment you don't need to argue any particular way, you just need to make a comment.
- Note that AfD discussions can only be edited using the "source" editor, and not the "visual" editor: look closely at how other contributors have formatted their replies, and use the "preview" feature, to make sure yours will fit in.
Afterward, I suggest keeping an eye on the discussion to see what other points are made, and how the debate ultimately concludes.
- Milestones
Once you have made edits of the four kinds described above, you can "turn in" your Wikipedia assignment by submitting a link to your userpage in Canvas! I will take a look at your edit history from there.