Wikipedia talk:Education program archive/Chesapeake College/IDC 201 The Nature of Knowledge (Spring 2013)/Timeline

Timeline

These "weeks" won't translate directly into our course schedule, since we started work on Wikipedia after the first week of class and had a few weeks in between for discussion of other topics. If you're confused about which week we're on, just email us.

Week 1: Wikipedia Culture

Read Chapter 3 of Good Faith Collaboration. Participate in a discussion about the ethics and accuracy of crowdsourcing on the class blog.

Week 2: Wikipedia Theory

Read Chapters 5 & 7 of "Good Faith Collaboration". Respond to discussion questions about the text on the class blog.

Week 3: Editing & Markup Languages

Reading & Watching

Read Wikipedia's Manual of Style.
Watch Don't Fear the Internet on HTML.

Activities

Complete the Introduction to HTML on Codecademy.
Create a Wikipedia username & share it on the blog.
Fix one broken link on Wikipedia using the Repairing a dead link instructions and the administrative category Articles with dead external links.
Respond to one of the discussion questions about "Good Faith Collaboration".

Milestone

All students have Wikipedia user accounts.
All students will have one edit attributed to their username

Week 4: What makes a good Wikipedia article?

Read Chapter 4 of "Good Faith Collaboration"
Start reading "1984"
Together, write a Google Doc listing out what you think makes a good Wikipedia article. To answer this question, look through a few random pages, maybe about things that you’re interested in. Keep track of what is helpful, what isn’t, what you like to see, and what you wish were there when it isn’t.

Week 5: Wikimedia Commons

Reading

Finish "1984"

Activities

Categorize one uncategorized piece of media in Wikimedia Commons. Use the P2PU video on categorizing media to help you complete the activity.
Look at the Chesapeake College Wikipedia entry. Look beyond the table of contents to the actual page information. On a shared Google Doc, tell us what else a “Good Chesapeake College” entry would contain or link to. What’s missing in the current entry, or what needs to be expanded or cited?

Week 6: Fixing Issues

Reading

Read Chapters 6 & 8 of Good Faith Collaboration

Activities

Argumentative essay is due.
Fix one issue on a Wikipedia entry. Issues include citation needed, dead link, weasel words, and who?. Virtually anything that appears in a brightly colored box at the top of the page, or is listed as a problem on its "Talk" page, counts as an issue.
- You can probably spot an issue just in your usual use of Wikipedia, but if you want to specifically go looking for one try the Category pages which list pages with issues, much as we did previously with broken links. For instance, there is a category for articles with specifically-marked weasel worded phrases and a category for articles lacking sources.

Week 7: Creative Commons

Reading

Watch Wikipedia Academic: The Visual Experience conference presentation
Lawrence Lessig on Creative Commons. All Wikipedia articles are licensed under Creative Commons compatible licenses.

Activities

Everyone should have at least four Wikipedia edits under their username by now. If you have less, consider fixing a broken link, adding a source, or writing additional content.

Discussion Comments. Everyone: Choose one of the following questions, or a combination of more than one, and respond in a comment. (Due Sunday) Then, comment on any one other comment by a classmate. (Due Thursday)

- What is the most difficult aspect of editing Wikipedia for you? Is it a technical, writing, research, or community issue?

- Before you were editing Wikipedia, how did you imagine it worked "behind the scenes?" Is anything radically different than you had imagined?

- Describe what "Talk" pages are and how you might use them in your assignment. Can you show the class a discussion on a Talk page that was useful or illuminating to you?

Everyone should email Eric at least one source they have found so far, or ones they are considering. Don't have a source yet? Ask where to look.

Week 8: Research

Reading

"Free as in Sexist?" Free Culture and the Gender Gap by Joseph Reagle
Your research sources! You should have found several articles by now that require intensive reading. Scour through them with an eye towards what will be useful in your Wikipedia project.

Activities

Work on your Wikipedia project
Annotated Bibliography
Meet with Melina to discuss your writing so far, especially for the final project.

Week 9: Finishing Up

Reading

More sources from your bibliography! Take the time to read what you found and begin adding sources to Wikipedia.

Activities

Work on your Wikipedia project
Find one "Citation Needed" link on Wikipedia and correct it. See the categories Articles lacking sources or Articles lacking in-text citations if you can't find a {{citation needed}} notice.

Week 10: Finished!

Reading

None!

Activities

Turn in the reflective essay.
Submit final edits to Wikipedia articles by noon on Thursday May 9, 2013.

(Click to return to your main course page and continue.)

Resources for Student Editors

Editing Tips

Wikipedia Training for Students is a good walkthrough that everyone should complete
The Welcome to Wikipedia brochure is a nice introduction
The Wiki markup cheat sheet is handy
Lastly, if you get stuck, consult the How to Get Help handout