User:Alexistang/reflection
For as long as I can remember, Wikipedia has been a household name. It was also the go-to online encyclopedia when learning about a topic when I was younger, whether it be learning about a concept taught in school or wanting to know more about a famous person’s life. As I started getting older, teachers started relaying to students that Wikipedia is not a reliable source and that it should not be used in academic settings. I was made aware of Wikipedia’s open editing design, which allows anybody to contribute or edit articles. This feature, while fostering a collaborative online community, was frequently cited as the reason for its lack of credibility. Since learning of this, I have used Wikipedia as a starting point for research rather frequently, which has proved to provide me with substantial background knowledge on a specific topic. Despite this, I was oblivious to the complex online community that Wikipedia boasts. Through my personal experience being an active Wikipedian over the last couple of months, I argue that while Wikipedia fosters a collaborative online community, it should employ more comprehensive methods to welcome new members, retain them, and encourage them to make contributions.
My experience as a Wikipedian started when I created my first account Alexistang and enrolled into the Online Communities Capstone course's Wikipedia dashboard. Before adding a brief introductory blurb to my user page, I undertook the tutorials from Wiki Education. These tutorials, along with Professor Reagle's guidance, were a great way to learn the basic norms and guidelines of a new online community. However, despite much effort to make the newcomer initiation process as smooth sailing as possible, I still felt that the learning curve for a new Wikipedian was steep. Moreover, I felt nervous to contribute to Wikipedia as a newcomer as it did not feel like I was already a part of the community.
With Wikipedia being considered an online community, there are rules and guidelines to be made aware of before one can join. Before being able to navigate the community and contribute meaningfully, users must also learn of the features and affordances that Wikipedia has. As aforementioned, the resources provided to students enrolled in the capstone course were helpful in establishing the basics that we should know of before making any edits. They provided information on various important subjects including the different pages, such as the talk page and sandbox, how to make edits, and Wikipedia’s policies. However, the tutorial modules were only made available to me as a student, and is not a feature available to all new Wikipedians.
While the process of setting up a new account on Wikipedia is rather simple, finding important and relevant information about Wikipedia’s community and its guidelines can be difficult without the resources that were available to me and my classmates. Kraut and Resnick’s (2012) design claim 17 states, “entry barriers for newcomers may cause those who join to be more committed to the group and contribute more to it” (p. 206).[1] As suggested, Wikipedia may be able to better welcome newcomers if more thorough processes of initiation were put in place. For instance, Wikipedia could take inspiration from Wiki Education and implement a more user-friendly onboarding process with clear, step-by-step guidance on how to edit and contribute. They could develop interactive tutorials or videos to familiarize newcomers with Wikipedia's editing interface and community norms. More importantly, these should be made readily accessible to a new Wikipedian before they are able to engage with fellow community members and contribute effectively. Additionally, Wikipedia could also adopt Wiki Education’s mentorship program by establishing a program where experienced editors volunteer to guide and support new users during their initial contributions. This way, not only can new users learn important information about the community, but they can also interact with fellow community members. Alternatively, Wikipedia could create a dedicated space where newcomers can ask questions, seek help, and interact with more experienced editors. By creating a devoted space for newcomers, new Wikipedians would be able to find the help they need in one place. This, similar to the mentorship program, would allow new contributors to interact with older and more experienced members, allowing for a greater sense of belonging in the community. The result of feeling like one is a part of a community falls in line with Kraut and Resnick’s (2012) design claim 18, “when newcomers have friendly interactions with existing community members soon after joining a community, they are more likely to stay longer and contribute more” (p. 208).[1] Not only can these methods make the onboarding process more seamless, they can also foster a greater sense of community, encouraging new users to make meaningful contributions and connections.
In choosing the topic that I wanted to contribute to Wikipedia, I first thought about areas of personal interest. Sports and culture were the 2 fields that came to mind, having been an athlete myself and feeling strong ties to my home. I then went to Wikipedia’s Requested articles page, as well as the WikiProject Singapore/Requested articles page where I found an article request for and chose to write on Chinese New Year customs in Singapore. Having dedicated spaces like those for projects and requested articles enhances the efficiency, inclusivity, and quality of Wikipedia's content creation process, benefiting both users and the broader online community alike. Having said that, there were few opportunities for me to interact with fellow Wikipedians after creating my article. Although I was pleasantly surprised to see many edits being made to my draft after moving it into mainspace which solidified Wikipedia as a collaborative community, I found it difficult to find people to provide feedback for my article. I reached out to different people and pages, like the WikiProject pages, yet only one user responded to my request. I reached out to user Robertsky on their talk page to request feedback for my newly created article, to which they responded and edited my article swiftly in less than 24 hours. Additionally, there were other useful contributions made to my article by users that I did not request feedback from. For example, this version difference depicts a user adding the “Public decorations” section. These are great examples of Wikipedia fostering collaboration and reflects the spirit of Wikipedians’ willingness to help, wherein users are able to interact with fellow members to work together towards a common goal.
The fact that I had reached out to at least 4 different user and Wikiproject talk pages and only received a response from 1 user may be due to the culture of Wikipedia. With many editors working on numerous articles and projects at once, the Wikipedia community can be vast and busy. It can be challenging for new editors to obtain the attention of seasoned editors or timely comments because they are preoccupied with their own contributions. In other words, newbie Wikipedians may exist on the periphery of the online community, making it difficult to reach those Wikipedia contributors within the core. If new users cannot actively contribute and engage with fellow contributors, their motivation to stay and continue editing are likely to diminish quickly. Kohn (1993) wrote, "some people do not get the rewards they were hoping to get, and the effect of this is, in practice, indistinguishable from punishment" (p. 52).[2] Thus, there are several things that Wikipedia could do to help increase user motivation. They should recognize and celebrate the achievements and milestones of editors, such as article creation, quality improvement, or participation in community initiatives. In class, one my classmates brought up Canvas’s use of confetti every time students were to submit an assignment; I thought that Wikipedia could adopt something similar every time a new article is created or moved into the mainspace. This small and simple act of congratulations can help users feel that their efforts are recognized, in turn increasing their motivation to stay active in the community. Moreover, Wikipedia could implement features for users to interact with each other more easily and efficiently, such as messaging systems or collaborative editing features like Google Docs rather than having to communicate with fellow members through public talk pages. Such features can foster even greater collaboration that is synchronous, and allows for there to be more private conversations to be had within Wikipedia’s community.
To end my experience as a new Wikipedian throughout this semester, I finalized my article, sent Wiki thanks to two users who were helpful to me, and reflected on the past 4 months. I come out of this course having realized what an online community looks like, as well as the nuanced and complex systems that keep a community alive. From recruiting new members to retaining them, there is much more that matters and goes on behind the scenes. My hope for Wikipedia is for them to improve the experience of newcomers to attract more users. I am very grateful to now say that I was a part of the Wikipedia community and made meaningful contributions. In moving forward, I will be keeping my Wikipedia account and perhaps making small contributions like those requested on the task center in my free time.