I was given the vague task by my professor to simply create a Wikipedia entry on a topic I am interested in and know a lot about. Initially, this seemed rather easy to me. The topic I decided to write about was the camp I attended for 12 summer, Camp Saginaw. One of the requirements was to choose a topic that currently didn’t have a Wikipedia page and Camp Saginaw satisfied this requirement. This camp is very important to me and I was initially excited to create this Wikipedia page.
After I wrote my entry in Microsoft Word about Camp Saginaw, it was time to physically make the Wikipedia page. I quickly went from being excited about an assignment to being very lost and confused. My professor gave us a few helpful links to use in order to create the page so I started there. I read through the links and was still lost as of what to do. I got really frustrated and had to give myself time away from trying to create this page.
Once I read the helpful links over with a clear mind, I knew that I needed to practice posting on Wikipedia with Sandbox. This website allows you to experiment with editing your entry and learn the ins and outs of Wikipedia. Sandbox clearly showed me how to create citations and hyperlink words. It gave simple tutorials on the buttons on the top of the editing page.
One of the sites provided by my professor was titled ‘Wikipedia, first time article.’ This site clearly spelled out which steps to take and how to go about actually making my Wikipedia page. First, this site helped me check to ensure that Camp Saginaw isn’t a previously made Wikipedia page. Also, this page led me to Article Wizard which creates a template on Wikipedia and puts your entry in draft space. Article Wizard makes you disclose your relationship to the information and ensure the text is original. Once I finished pasting my article in Article Wizard, I made citations and hyperlinked the words ‘summer camp’ and ‘Oxford, Pennsylvania’. Within Article Wizard, there was an option to change the format of the draft from source editing to visual editing. Once I clicked this, it completely changed my format and I got worried it would be deleted. To avoid this, I tried to go back but that action ended up deleting the article instead. I had to start over but it wasn’t difficult because I had already created a draft once before and used sandbox. During my second time creating the draft, I learned that switching to visual editing allows you to preview the article and this allowed me to export the page as a pdf.
Creating this Wikipedia page was not as easy as I initially expected it to be. Now that I have created one, creating another one wouldn’t be nearly as challenging. I came across several problems such as not knowing how to begin the process, deleting my page, and becoming very frustrated with the process. Looking back on this process, I should have done more initial research and watched a video tutorial on YouTube. I just jumped in and tried to create the page with the minimal information I had. Creating this Wikipedia page was a very different experience then I expected but now feel confident to make another one in the future.
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