Wikipedia:
What is Wikipedia?
Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia where anyone is able to edit articles and post information from sources. However, there are many editors out there that can undo additions if they are not scholarly. The Wikipedia group’s job was to add an alley life section to the Foggy Bottom Wikipedia page. In this section we discussed the issue of Alley Life during the late 1800s and early 1900s, and also talked about the solution to the problem. Our job was to offer a background of the alley life issue while other groups focused on individual aspects.
Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia where anyone is able to edit articles and post information from sources. However, there are many editors out there that can undo additions if they are not scholarly. The Wikipedia group’s job was to add an alley life section to the Foggy Bottom Wikipedia page. In this section we discussed the issue of Alley Life during the late 1800s and early 1900s, and also talked about the solution to the problem. Our job was to offer a background of the alley life issue while other groups focused on individual aspects.
The Process:
Wikipedia is something everyone has gone to look at once or twice in his or her life for research on a particular subject. Looking up something on Wikipedia, you don’t really get to see the hard work that is put behind these posts. The process of trying to create and eventually editing a wikipedia page was one that was not foreign to all of us in the Wikipedia Group. Previously in the year we had a much smaller project on a unit about the Reconstruction Era of the United States in which we each added a section to the Wikipedia page on the Era. However, the depth and the amount of research for the Alley Life project was much greater than that of the previous one.
At the beginning of our research, our teacher Mr. Neville had gone to the National Archives and had copied many documents that could relate to the alleys. Our first step in this project was to search through all of the documents and compile all of the information we deemed useful. Information relating to the demographics, the living conditions, or the policies toward the alleys made up most of the information we collected. Some days we would look at research for an hour, and gain absolutely nothing we could use, while other days we would research for the same amount of time and gain 2-3 paragraphs of information.
After our information had been compiled, we began to create the edits for the wikipedia page that we would improve (the page on Foggy Bottom and Snow’s Court). However, during this time, a group of students at George Washington University participated in a Wikipedia edit-a-thon and had chosen Foggy Bottom and Snow’s Court as their page to edit. With much of our original work that was planned having been already done for us, we decided to regroup and consider our new options. Half of our group decided to start work on a new page for the Alley Dwelling Authority, while the remaining half decided to still try and improve the Foggy Bottom page. Scott, John, and Thomas decided to try and improve the Foggy Bottom page, while Zain, Mike, Ally, Brianna, and Cherryl decided to create a new page for the Alley Dwelling Authority. As of last check both the Foggy Bottom edits and additions are posted and the Alley Dwelling Authority page was approved by Wikipedia administrators.
Wikipedia is something everyone has gone to look at once or twice in his or her life for research on a particular subject. Looking up something on Wikipedia, you don’t really get to see the hard work that is put behind these posts. The process of trying to create and eventually editing a wikipedia page was one that was not foreign to all of us in the Wikipedia Group. Previously in the year we had a much smaller project on a unit about the Reconstruction Era of the United States in which we each added a section to the Wikipedia page on the Era. However, the depth and the amount of research for the Alley Life project was much greater than that of the previous one.
At the beginning of our research, our teacher Mr. Neville had gone to the National Archives and had copied many documents that could relate to the alleys. Our first step in this project was to search through all of the documents and compile all of the information we deemed useful. Information relating to the demographics, the living conditions, or the policies toward the alleys made up most of the information we collected. Some days we would look at research for an hour, and gain absolutely nothing we could use, while other days we would research for the same amount of time and gain 2-3 paragraphs of information.
After our information had been compiled, we began to create the edits for the wikipedia page that we would improve (the page on Foggy Bottom and Snow’s Court). However, during this time, a group of students at George Washington University participated in a Wikipedia edit-a-thon and had chosen Foggy Bottom and Snow’s Court as their page to edit. With much of our original work that was planned having been already done for us, we decided to regroup and consider our new options. Half of our group decided to start work on a new page for the Alley Dwelling Authority, while the remaining half decided to still try and improve the Foggy Bottom page. Scott, John, and Thomas decided to try and improve the Foggy Bottom page, while Zain, Mike, Ally, Brianna, and Cherryl decided to create a new page for the Alley Dwelling Authority. As of last check both the Foggy Bottom edits and additions are posted and the Alley Dwelling Authority page was approved by Wikipedia administrators.
