1. This week
• Monday: Wikipedia assignment (Erin)
• Wednesday: Wikis and reliability (Erin)
• Friday: Refworks (MC)

2. March 19: Wiki Writing
Dr. Jessica Laccetti and Erin Dul
ALES 204

3. • A wiki (wɪki/ wik-ee) is a website that allows
the creation and editing of any number of
interlinked web pages via a web browser using
a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG
text editor.
• Wikis are typically powered by wiki software
and are often used collaboratively by multiple
users.

4. • In February 2007, Penguin Books and De
Montfort University launched ―A Million
Penguins,‖ a collaborative novel open to anyone
who wanted to help write it.
• The novel was to be created on MediaWiki, the
same software as Wikipedia, with a similar ethos
of collective authoring but the added spice of a
risky experiment in the heartland of commercial
publishing.
• Can a community write a novel?‖ asked Penguin
Digital Publisher Jeremy Ettinghausen

5. A Million Penguins
• Required users to register in order to edit.
• A team from DMU and Penguin Books actively
moderated the content.
• Contributors given free reign.

7. Background – statistics
• In just 5 weeks
– Nearly 1,500 registered for the site.
– Over 11,000 edits.
– 75,000 visitors to site.
– 280,000+ page views.
• Since then another 500,000+ page views

8. Other wikis:
Participation homework: Tweet to #ALES204 and @ErinDul the
name of a wiki that has not been mentioned in lectures.

9. Wikipedia
• Wikipedia was formally launched on 15
January 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry
Sanger
• Wales set one up and put it online on 10
January 2001

11. YOUR assignment
In this assignment, each student will update one "stub,"
or incomplete article in Wikipedia, to a complete
encyclopedic article. Ideally, we would like your article to
qualify for "Good Article" status. For reference, less than
1% of the articles on Wikipedia achieve this status, so this
is no small feat!

12. What is a “stub”?
• A stub is an article with not enough information
to provide encyclopedic coverage of a subject
• Stub definition:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Stub
• List of stubs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Stub_cate
gories
• Science stubs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Science_st
ubs

13. Stub examples
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioprocess_engineering

14. Stub examples
• Not “well-rounded” or “filled out”
(Who, What, Where…)
• No history of the field
• Only one citation

15. Stub examples
• No citations
• Doesn’t give well-rounded information on the
topic
• Title doesn’t clearly explain what the article is
about
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet-induced_obese

16. Part 1: Select a stub (BEFORE you
come to lab!)
1. Read the Wikipedia Getting Started page
2. Create an account
3. Find a stub
4. Comment on the March 19 Lecture Post on
the class blog with the your name and the
URL for your stub
5. Double check that no one else is editing your
stub

17. Getting started
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents/G
etting_started
• Contains tutorials for:
– Logging in
– Editing articles
• This is a good place to look for information if
you are having trouble editing!

18. Creating an account
• Go to any Wikipedia page
• Click “create account” on the TOP RIGHT
corner of the screen
– If possible, choose the same user name as your
twitter alias
– E-mail your TA your Wikipedia user name
• Having trouble? Go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Logging_in

19. Choosing a stub
• List of stubs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Stub_c
ategories
• Science stubs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Science
_stubs
• Choose a stub in an area that you are familiar
with and able to find good citations for!
• What are some areas where you could look?

20. Part 2: Write a “good article”
• Wikipedia lists the criteria for a “good article”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Good_
article_criteria
• Wikipedia give advice on how to write a good
article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Writin
g_better_articles
• Your article should be 300-600 words

21. “Good article criteria”
• Well written:
• Prose is clear and concise, respects copyright
laws, and the spelling and grammar are correct; and
• It complies with the manual of style guidelines for
lead sections, layout, words to watch, fiction, and list
incorporation
• Factually accurate and verifiable
• Provides references to all sources
• Provides in-line citations from reliable sources
• Contains no original research
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Good_article_criteria

22. “Good article criteria”
• Broad in its coverage
• Addresses main aspects of topic
• Stays focused (no unnecessary detail)
• Neutral: represent viewpoints fairly and without
bias
• Stable: it does not change significantly from day
to day
• Illustrated, if possible, by images
• Images are tagged with their copyright status
• Images are relevant and have suitable captions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Good_article_criteria

23. Examples and guidelines
• Examples of good articles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GA
• Manual of style:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manu
al_of_Style

24. Examples of good articles
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avondale_Agricu
ltural_Research_Station
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amino_acid
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_family
_structure

25. To edit your stub:
• Log in
• Go to your stub page
• Click “edit” near the search bar at the top of
the page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooking_(science)

26. “But Erin, this doesn’t look anything like it does on the
“Read” view!?!?!?!”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooking_(science)

27. Code :: Wiki Markup
• You can format your text by
using wiki markup.
• This consists of normal
characters like asterisks, single
quotes or equal signs which have
a special function in the
wiki, sometimes depending on
their position.
• For example, to format a word in
italics, you include it in quotation
marks: ''this''.

28. Wiki mark up

29. Read more on mediawiki.org: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Formatting

30. Wiki markup hints
• Go to
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Formatti
ng for full instructions
• If you see something that you like in another
article and want to know how to do that, click
“edit” and you will be able to see the code

31. Part 3: E-portfolio blog post
• The Wikipedia article is part of your e-
portfolio, so you must write a blog post about
writing your Wikipedia article
– Include at least one image
– Include at least one external link (your Wikipedia
article)
– Include an internal link
– Be on topic
– 2-4 paragraphs

32. Questions?

33. Wiki assignment - Summary
1. Choose a stub
2. Sign up and edit the stub to a “good article”
3. Blog post about your wikipedia article
• This assignment is due Friday at 17:00!
• You will have all of your lab time this week to
work on the assignment. Please come to lab
having chosen a stub article!