Wikipedia talk:Education program archive/Cornell University/Online Communities (Fall 2013)/Schuylkill Navy

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Final Wikipedia Project Report

We worked on not only adding to what the article already had in place, mainly through the “Current Members” section, but we also added a fair amount of content pertaining to what the Schuylkill Navy actually does. When we started the process we reached out to a bunch of Wikipedians who had been editing other pages in the rowing community to see if they would be willing to help us sort out some of the more technical aspects of Wikipedia. Although only one responded in text to us, we had 3 to 4 people helping us with syntax and organization of the article after we reached out to them which was incredibly helpful. We also made sure when we were editing and adding to the article that we “Wikified” it by placing links to other pages on Wikipedia wherever appropriate. We additionally, formatted some headings of topics we added (i.e. Independence Day Regatta, Navy Day Regatta, Head of the Schuylkill, and Schuylkill Navy Run) as links even though the actual pages did not exist. When clicked, these links point to an article that suggests to create the page (i.e. “Creating Head of Schyulkill). We felt that making links to pages that had not yet been made would prompt the greater Wikipedia community to make those pages, sparking discussion and spreading the process of contribution in the Wikipedia online community.

Most of the information we used was from some books sent to us from members of the Schuylkill Navy on the founding of the different Boathouses and the institution itself. We were lucky enough to have two rowers on our team, one of whom actually is a member of the Schuylkill Navy so having access to that network was very helpful. When we were looking at the pages for the boathouses which comprise the Schuylkill Navy we found that most of the resources which we used were actually used to make the pages for the boathouses, which was reassuring. The combination of our added information and changes in organization, along with the pictures of the boathouses which we added to the article we think moved the article from C-class to B-class. We tried not to add any irrelevant information while addressing all the key questions we had about the article when we first started the project. When we started the project the article had a lot of good information about how the Schuylkill Navy was formed and how it was effected by wars, but it did not really say much about what it is now. The page also had a list of the boathouses which are members of the Schuylkill Navy along with a really informative figure of all the clubs which have been part of the Schuylkill Navy at any given point in time. We added to what the organization currently does, adding in the regattas which it holds, one of which is the biggest high school regatta in the world, and a 5k run it holds on Thanksgiving which is a staple of the rowing community in the northeast and mid-Atlantic, as many people will actually travel in from out of town for the sole purpose of running in the Schuylkill Navy Turkey Trot. We also did a heavy renovation of the “Current Members” section, adding pictures and short bios of each club which is part of the Schuylkill Navy. This section got a decent amount of help from other Wikipedians as they helped us organized the section so it was appealing to the eye.

Our interactions with Wikipedians were very interesting. We only got one textual response from an individual to whom we reached out, but much of what we got was in the form of help with formatting our article. Since our article did not have much going on, on its talk page we looked at the recent history and the talk pages of all the boathouse members of the Schuylkill Navy and the talk pages of the Wikipedians who were instrumental in the creation and upkeep of these pages, the Rowing and the Philadelphia Wikipedia Projects, and the page of the governing body of rowing, USRowing. One Wikipedia member, Freijtes, was very helpful with cleaning up duplicate references and organization of the article, really doing stuff that only a seasoned veteran would know to do. Although this was helpful, it did not really leave us with the warm fuzzy feeling of being in a community. Part of that might have to do with the way Wikipedia is arranged, it has a somewhat removed feeling and when writing on the talk pages of other users, most of what you read on their talk pages talk about them “attempting to destroy” some article, at least this was the case in our experience.

For the breakdown of work, Andrew dealt entirely with the addition of bios to the current member clubs, and initially dealt with reaching out to the Wikipedia community. He was our main contact to the actual Schuylkill Navy and the boathouses as a rower from Philadelphia who had been a member of two houses. Janice initially looked up additional sources in order to edit and add to the general existing content (specifically the origins section), while also adding photos to the photo gallery and to the current members section. She also maintained the general layout adding sections and categorizations. Eddie was in charge of finding more material to discuss in the article. Specifically, he contributed the most to the Regattas section, using his rowing knowledge to sort through sources and add relevant information that potential page visitors would actually want and need to know about our topic. All three members reached out to other Wikipedians related to our topic for more feedback and advice on editing our page.