Problems Encountered
Overall, my experience using Wikipedia for the first time went very smoothly. As I do with most of my work for my Social Media class, I found it a lot easier to write everything out on a word document before pasting it to my Wikipedia template. After typing everything out, I then bolded the word(s) I wanted to hyperlink and placed the link at the bottom of the paragraph. The biggest problem I encountered during the process was learning how to use Wikipedia and actually edit my page. Because I have worked a lot with WordPress and other online editing sites, I knew what most of the icons meant but I can see how this could be difficult to understand for a first-time user. The two hardest things during the editing phase was hyperlinking other articles and then having to cite them. It took me a few tries to get it right and make sure the formatting looked normal . Once I figured the formatting out and how to properly use the tools, I was able to hyperlink the proper words and make sure that each new citation had a reference number that was placed next to the right word and then again at the bottom of the page.
The Backend of Wikipedia
In the past, I have only used Wikipedia to gain additional knowledge and insight about a topic I was researching. I never took the time to consider what was actually going on in the backend of the website and the steps that needed to be followed to come up with an educational page. To start off, you need to make an account. This process took about 1 minute and was actually one of the easiest sign-ups I have ever done. All you needed was a username and password. Once you create an account, the user is then able to create a page about honestly anything they desire. There is room to put in titles, headers, and sub headers, and then obviously any appropriate information you wish to provide about the given topic. Once published, it immediately becomes viewable to the public. You do have the ability to go back and edit it if you found a mistake after publishing. Once I got used to using Wikipedia, I found the whole process of creating and editing content to be extremely easy and almost self-explanatory.
Content and Format Requirements
There were not a lot of content and/or format requirements that I found Wikipedia required its users. The one thing I did find, which is almost inevitable, is that there must be text and content posted to a page in order to be published. The information must be credible, verifiable, appropriate, and unbiased. If it disregards one of these things Wikipedia will receive a notification and proceed to take it down once it is published. There were a lot of different formatting options when you are editing the page, but none of which are required to users. Users can create different types of headings, bullet or number lists, and even insert images, tables, and/or templates. All of which making the page more appealing to potential viewers.
Concerns about Wikipedia’s Credibility
I 100% think a lot of concerns come up regarding the credibility of Wikipedia’s pages. It was so easy for me to create an account and add a page about information I was only familiar on. What if my information was wrong? What if someone used that incorrect information for their school project and was relaying the wrong information to his or her classmates and teacher? Nothing on Wikipedia is being monitored and you can essentially post what you chose to as long as it doesn’t get flagged for review. It is for obvious reasons why professors aren’t fond of using Wikipedia as a source for any assignments. Just because I did my research and published correct and credible information does not mean the other millions of users are doing the same. It is almost too easy to post something that is incorrect and it is for that reason that the credibility of Wikipedia will always be questioned.
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