This week I worked on editing a Wikipedia page, which ended up being much more difficult than I had imagined, yet easier than I thought

I would assume that most people are familiar with Wikipedia. It’s touted as an unreliable source, yet I always find it to be amongst the top when searching for something online. And typically, these pages can be quite insightful, with a massive amount of information. I know I frequently turn to Wikipedia because it’s provides a comprehensive explanation about a topic. I’m more likely to look at a Wikipedia page to get a general understanding before doing some more research to get further detail.

When thinking about what page I’d like to edit, I had some difficulty but came up with some good ideas, or so I thought. My original idea was to add someone to my hometown’s notable people list. I went to highschool with Kariselle Snow, an influencer who has been on dating shows such as MTV’s Are You The One and Netflix’s Sexy Beast and Perfect Match. Additionally, she participated in the Miss America pageants and was a cheerleader for the Baltimore Ravens. However, it was difficult to find sources that weren’t online gossip mills about the shows. I was forced to look elsewhere. Rachel Harrison, who wrote books such as Cackle and Such Sharp Teeth went to highschool with my fiance. However, I was unable to find substantial proof that she actually went to school there. Unfortunately, I can’t cite personal yearbooks on Wikipedia.

I decided I need to think a bit smaller and broader. Finally, with some inspiration from my fiance, I stumbled upon a Wikipedia page that hosted a list of skateparks throughout the world. I finally found something I could add! Skateparks in the United States were categorized by state, and none were listed for my home state of New Jersey. Perfect!

I searched through NJGrind and GoSkate for a list of skateparks based on my location. There was a lot… Too many for me to feel comfortable with adding to this Wikipedia page. I enlisted my fiance’s assistance once again, as he is someone who regularly visits various skateparks around the state.

So, instead of adding 20+ different parks to Wikipedia, I added some that were important to the community. Or at least according to him. Once I finally knew what I wanted to add it was pretty easy. Using the visual editor I could clearly see what I was doing. I was just typing onto the page, adding hyperlinks and citations was really easy. And I had little difficulty finding sources, as most of these parks were recently renovated and featured in papers. And ones that I could not find sources for had pages dedicated to them through their municipality.

Now, Wikipedia has five parks listed on their list of skateparks in New Jersey!

Overall, editing a Wikipedia page was not as difficult as I ever though it would be. My experience in the processes makes me for confident in trusting the information provided on various pages. And although I will never use it to cite in an academic paper, I think it’s a great place to get a quick and comprehensive overview of a topic before diving into it. And next time I notice something missing from a Wikipedia page I won’t be afraid to add it in!