Since
it is under the Wiki umbrella WikiHow is similar to Wikipedia in the sense that
it is an open-source information database per say. Anyone can write a WikiHow
but not everyone will get published. The site has a team of polite gatekeepers
who are ready and willing to change your information at a moment’s notice. It’s
certainly not as easy as your middle school history teacher told you it was to
just post on a wiki; you can’t just post “whatever you want”.
When penning your first
WikiHow it’s imperative that you provide your information in an in-depth and
accurate manner. You are teaching someone something that is entirely unique or
uniquely done. You’re a teacher and the collective internet are your students.
Which is a vital part of the internet. Having everyone connected of course has
its disadvantages, but it allows for so much knowledge to flow freely through
the internet. In the grand scheme of things this a new privilege. Users of the
internet before Web 2.0 logged on and only saw a specific set of information.
Information in Web 1.0 had gatekeepers to get through, the people creating the
website were the only ones deciding what information went there. The sense of
community we feel on the internet is because of that vital share of information.
The internet is a ubiquitous equalizer now, allowing anyone access to not only
to information from people all over the world, but the opportunity to partake
in it.
WikiHow is a website designed
for the general public so it has to be accessible and easy for anyone to navigate.
That’s why its creation mode has your basic settings and advanced settings. The
basic setting has all the boxes pre-made and allows you to just type directly
into them. If you don’t know anything about coding basic may be the best fit
for you. However if you do know coding or are willing to learn along the way
the advanced editing is where you begin. This allows you to create the Wiki you
want to have. Control over your page can certainly help you convey your message
properly since this is your page and your information so it should be done your
way. You also need to think about your audience, you know your topic very well
but how well can you explain it to someone else who may be new to it?
For
example my topic was about being able to post your political thoughts and ideas
online while still being respectful of others. I chose this topic because as
both an avid screen scroller and politically active person I saw a great deal
of political posts all over my feeds. A vast majority of these resulted in
pretty heated arguments where people would get very disrespectful with one
another. This entire election season and especially after Trump’s unfortunate win
we’ve seen this great divide in people. You’re very much on one side and the
other side is everything wrong with the world. What I was trying to do with my
WikiHow was try to ease some of that disconnect. I didn’t in any way want to
end the political discussions because that is an integral part of our society. I
just wanted to see people be able to discuss their views and engage in lively
debates without having to be rude or degrading to others; which almost seems
impossible these days.
For
an abstract concept like mine alternative media was necessary to convey the message
fully. For mine I had a picture for all eight steps. A majority of the photos I
used were a combination of two photos collaged together. The photos showed
someone posting on social media on one side it showed the wrong thing and the
other displayed the right thing to do. I feel that the photos really pulled together
my post allowing the reader to really get the full message across.
My
experience directly with the WikiHow admins has been questionable at best.
After submitting my how it was under review, which seemed normal. Yet somehow
days later my article is under extreme revision. So somewhere along the way I
seem to have made an error or series of errors that caused this to happen. It
could have been poor coding on my part as before I started this class I had
zero knowledge of coding. However the page seemed pretty well intact when I
published it. The admins may just not like the way I worded things, or my
particular way of explaining myself. They also may not have liked the photos I
chose to use. The photos I used were not of super high quality as my editing
skills are sub-par at best. Not that they were slapped together but given the quality
and care given to most wikipages that have actual photographers or actual
graphic designers working for them. In that regard I do like the unity that WikiHow
can have given that most of their illustrations look the same as if they were
done by the same artist. This just makes the website seem very well managed and
legitimate. Whereas my article didn’t have the finesse and uniformity that
others that I saw did have.
For
example here is a Wiki page about a very basic topic how to walk a dog. For
starters this article is organized well, it’s divided up into three sections.
The first section the basics, then purchasing the proper equipment and finally
making sure the walk is comfortable. This already organizes the article making
it more user friendly which is of course very important. The article writes
concise explanations for every step as not to confuse anyone and has illustrations
to explain them visually. To further prove their point they even have citations
directly in their article and utilize bulleted lists to make it easier to read.
This is golden example of a well done WikiHow page, that maybe I should take
inspiration from in creating my article.
Photos pulled directly from my WikiHow page
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