Reflective Essay Journal
Critiquing Articles
During the Wikipedia assignment, I learned a lot about Wikipedia that I did not know before. I had always thought of Wikipedia as a website where anyone could just add whatever they wanted. I now realize there are strict guidelines, expectations for sources, and a real focus on maintaining a neutral point of view. Editors and contributors really do work hard to make sure articles are accurate and informative. Wikipedia has a strong behind-the-scenes community that values quality and reliability, even though anyone can edit it.
When it came to critiquing the article I selected, I started by reading through the article carefully. I looked for gaps, outdated information, or anything that seemed poorly explained. I also checked the sources that were cited to make sure they were credible and current. I approached critiquing the article by asking myself what a reader new to the topic would need to know. I wanted to be sure that everything was clear, complete, and unbiased.
Deciding what to add to my chosen article did not take much thought. At the organization I currently work for, we are going through a Sanctuary recertification. Sanctuary is our Trauma-Informed Model of Care. Therefore, I have been working organization-wide to support our employees in recognizing Sanctuary tools at work and in their personal life. Choosing the topic of self-care made it easy for me to contribute to two goals in one assignment. I focused on areas where I felt the article lacked important context or where peer-reviewed articles could offer research-driven results. I also made sure anything I added came from reputable sources so that it would meet Wikipedia’s standards.
Summarizing Contributions/Peer Review/Feedback
For my contributions, I am adding a section that gives more insight into self-care in the workplace and self-care and its recent intersection with consumerism. Comparing the article before and after my edits, I think the version I helped create is much stronger. It tells a fuller story and uses better sources. While my article did not directly represent an underrepresented community, the article does save space for Black and women’s discussions on self-care, which is an important contribution.
We did a peer review in class, and that process was helpful. I reviewed one of my classmate’s articles by pointing out a few areas where they could organize their information better and be sure to stay in a neutral tone. I was especially impressed that my peer created a completely new Wikipedia page that also addressed an underrepresented population. It was great to see how self-interest can help strengthen Wikipedia, especially as it relates to underrepresented populations.
I did not receive feedback directly from Wikipedia editors, but working under the idea that anyone could review my work made me extra careful. It made me double-check my facts and sources before submitting anything. I understand now why Wikipedia has the reputation it does and how much behind-the-scenes effort goes into maintaining that trust.
Contributing to Wikipedia taught me that creating and sharing information is a big responsibility. It is very different from other assignments where you turn something in just for a grade. On Wikipedia, your work becomes part of a public resource that people use every day. It made me think harder about how important good information is for public understanding. I can see how Wikipedia can be used to improve knowledge in our field by making sure articles are accurate, up to date, and written in a way that is easy for everyone to understand.
To translate this assignment outside of Wikipedia, I now understand the impact of how carefully shaping your writing can have on the user. In my role as the Director of Training, it will impact on the way I write policies, procedures, and protocols and how I organize and present my Training and Professional Development Webpage. It helped me reflect on how sometimes we can assume things to be reality, or write with the assumption that others can fill in the gap.
This assignment changed the way I understood how information is built and shared. It is easy to take knowledge for granted, but now I see that every article, every paragraph, is shaped by real people making choices about what to include and how to present it. I understand that I have a role in shaping today’s information landscape. Whether it is through Wikipedia or in other ways, I know now that being an informed, responsible contributor matters.
Class Overall
Overall, from the class, I enjoyed reading Writing and Editing for Digital Media as the book covered various aspects that help to strengthen digital content. I especially enjoyed the chapter, “The Medium is the Message.” I enjoyed learning about digital content as it extended beyond reading to videos, podcasts, photography, and audio. It’s important to recognize that
The negatives of the course were the misunderstanding about how to contribute to other articles for the Remediation project. I would have rather had to be assigned more articles to work on so that I could work at my own pace. When I learned I had to contribute to another article, it prohibited me from progressing in the next assignment and caused me to become overwhelmed. When I tried to contribute to my group article, I could not keep up with multiple talk pages, the original page, and forum discussions. I wish we had met initially and assigned out areas to contribute to.
Carroll, B. (2023). Writing and editing for Digital Media . Routledge.