Wikipedia has been my savior for years. From research projects to lab reports to entertainment, this site is one of my favourites to use for its versatility. You can use it to look up the list of episodes for a show you’re watching, to read up on a biography of a celebrity or to learn about plant history. I have used Wikipedia for ages, but have never had the opportunity to edit or contribute to a page. Luckily, in Applied Plant Ecology, I was given this chance, and it was a great experience overall! I felt a bit nervous at first, because millions of people use this site to gain knowledge. I did not want to mess up and accidentally give incorrect information, so I was very cautious in the beginning.
However, I quickly relaxed upon learning that there was a Wikipedia community that monitored edits just in case a mistake did arise. When I was younger, people at my school would edit random Wikipedia pages for fun just to see how long it would take for a moderator to fix it. They were later shocked to find themselves IP banned from editing on the site again, since what they did was considered vandalism. It made me feel more confident in the system knowing that Wikipedia was secure and monitored. I liked that the information I provided to the pages I edited might help somebody one day. It might not seem like much, but a little goes a long way when it comes to science communication!
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 