Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/MIT/Network Cultures (Spring )
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- Course name
- Network Cultures
- Institution
- MIT
- Instructor
- Chris Peterson
- Wikipedia Expert
- Elysia (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- CMS.614/21W.791
- Course dates
- 2019-02-04 00:00:00 UTC – 2019-05-13 23:59:59 UTC
- Approximate number of student editors
- 20
This course is a survey of important topics in the social and cultural aspects of networked media (including computers, mobile devices, entertainment technologies, and emerging media forms). Readings, discussions, and exercises will develop familiarity with some of the cultural, social, economic, and political aspects of internet use and design, organized around themes and objects that confront contemporary individuals in ordinary life. Students taking the graduate version complete additional readings and assignments.
The general thesis of the class can be stated as follows: there is often a tendency to see technical systems as 'purely' technical, designed and built by technical people for technical reasons. But technical systems are always in fact sociotechnical systems, i.e. mixed up with cultural, legal, economic, and political forces that shape the technical, even as the technical shapes them. The internet, in particular, is an artifact shaped not only by technical standards, but by the aspirations of its architects, and by the local and global communities that have adopted and reshaped it. In doing so, we will come to understand the internet as a social artifact, the technical residue of human politics: a built thing that, like all built things, could have had alternative pasts, and still may have alternative futures.
In this course, which is a CI-H, we will explore these questions and controversies through reading, discussion, and object lessons; you will also write reflective, analytical, and expository essays for your classmates, instructors, and the public. The purpose of these exercises, detailed below, are to provide various opportunities for, and modalities of, exploring concepts and synthesizing knowledge in this domain.
You will get the most out of this course if you are genuinely interested in the Internet and want to seize upon some of the topics and concepts we discuss and take them much deeper than our structure and schedule allow. This is a vast and blooming field of study that we will only skip lightly across. It will, however, give you broad exposure to things you might want to pursue further than we can go as a group, but which we will help you get to collectively.
Timeline
Week 2
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 11 February 2019
- In class - Introduction to the Wikipedia assignment
Welcome to your Wikipedia assignment's course timeline. This page guides you through the steps you'll need to complete for your Wikipedia assignment, with links to training modules and your classmates' work spaces.
Your course has been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. You can reach them through the Get Help button at the top of this page.
Resources:
- Editing Wikipedia, pages 1–5
- Evaluating Wikipedia
- Assignment - Get started on Wikipedia
Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. (Because of Wikipedia's technical restraints, you may receive a message that you cannot create an account. To resolve this, please try again off campus or the next day.)
- Milestones
This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.
Week 3
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 18 February 2019
- In class - Discussion
Week 4
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 25 February 2019
- In class - Discussion
- In class - Discussion
Week 5
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 4 March 2019
- Assignment - Exercise
Week 6
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 11 March 2019
- Assignment - Exercise
- Assignment - Start drafting your contributions
Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have questions using the Get Help button at the top of this page.
Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9
- Guide(s) for writing articles in your topic area
- Milestones
Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.
Week 7
Week 8
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 1 April 2019
- Milestones
Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.
Week 9
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 8 April 2019
- Assignment - Respond to your peer review
You probably have some feedback from other students and possibly other Wikipedians. Consider their suggestions, decide whether it makes your work more accurate and complete, and edit your draft to make those changes.
Resources:
- Editing Wikipedia, pages 12 and 14
- Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have any questions.
- Assignment - Begin moving your work to Wikipedia
Now that you've improved your draft based on others' feedback, it's time to move your work live - to the "mainspace."
Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 13
- Assignment - Continue improving your article
Exercise
Now's the time to revisit your text and refine your work. You may do more research and find missing information; rewrite the lead section to represent all major points; reorganize the text to communicate the information better; or add images and other media.
- Assignment - Polish your work
Continue to expand and improve your work, and format your article to match Wikipedia's tone and standards. Remember to contact your Wikipedia Expert at any time if you need further help!
- Assignment - Final article
It's the final week to develop your article.
- Read Editing Wikipedia page 15 to review a final check-list before completing your assignment.
- Don't forget that you can ask for help from your Wikipedia Expert at any time!
Week 10
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 22 April 2019
- Assignment - Exercise
- In class - In-class presentation
Week 11
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 29 April 2019
- Assignment - Reflective essay
- Milestones
Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.
Week 12
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 6 May 2019
Week 13
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 13 May 2019
- Assignment - Original analytical paper
Write a paper going beyond your Wikipedia article to advance your own ideas, arguments, and original research about your topic.