Creating a Wikipedia account and becoming a Wikipedian is a simple process, the first step involves filling out your username and making a password. The process does not end there however, an user page needs to be created through the edit option. Despite appearing as an easy task the user interface for making edits on your own user page can be quite overwhelming. Fortunately using the visual editing option makes things much clearer in making edits and making it easier to add hyperlinks and citations.
With the completion of your user page, you are ready to enter the vast encyclopedia of Wikipedia, working to ensure that more information is added to various different pages, this addition of information includes adding the information itself and providing a citation to support the new information that is added.
Changes you as a Wikipedian can be monitored on your account, making it very easy to manage the different pages that you have contributed to
For the Wikipedia pages that I plan on adding to, I plan on adding to the Wikipedia page of Dendrocnide moroides, also known as the gympie gympie plant, as my username is D.moroides. Notably an interesting fact of the gympie gympie plant is that it has a very painful sting that can last for months or even years in the form of a continuous stinging sensation, additionally the gympie gympie plant can also bear a fruit that is edible though the stinging needles must be removed first before it is safe to consume.
Another page I have edited was the Wikipedia page on the American Chestnut tree by adding additional information about the American Chestnut tree being classified as functionally extinct and the over abundance of the American Chestnut being used to feed livestock
Registering with Wikipedia Edu was a fairly informative experience, despite the training modules provided giving a review of what is expected when editing Wikipedia. Going through the dashboard of Wikipedia Edu was helpful in managing the edits that was being made, but the same information can be brought up through the contributions tab in Wikipedia. However Wikipedia Edu was helpful in looking at the edits made by peers and having peers looking over the edits I made to my article, it allowed for a peer learning process whereby peers can provide quick feedback on the articles you’ve edited. Lastly the training modules only provided a review of what was already learned prior, though it did serve as an excellent review of Wikipedia editing and etiquette.
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 