I chose to look at the Wikipedia page regarding the Twilight book series, which consists of four different books. I am a big fan so I do know a lot about it. It appears that the page started in August of 2007. A lot of the users contribute to the article at least a few times a day. Collaboration seems to be a very important part of maintaining the page. Under the discussion tab, the users will ask each other whether another approach may be better for providing information or if they should just keep things the way they are. Collaboration is also important for two more reasons. First, the Wikipedia page started before all four books in the series were released. Therefore, as the series developed and new information was released the page would have to be constantly updated. Second, the book consists of fictional characters and creatures that have attributes that are unique only to the series. Therefore, it is important to get the information regarding them correct and collaborating can help each user cover all the basics. You can see this happening under the discussion section. Users will add something to the page, tell everyone they did it, and then ask their opinion and tell them they can change anything that may be wrong. The users also tag the references from which they find their information and they check each other to make sure that it is reputable.
A way to make collaboration easier in the discussion section is to make the page look more like a chat box. Right now under each section of the article, users comment and their name and the date is followed after the comment. Sometimes it looks very crowded so anyone new going into the page may have a hard time finding things. If it looked more like a chat box you could first find the name of the user, followed by their comments or questions. Also, the page that shows the revisions is not very easy to read. It is hard to tell exactly what has been revised, so that should be made easier to show.
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I agree with you about the revisions page. I understand that most of the pages have had a ton of edits, but I think the page could be a lot clearer. The comments given with some edits are useful, but often fragmented and it can be difficult to understand exactly what is being said since you can't see a clear edit change. I also mentioned in my post that it might be cool if you had some sort of sorting or tagging features with the history page.
ReplyDeleteInteresting choice- i've heard great things about the series. The wikipedia page I feel like could be tricky because I'm sure people add subjective information. In other words, people may perceive things differently, in novels, there is room for imagination and opinion, which I'm sure is evident on the wiki page.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be interesting to know when exactly the page was edited by a user to be updated on the current number of books released. IE who changed "will be released" to "has been released" and how long did it take. Did multiple users update the page with information from the subsequent book releases? How long did elements of new releases take to filter into the page, and by how many users?
ReplyDeleteTherefore, it is important to get the information regarding them correct and collaborating can help each user cover all the basics. You can see this happening under the discussion section.
ReplyDeletedata entry outsourcing