First of all, I never in a million years thought I would need to know how to use "old school" formatting to post anything on the net. The closest I have ever come to using this type of format is from back in the junior high days when everyone had Nexopia profiles. In case you were wondering, I got as far as creating the basic profile and messaging my friends because to post anything I had to learn the crazy Internet language of <> "" []{}~~...etc. So when I discovered that wikipedia posts used similar types of formatting I had a mini panic attack. I did manage to think my way out of this situation by using most of the previous authors formatting, BUT I did learn something new and appreciate the opportunity to expand my "language" horizons.
Prior to writing this post, I was scouring blogger.com for other ALES204 students who had completed the wiki assignment. Not only did I need some blogging inspiration but I was curious to see how there wikipedia first encounter went. I happened to stumble upon Angela Zimmerman's blog. She also was new to the wikipedia experience and, similarly to me, she wondered about the legitimacy of wikipedia if anyone (i.e. and ALES204 student) could edit and post articles. With someone to related to in my blog, and a subject to discuss I raced off to wikipedia to get a screen shot of my post about pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency. To my utter disbelief my post had been removed and the original author had reposted his original article! WHAT! I was disheartened as I had done an extensive amount of research on the topic and worked hard to put forth a user friendly document. I couldn't believe this random person could take two hours worth of hard work and basically erase it. Alas, the truth. It is as if the last two weeks of class have all come together and the light bulb has finally turned on. Creative commons, copyright, wikipedia, citing scientific articles; these are all examples of conflicting interests that internet has created. As much as I have always loved the ease and freedom of using sites like wikipedia and flickr, I was so upset by my post being declared unfit. That is, I was upset until I got this:
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| Personal Screen Shot |
The previous author not only commended my superior knowledge on the topic but offered to help me format my article better so it was fit for wikipedia! And this is why I love wikipedia. People around the world working together to spread information.
Check out pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency to see who's edit was left standing.
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| Personal Screen Shots |
Kelsey Trites
