Module 2 Reflection
Our goals for the Wikipedia module were to learn about Wikipedia’s history, learn about Wikipedia’s processes for adding/editing information, determine the cause of the 91% male editing dominance on Wikipedia, and to create our own Wikipedia page with information. Jessica and Emily had the great idea to create a page on Nina Bushnell, who was the Dean of Mary Washington College for 30 years and was a huge contributor to Mary Washington’s history.
From this module, I learned that a lot of the content that is added or edited on Wikipedia is monitored by bots, which makes it difficult for users who are not regular content-writers to add/edit information onto existing pages and, as we learned the hard way, create your own Wikipedia page. We read in a NY Times article about the studies of Susan Herring. Herring determined that the neutral style of writing which Wikipedia enforces is different than the aggressive, confrontational style of communication which women have. To create a successful page on Wikipedia, you have to be very careful and thoughtful about what you say, making sure not to use informal “advertising” speech.
After the Nina Bushnell Wikipedia page was flagged for speedy deletion, we realized how carefully Wikipedia monitors its content. This flagging happened almost immediately. Unless you are a regular contributor and are credited by Wikipedia to have posts that adhere to all of Wikipedia’s posting policies, a new page or a series of new edits will probably not survive long on Wikipedia, as bots are constantly checking content on the website.
I feel like this makes Wikipedia not as “free” as its founders intended it to be. There are a lot of barriers to adding content to the page. Although barriers are necessary so false information is not publicly posted, it prevents updates or additions to information which might be outdated or incorrect. Perhaps if Nina Bushnell was more significant, or if we had created the page as a subpage for the University of Mary Washington page, the page would not have been deleted so quickly.
