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Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/California State University, Fullerton/Gender and Technoculture (Spring 2016)

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Course name
Gender and Technoculture
Institution
California State University, Fullerton
Instructor
Karyl E. Ketchum
Wikipedia Expert
Adam (Wiki Ed)
Subject
Technoculture
Course dates
2016-01-27 – 2016-05-04
Approximate number of student editors
33


Our understanding and experience of gender identity, gender expression, the body and desire, are influenced by our increasingly technologically mediated world in ways that are surprising, provocative and endlessly fascinating. Throughout this course we will be looking at these inter-relationships and exploring the ways in which these may shape and delimit our ability to work, play, and create with technological forms. We will be asking questions such as: How do popular narratives of technology’s origins shape our gendered understanding of it?; What is the relationship between the corporeal body and the much-lauded virtual body of cyberspace?; When might technology’s promise of convenience and personalization become just another form of surveillance and control?; What are some of the effects of DIY Web 2.0 technologies on social movements (#BlackLivesMatter, Anonymous, the “Arab Spring”)?; How might collaborative technologies, such as Wikipedia, intervene in the production of knowledge and History?; And, how might new technologies of visibility reinforce old ways of “Othering”?

Student Assigned Reviewing
Mbnguyen
Lukemitchell6
Lilyflores1994
Alphamon123
Zoeredhead Suzanne Noël
Ecotter111
Brett27taylor
EzraJames
BethanyKay12
Rrlilly
Hawkeye7612
LSanchez8424
Vjayzano
Kristyadvice
Irdexterreed
Elizamaru
Shawn123321
Voice2016
Lilrea247
Diannykins
Josballer Effie A. Southworth
Shy1alize
GabMend
Nartnnej Mary Nguyen
Alandry1
Smllrf10
Lollicupy
Riitree12
Riiroro
Malianua
Lukemitchell0406
Goltok
Ginasaps Brittany Ferrell
Stevenford1996 June Blum
Socal95 Clare Rojas

Timeline

Week 1

Course meetings
Monday, 22 February 2016   |   Wednesday, 24 February 2016
In class - Wikipedia essentials
  • Overview of the course
  • Introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course
  • Understanding Wikipedia as a community, we'll discuss its expectations and etiquette.



Handout: Editing Wikipedia


Week 2

Course meetings
Monday, 29 February 2016   |   Wednesday, 2 March 2016
Assignment - Practicing the basics
  • Create an account and then complete the online training for students. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.
  • Create a User page.
  • To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself on the user talk page of one of your classmates.
Milestones

All students have Wikipedia user accounts, are listed on the course page, and have completed the online training modules.

Assignment - Student Training

Complete the assigned training modules.

Week 3

Course meetings
Monday, 7 March 2016   |   Wednesday, 9 March 2016
In class - Using sources
  • Be prepared to explain close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia.



Handouts: Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism


Assignment - Reading

Carefully read Wikipedia's "neutral point of view" policy.

Week 4

Course meetings
Monday, 14 March 2016   |   Wednesday, 16 March 2016
Assignment - Exploring the topic area
  • Explore Wikipedia to find articles that demonstrate either gender, heterosexual, racial, or other Western biases.
    • What biases are evident in these articles? How can you improve them?
    • How are the articles organized?
    • What areas seem to be missing?
    • As you explore, make a mental note of articles that seem like good candidates for improvement.
    • Be prepared to discuss some of your observations about Wikipedia articles in your topic area that are missing or could use improvement.
  • For help selecting an article, refer to WikiProject Feminism's list of open tasks



Handouts: Choosing an article


Assignment - Choosing your article

Get Professor Ketchum's (AKA: Dalton Hird's) approval of your editing project!

Week 5

Course meetings
Monday, 21 March 2016
In class - Discuss the article topics
  • Discuss the topics students will be working on, and determine strategies for researching and writing about them.


Assignment - Add to an article
  • Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia article related to the course.


Assignment - Finalize your topic and start researching
  • Select an article to work on, removing the rest from your user page. Add your topic on the course page.
  • Do your research! Gather all citations that you will be using to document your corrections and additions.
  • Compile a bibliography of relevant, reliable sources and post it to the talk page of the article you are working on. Begin reading the sources.

Week 6

Assignment - Drafting starter articles
  • If you are starting a new article, write a 3–4 paragraph summary version of your article—with citations—in your Wikipedia sandbox. If you are improving an existing article, create a detailed outline reflecting your proposed changes, and post this for community feedback, along with a brief description of your plans, on the article’s talk page. Make sure to check back on the talk page often and engage with any responses.
  • Continue research in preparation for expanding your article.

Week 7

Assignment - Editing your live article
  • Make your edits in the live article!!! Be sure you are keeping with Wikipedia's guidelines, particularly Neutral Point of View and No Original Research, both of which can be tricky to catch.
  • Also, be sure to cite all your changes/additions!
  • Be sure to explain each edit in the box provided (called "edit summary") at the bottom of the editing window!

-- Resources: See the "Citing Sources" handout.

Milestones

All students have started editing articles or drafts on Wikipedia.

Week 8

In class - Building articles
  • Demo uploading images and adding images to articles.
  • Share experiences and discuss problems.



Resources: Illustrating Wikipedia and Evaluating Wikipedia


In class - Group suggestions
  • As a group, offer suggestions for improving one or two other students' articles, based on your ideas of what makes a solid encyclopedia article.


Assignment - Complete first draft
  • Expand your article into a complete first draft.

Week 9

In class - Wikipedia discussion
  • Open discussion of the concepts of neutrality, media literacy, bias, and the impact and limits of Wikipedia.

Week 10

Week 11

Assignment - Address peer review suggestions
  • Make edits to your article based on peers’ feedback. If you disagree with a suggestion, use talk pages to politely discuss and come to a consensus on your edit.

Week 12

In class - Discuss further article improvements
  • Continue discussing how the articles can be further improved. Come up with improvement goals for each article for next week.


Assignment - Respond to feedback

Respond to any concerns, questions or revisions from the Wikipedia community.

Week 13

Assignment - Final article
  • Add final touches to your Wikipedia article.



Handout: Polishing your article

Week 14

Assignment - Reflective essay
  • Write your 2-5 page reflective essay! :-) Your essay should be 2-5 pages (12-pt font, double spaced) and should be college-level grammar and writing.
  • In this essay you should discuss the following:
    • Describe your Wiki editing experience.
    • What have you learned about how Wikipedia functions?
    • What have you learned about how "knowledge" is produced?
    • How did you come to recognize the biases you helped to correct in Wikipedia?
    • Are the biases in Wikipedia different than biases in other texts (i.e. text books, literary works, photographs, etc.)?
    • How do you feel about Wikipedia as a source of knowledge in comparison to other kinds of texts?
Milestones

Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading.