Over the course of this semester in Applied Plant Ecology I’ve acquired numerous new skills- one of them being Wikipedia editing. Prior to this class I had never edited a Wikipedia page and the task seemed quite daunting. I was hesitant at first because I thought it would be difficult to navigate, but after some experimentation I was genuinely surprised by how easy and satisfying it is to edit a page! I chose to continue editing the Wikipedia page on the candelabra tree (Euphorbia candelabrum)
All throughout high school and university we’re told this preconceived notion that Wikipedia is an unreliable source and should not be cited in any projects or academic reports. After completing my Wikipedia edits, I’ve come to realize that although we shouldn’t cite Wikipedia as a primary or secondary source in a lab report, it certainly isn’t a bad place to start. Wikipedia is a free, open access data source, meaning that anyone is able to read and edit it without restrictions. Open access is particularly useful in science communication as it provides an equal playing field and allows for current ideas to be reinvented and built upon. Restricting access to information that should be publicly available puts limits on discovery and innovation. However, this also creates doubts in regards to its credibility.
The training modules on Wikipedia Edu were straightforward and going through the dashboard was incredibly useful in the editing process. I managed to edit without them for our first 5% Wikipedia assignment but I found that the modules made it much easier and also gave me lots of additional information on Wikipedia policies, evaluating articles and sources, plagiarism and copyright violations and the overall editing process. Both of our Wikipedia assignments have given me a deeper appreciation for open access sites and made me realize how much hard work people put into contributing to pages. Editing on Wikipedia has been a valuable experience for me and has proven that the site has a lot to offer if you learn how to navigate it properly and make use of all the resources it provides. Can’t wait to edit some more pages in the future!
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 
