In this assignment you have the option to do research on a topic related to our course and contribute to or establish a Wikipedia article or you will join another established wiki and contribute material to it.

One of our goals for this assignment is to juxtapose the traditional research paper to writing an encyclopedia article such as in Wikipedia. Another goal is to experience how peer review unfolds in these communities.

Watch the videos for an introduction to wikis and then read the Wikipedia assignment below.

(Note: You can also watch videos on learning Mediawiki here.)

Wikipedia Help

Wikis in Plain English


WetPaint wikis in Plain English



“A wiki (IPA: [ ˈ w ɪ .ki ː ] or [ ˈ wi ː .ki ː ] [1] ) is a website visitors to add, remove, edit and change content, typically without the need for registration. It also allows for linking among any number of pages. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for mass collaborative authoring. The term wiki also can refer to the collaborative software itself (wikiengine) that facilitates the operation of such a site, or to certain specific wiki sites, including the computer science site (the original wiki) WikiWikiWeb and online encyclopedias such as Wikipedia”(“Wikis,” Wikipedia).

Goals:

* learn the basics of wiki-markup syntax
* create a Wikipedia entry
* consider the strengths and weaknesses of writing in collaborative spaces
* consider the strengths and weaknesses of wikis as sources of information
* consider “objectivity” (see debate1 and 2 surrounding Wikipedia and creation of Conservapedia & Citizendium)

Guidelines:

1. Choosing a term (keyword) from the course, write an entry about that term for Wikipedia.

2. When choosing a term, make sure someone else in class hasn't chosen it. If there is an already existing entry on Wikipedia feel free to contribute to it if there is an opportunity to add significant content to it.

3. When composing your entry be sure to familiarize yourself with this genre of writing (i.e., what are the standard generic conventions used in writing a wiki entry?)

4. You will need to include the following sections in your entry:

a. An introduction

b. A“Contents” table

c. At least one section of more detailed information

d. An external links section

e. A references section