Considering Factual Information

Analyzing information meant to be factual and serve as definition  is an excellent way to work a young analyzer and writer into accurately approaching a written work.  Before this class, I tended to write without necessarily considering my relationship with the text. Without considering one’s positioning in the world, writing becomes isolated, which is far from its intended purpose. I have learned, through this class, that writing is meant to be a conversation. No piece is written without a situated writer, reader, stance on an argument, and view of the world. Realms such as Wikipedia are an excellent way to get a writer to actively analyze instead of taking every word to be truth. Also, in working with Wikipedia, it situates a reader's awareness of being a participant in a global conversation.

What Counts?

Wikipedia Face Off....The Daytime Talk Show

Night: Wikipedia Realm Revisited

Wikipedia Article Draft

- In doing this project, I have come to understand and accept that forums such as Wikipedia take time.  It isn’t like writing a research paper because the stakes are so much higher for a public forum like Wikipedia. It is used globally to shape early understanding on an innumerable amount of topics. I think one of the important aspects that I had to truly grasp was the gravity of the situation that has been attached to the Wikipedia name. As a primary resource for information it is greatly taken for granted – even though it provides the building blocks for comprehension to students and people around the globe. 

I Have A Few BBQ's and A's About This...
 - Edits
 - Editing was an important learning tool for me in this class as well. It gave me a chance to truly engage with a text and take everything I've learned in this class and actively use these skills to improve the stance and clarity of another Wikipedia article. In both developing and editing in the Wikipedia realm, I was able to see that creating something has many more facets in the public/web sphere than I previously thought. Digital media and information is a much more interactive and process-based than some may think. It took intersecting with multiple vantage points of such spheres as Wikipedia to clarify this for me. 

In working with Wikipedia, I began to understand that my position as reader, analyzer, editor, and writer was part of a much larger conversation. It wasn't just about what I knew and thought but what we all agreed upon as fact, in relation to Wikipedia. There is a constant ebb and flow of understanding that passes through Wikipedia articles everyday - with purposeful mistakes and major additions to this archive. It helped me to better understand this idea of process and detach myself from my obsession with immediate satisfaction and perfecting in writing.