When I was initially asked to edit Wikipedia, my first thoughts were, "Awesome, I could have some fun with this." I thought back to a time a few years ago when I jokingly added my name to the "alumni" section of my high school's Wikipedia page and then made myself a Wikipedia page. However, as I have grown up I have realized how valuable the credibility of Wikipedia actually is. I have used it many times to begin research by finding some background knowledge on a topic before I actually search for scholarly articles. I also use it weekly to quickly look up smaller topics/things that I might be curious to learn more about. Therefore, I highly value the credibility of the site. Furthermore, I respect the people who actualy put in the effort to edit pages and cite references. If I actually had to edit the "Digital Literacies" page, I don't think I would have the qualifications or the time to do the research that goes into most pages.
If I were to make a Wikipedia page, I would make one for Bittersweet ski area in Otsego, MI. Bittersweet is my home mountain, and I definitely think it is one of the best places in lower Michigan to snowboard or ski. I searched for Bittersweet on Wikipedia and could not find a page for it, which surprised my since there are pages out there for the most random things. I think if a page did exist, It could help their business out as people would have a resource other than the mountain's website to use as a reference.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
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Before reading the article on Wikipedia for class, I never knew how quickly and efficiently errors on the site were found and corrected. After reading it, I still had my doubts, but your example helps solidify this. It's kind of incredible how quickly they can find and correct these false changes, like adding your name to a site. I think knowing this has a huge impact on the credibility of the site. I always thought that Wikipedia went relatively unchecked, and I'm sure that most of its opponents probably think this as well.
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