If I were told to edit a wiki article on Wikipedia.com, I would initially think to myself "Which article?" because the shear number of articles on Wikipedia are endless. There are thousands of wiki articles on Wikipedia.com and its created to allow anyone to edit an entry. Thats the point; anyone can edit or create, and it wants everyone to edit or create articles. However, since its such a widely used website, care must be taken when editing to maintain integrity. Also since its so widely used and millions of people around the world use it, being able to say "I wrote that paragraph!" on a Wikipedia article can provide the writer some sort of pride. However, I personally would take caution and pick an article on which I was a quasi-expert because I would not want to debase Wikipedia's credibility. On the other hand, if I were told by my teacher to edit a certain article which I had no expertise in, I'd think she was crazy and question her means because she'd cause me to deface the very fabric of what Wikipedia aims to do, its system of checks-and-balance. As an avid user and proponent of the site, I would not want to have its articles lose credibility.
However, if I were told to pick an article of my choice to edit, I'd pick an article which I was an expert in to ensure the maintain the articles integrity. Since I earned my Batchelor's and Master's in Aerospace Engineering, I'd be drawn to edit a page relating to that field, such as picking Wikipedia's page on compressible flow, which I have taken many classes on and would consider myself an expert in. My credibility about the subject alone will allow me to maintain the integrity of the Wikipedia article because I would not be adding any information which is untrue and which would mislead readers.
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You have a bachelors and a master's already? what? but anyways I agree with your point that I would question my teacher's motives if she asked me to edit a page. She would be asking me to fulfill a task that could possibly mislead someone and it would be my own fault. I believe if anyone were to edit a page it should be their own choice to do so; not someone else assigning it.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your blog entry, I was left hardly thinking about Wikipedia and more wondering whether you actually have bachelor's and master's degrees already. Is this true or did you mean you plan on getting these degrees in the future?
ReplyDeleteThat aside, I agree I would question my teacher if they asked me to edit an article I knew little to nothing about. However, it would make sense because it would be a real life experiment on how the Wikipedia community keeps tabs on themselves. Would an innaccurate article be taken down? How long would it take to do so? All these questions could be answered should we edit an article we knew little about.