On Wiki-editing

This Short Assignment has, in my opinion, been the most useful and has taught me the most. Getting to actually edit a real Wikipedia article and watch my edits be published was, not only a learning experience, but also very cool. 

When I clicked on the Edit History of the Wikipedia article I chose to edit, the one on Genre, I could see all the edits that have been made to this page. It was impressive to see people editing the same article I was editing, and finding countless errors or areas that needed improvement. I myself found a few and edited them. For example, there was a mention of a "tragicomedy" in the Genre article, and it was not linked to the Wikipedia page on Tragicomedy, so I linked it. I used other words that had been linked to their appropriate page, such as "literature" as reference on how to appropriately link. As it turns out, simply adding brackets around the word does the trick. 

I now get the sense that the more editing a Wikipedia article has gone through, the more editing eyes its seen, the closer to perfect by Wikipedia's standards it will be, considering that the editors do a thoroughly good job. The most relevant critical text from those we've studied this semester in my opinion was "Intertextuality and the Discourse Community" by Porter. When I think of the term "intertextuality" itself, I automatically envision a sort of web, which connects every piece of writing and information together. With Wikipedia, this becomes even easier to envision. The article on genre linked to literature which linked to plot which linked to climax. Many things can web out from a single article on a single term, and I believe that is the epitome of the "intertextuality" referred to by Porter. Everything is intertwined and comes from a past source. "Examining texts 'intertextuality' means looking for 'traces,' the bits and pieces of Text which writers or speakers borrow and sew together to create new discourse" (Porter 34). Wikipedia is the perfect example of that.

As a relative newcomer to the Wikipedia editing community, I recognize there is still much for me to learn. The task was difficult, and I am certain that I did not catch every copyediting or inline citation mistake that I could have. 

According to Ridolfo’s text and a study by him and Danielle Nicole DeVoss, today’s digital delivery is different because new elements are very “readily available to mix, mash and merge” (Ridolfo 229). “Rhetorical velocity: strategic concept of delivery in which a rhetor theorizes the possibilities for the recomposition of a text based on how they anticipate how the text might later be used” (Ridolfo 229). Rhetorical velocity is at play, and at full force in the Wikipedia platform. Texts via this media can be recomposed almost immediately as information becomes available. I remember googling Robin Williams about 3 minutes after his death was confirmed. His Wikipedia page was already updated with the time, place and speculations of his death. Rhetorical velocity at full blast.