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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Michaelh.dick (talk | contribs) at 12:04, 14 August 2014 (→Student working on Divergent (novel)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

General Welcome

Hi Michael, welcome to Wikipedia, and welcome aboard the Global Education Program! I'm looking forward to an exciting semester and year. Annie Lin (Wikimedia Foundation) (talk) 01:35, 16 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, nice picture. -- RonChu88 (talk) 19:29, 17 August 2011 (UTC) --RonChu88 (talk) 19:29, 17 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Great tutorial today, Mike! michaelh.dick (talk) 19:43, 1 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

CCT 110: Spring 2014 Questions

QUESTION: Hi Mike, I was a bit confused about something. I thought i can choose any topic, so i chose Democracy. But, one of my friends said it has to be from the stub list. But, now I can't remove or change it. Please tell me how to fix this. Thank you

REPLY: You will want to pick a Stub (a label indicating this should appear on the article), but you don't have to pick via the list. That's just for your convenience. You can scroll down on the course page when logged in to remove yourself from a particular article and then select a new one. Finally, please remember to sign your posts on talk pages with four tildes ("~"). michaelh.dick (talk) 02:50, 28 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

CCT 110: Summer 2013 Questions

QUESTION:

Hello Mike! Was wondering if anyone could take a look at my page. Is it okay if I went off the word count a little? I also want to know if my references are okay and how to add my stub to the wiki. Thank you! --Marta Bielak (talk) 05:58, 11 August 2013 (UTC)user:Marta Bielak[reply]

ANSWER:

No worries about the word count. Please post your question to Denille or Monico and they can take a look and offer some feedback as a starting point. michaelh.dick (talk) 19:23, 11 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

FOLLOW-UP:

Hello Mike! How do I contact them? Thank you! --Marta Bielak (talk) 23:35, 11 August 2013 (UTC)user:Marta Bielak[reply]

REPLY:

See their user pages (linked via mine). michaelh.dick (talk) 17:27, 12 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

CCT 110: All Sections Welcome

QUESTION: Hello again Michael, I was hoping you could direct me to the reference template I use in my edit so I can cite my research. I've tried dumpling citing it APA but it does not recognize it. Any suggestions?

AntoniaUTM (talk) AntoniaUTM (talk) 19:07, 27 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

REPLY: Try the "Cite" menu in the edit window. You can then select a template based on the type of source and fill in the requested details. Note that Wikipedia has its own "house" style guide (i.e. not APA). michaelh.dick (talk) 03:13, 31 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

QUESTION: Hello Michael, I am in CCT110 Winter2013 semester and am starting our wiki edit assignment. I am a little confused as to the familiarity boundaries when chosing an article stub. I want to contribute to the Italian People article or the Military Organization article however I am both from Italian background as well as affiliated with the Canadian Department of National Defence. Therefore what do I do to avoid conflict of interest in regards to either article?

AntoniaUTM (talk)

REPLY: That's a good question. You may want to post these concerns to the stub's talk page and see if others in the community have an opinion on this before you proceed with this article. Generally speaking, it would depend on what you planned to contribute and whether or not there is any material conflict of interest with those contributions. Thanks for getting in touch. michaelh.dick (talk) 14:08, 26 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

QUESTION:

Hi Michael, where does it state the due date for the assignment?

Jada Simon (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 05:24, 19 March 2012 (UTC).[reply]

REPLY:

Hi Jada,

It should be on the syllabus.

Best, Michael Dick 16:53, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

QUESTION:

Hi Michael, Thank you for clarifying a few things regarding this project when you filled in for TA Turner today especially the teahouse question I asked you about. I have another question.

The March 10th powerpoint states that:

The designated user will be the one who uploads the changes to the main Wikipedia article space and communicates with other Wikipedians via the article's talk page (if so desired/necessary).
Anyone can see the designated sandbox and can make edits, so it's important that the collaborative writing be done in that sandbox / DS
You can annotate the collaborative process by discussing items via the Sandbox's talk page

I presume this talk page is referring to just the DS user's? Can we also do our back-and-forth brainstorming there?

Thanks ToYouFromI (talk) 03:18, 21 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

REPLY:

Yes, document your process via the DS's Sandbox's talk page.

Michael Dick 15:37, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

QUESTION: Hi Michael, I have chosen the topic Halifax Gazette (the 1st Canadian newspaper) and it barely has any information but it lists one reputable source. Can I use that one source (because it has a lot of information on it) to add and expand on information? Most of information will come from that one source and another source that I have researched myself. Siddine (talk) 04:59, 31 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

REPLY: If it's an appropriate source then yes, though you will also want to conduct additional research to further improve the stub. michaelh.dick (talk) 18:41, 4 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

CCT 110: Questions

QUESTION: Hello Michael, I was just wondering if it is okay to add photos to the article we are covering. My group is working on Hazel McCallion's page and recently a new painting of hers was unveiled and donated to the sick kids hospital. It was covered by the Mississauga News and I wanted to include that photo.

Thanks Laila.tabassum (talk) 18:26, 24 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

REPLY: Sure, if it is appropriate to the edits you are making you can opt to include other content (e.g. a photo). You may want to review the useful guides on this (as well as the guide on copyright and licensing) under the "Resources" section of the course page. There's more to consider here than just the technical aspects of uploading the photo itself - you'll need to keep copyright and licensing issues in mind, as well as the suitability of the photo. Michael Dick 02:07, 25 March 2012 (UTC)

INF 1001: Section 1 Welcome

Hi, nice to be here! Michael Dick 19:55, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

Hello! Thanks for the info. --Lasfuentes (talk) 00:00, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Cheers, Michael! Melbruno (talk) 06:40, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Ola Michael! Rankinke (talk) 13:54, 1 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael! Lauren.dimonte (talk) 21:09, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Konnichiwa, Michael! Asafari (talk) 16:35, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael! Thanks for helping us to learn about Wikipedia.Marshallc8 (talk) 17:07, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael, hope you had a nice weekend. See you in tutorial. SarahJAtk —Preceding undated comment added 17:37, 26 September 2011 (UTC).[reply]

Hello Michael :) Jennifer Teplits 02:13, 24 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael. Anon146 (talk)

Hello Michael. Ellen Buckley

Hi Michael! Pierrej3 (talk) 20:15, 25 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hey Michael! Thanks for all the info :)Simmyfierce (talk) 00:21, 27 September 2011 (UTC)Simren SinghSimmyfierce (talk) 00:21, 27 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael! Looking forward to engaging in this Wikipedia endeavor! Sansoko (talk) 02:20, 27 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Michael. Luc T MI (talk) 03:04, 27 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Michael! Minger Li (talk) 03:37, 27 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

hello michael. Nas Khan (talk) 13:39, 27 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hey Michael! Aebcoreno (talk) 22:44, 27 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Michael! Schmikath (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 21:53, 27 September 2011 (UTC).[reply]

NahidAzari (talk) 02:04, 6 October 2011 (UTC)Hi Michael, I am looking forward to the "Wikipedia Contribution" as part of assignment #2.[reply]

Hi Michael! JoshMildenberger (talk) 20:17, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

INF 1001: Section 2 Welcome

Hi Michael!!! I signed the wrong page!! Eugene37 (talk) 23:09, 4 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael! How was your weekend? Allison J. Lee (talk) 18:05, 25 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hey Michael! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Andrewp1986 (talk • contribs) 02:11, 24 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael, thanks for the demo! Dwillson07 (talk) 00:36, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry I was late! Murasaki.suki (talk) 00:46, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, Michael. Emilymarian (talk) 02:28, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael, thank you for the helpful talk! EricaZR (talk) 02:50, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Michael. Your introduction was very helpful yesterday. CaptainJonathan (talk) 15:36, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there, nice to meet you. Dasha.G (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 00:45, 22 September 2011 (UTC). Hi there, Michael it was great to meet on Tuesday, thanks for that little tutorial on Wikipedia, I was a little afraid of getting started! Thelibrarian24 (talk) 16:27, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael. Thanks for the help! Jfiveisdead (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 16:41, 22 September 2011 (UTC).[reply]

Hi Michael. Thanks for the information. Shannahan15 (talk) 23:22, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael. Thanks for your help! Graziana (talk) 01:53, 24 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Michael. Don't be a stranger. Jdaniel905 (talk) 02:30, 24 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Very informative tutorial. Thanks. It helped a lot. OwlOfMinerva7 (talk) 17:00, 25 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael. Thanks for the demo. Talk to you soon. Zammel (talk) 1:27, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Hi Michael! Nice meeting you! Jrober (talk) 16:10, 27 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael! I'm about to get lost in the wild world of wiki. Yee!Jacqbennett (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 16:25, 27 September 2011 (UTC).[reply]

Hi Michael! Jkerr208 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 22:53, 9 October 2011 (UTC).[reply]

Michael! What up. Artoronto (talk) 04:43, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

INF 1001: Section 4 Welcome

Hello Michael!! I hope that you are enjoying your week. It is officially fall!! Eugene37 (talk) 23:08, 4 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hello! Thanks for the demo you are currently giving - this has been super informative =) Schmalliso (talk) 14:26, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Michael...Shimmeryshad27 (talk) 14:29, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Michael.Roventar (talk) 14:31, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael, thanks for all the help with Wikipedia. Muffinie27 (talk) 14:59, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Oh Hai Michael! Christina1001 (talk) 17:54, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael, thanks for the presentation! MrsRStark (talk) 00:38, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hey Michael, I'm excited about exploring the Wikipedia world. I do have some concerns about information security and privacy though. I hope I don't regret using my real name later on :) Quest Atkinson (talk) 05:41, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hey Michael. Bigelowa (talk) 14:43, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Michael! AndreaLynn11 (talk) 16:01, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael, thanks for your helpful presentation. MelodyLynn (talk) 17:27, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael. Great talk! You were much more informative than the Uncyclopedia Ambassador.Itsdavidbaxter (talk) 20:56, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael! I never thought I'd be contributing on Wikipedia before 2 weeks ago - now I'm wondering why I didn't start before! Sandréna (talk) 21:42, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael! Just stopped by to say hello! Jamaolo (talk) 03:43, 23 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael :) Kpfroggy (talk) 04:54, 23 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael, Thanks for the presentation about Wikipedia! Sameen.r (talk) 20:40, 23 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael: Thanks for your presentation. It was helpful. In fact, it was so good that it's stuck in my brain and i've managed to make this edit/comment nearly a week after you came to our section. ;) Jlfis (talk) 22:29, 27 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael! Thanks for helping us figure out this Wikipedia thing :) Sally.armstrong (talk)

Hi Michael. Thanks for speaking in class last week. CJMinf1001 (talk) 01:21, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hey Michael! Jessisue (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 03:28, 28 September 2011 (UTC).[reply]

INF 1001: Section 5 Welcome

Thanks for guiding everyone through this a bit! I didn't realize HTML was usable which makes Wikipedia a lot less intimidating. 1001becca (talk) 15:48, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael, the presentation was very informative. Thanks! Nawalani (talk) 16:58, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Michael! (May Prumar (talk) 22:35, 21 September 2011 (UTC))[reply]

Hi Michael! Thanks for the presentation! Hsmith88 (talk) 00:59, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi! Nice to meet you. Elsiewolfe (talk) 17:46, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael. BethHuff (talk) 23:20, 22 September 2011 (UTC)BethHuff[reply]

Hi Michael. Thanks for the presentation. Blpb (talk) 01:28, 23 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hello & thank you! Ashley Bodiguel (talk) 13:33, 23 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael. Your presentation was clear and informative - thanks! Rainjane (talk) 15:06, 23 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael. Thanks for the presentation. Compass Chung (talk) 03:01, 24 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi. Michael. Thanks for all your help. I hope you are patient! I've read that Wiki has been criticized for reflecting a Western, male-dominated mindset and that more males use it than females. What do you think? Both our Wiki Campus Ambassadors are males ( I don't have a problem with that!) But I was wondering about the criticism.Cableknitpower (talk) 11:33, 24 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael: Thanks also for last week's briefing Terracotta11 (talk) 16:45, 25 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael! Thanks for the presentation - it was quite informative. Nessalkr (talk) 02:58, 26 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Salut Michael! DenyerG (talk) 17:02, 26 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael R.t.double.u (talk) 18:43, 27 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Ryantjohnston8 (talk) 22:09, 27 September 2011 (UTC) Hi Michael. Your presentation last week was very helpful in getting this set up. Thanks![reply]

Hi Michael! Great presentation - very helpful and supportive! vankit (talk) 18:25, 27 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael! Thanks for the great presentation last week! Kbel32 (talk) 04:54, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

INF 1001: Section 6 Welcome

Hi Michael MXYXYM (talk) 21:20, 26 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hey Michael! JxxxxL (talk) 03:07, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael! :) AgentEm84 (talk) 14:59, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

hello there! B2medeir (talk) 17:07, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hey Michael! =) CCardozo (talk) 20:17, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael Japenfold (talk) 21:37, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael LS1001 (talk) 00:11, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hey there (Undene (talk) 01:13, 22 September 2011 (UTC))[reply]

Hi Elizabethca1001 (talk) 15:13, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Michael. EDiT755 (talk) 19:13, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, as a Wikipedia Ambassador, can you claim diplomatic immunity? MatRockswell (talk) 19:58, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael EleanorDocherty (talk) 15:52, 23 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hello!! Joeyee10 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 00:51, 24 September 2011 (UTC).[reply]

Hi Michael. Thank you for a very informative presentation! Pbm660 (talk) 16:45, 24 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Greetings Michael! Amfun (talk) 21:28, 24 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hola Michael! Novus.lector (talk) 20:10, 25 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Salutations, Michael. Jarl82 (talk) 23:34, 25 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Heya Michael! Pilkie01 (talk) 02:41, 26 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hello. Nas Khan (talk) 13:37, 27 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Michael! also, lol at lethal weapon 2 joke up there Kbeszett (talk) 06:08, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Salut Michael, désolé pour ce retard SilvrWings (talk) 05:27, 15 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael. AndyChari (talk) 20:50, 22 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

INF 1001: Questions

QUESTION:

Hello Michael. I just read on the Blackboard discussion that we can contact the online ambassadors, if we have not received any feedback for our article. I was wondering if it would be possible for you to review my edits for the Information ethics article? Thank you in advance! Your help is much appreciated.--Pbm660 (talk) 17:07, 28 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

REPLY:

Yes, contacting the online ambassadors is a good idea, as is posting our course banner on the article's talk page to encourage discussion and solicit feedback. You can find more information about both of these options (including a list of online ambassadors - who are different than the campus ambassadors) via our course page.

Michael Dick 09:42, 29 October 2011 (UTC)

QUESTION:

Hello, Michael. I edited the entry for Persona by adding text to a section as well as a reference. My edit summary looks like this: (expanded section: "In communication studies" and added Goffman reference and citation ~ ~ ~ ~) which is long and ugly and not meeting with edit summary abbreviations. I realized I just wasn't sure how to link to the particular section I edited without making a mistake even though I tried looking it up (/*sectiontitle*/ <--like this??), and I tried signing my summary (those tildes aren't spaced apart in the original) and now have four extra tildes hanging on the end. Tips for formatting edit summaries correctly? Can I fix an edit summary or preview it before I save it? Also, any advice you have on my actual article edit is welcome. Thanks, Michael! Kbeszett (talk) 10:02, 27 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

REPLY:

Not sure if I entirely understand the question. The edit summary box will usually auto-populate with the section you are working on, and then all you need to do is add a brief description of the edits after this. For example, mine right now says: /* Questions */. So, I would just add something like "responded to new questions" after that slash. That's the best advice for formatting the summaries, in my view.

Michael Dick 03:54, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

QUESTION:

Question: Hi Michael! I was wondering if you'd be able to review the edits I made to the article Modernization of Investigative Techniques Act? I have not receieved any comments post-edit and I am worried that I will not be able to complete the write-up portion of this assignment if no comments are received. Thanks for you time! Nikasho (talk) 02:48, 27 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

REPLY:

Please ensure the course banner is posted to the appropriate talk page. This will help encourage feedback by members of the WP community.

Michael Dick 03:54, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

QUESTION:

Hi Micheal, I encountered a problem when trying to upload a photo to a Wikipedia article. They allowed me to read all the photo upload guidelines, but when it came time to click the link to 'the upload form' I was denied access. Apparently I would have to be an 'auto confirmed' user. If you have any tips or general advice regarding this it would be welcome! B2medeir (talk) 21:26, 13 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

REPLY:

Hello,

Did it give you any further information and/or direct you to a link defining what's meant by that term? My general understanding is that, in the world of Wikipedia, certain privileges only become available to users after they have met certain criteria, e.g. made a few edits.

Michael Dick 19:49, 14 October 2011 (UTC)

QUESTION:

Hi Micheal,

Seems as though I'm allowed to upload now! I followed the steps again to find the definition for that term, but was led directly to the upload form instead. I have made a few edits since I attempted the photo upload the first time, so maybe it was a contribution requirement. thanks for your help though! B2medeir (talk) 14:51, 16 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

REPLY:

Great, I figured it was a contribution-related issue. Glad to hear things are going smoothly now!

Michael Dick 23:39, 21 October 2011 (UTC)

QUESTION:

Hello. I was wondering if you would mind taking a look at my article Special library. I have finished editing it, but I was hoping you could respond to some of the questions on the article discussion page. So far I have had no feedback from any other wikipedians. Thank you. Murasaki.suki (talk) 23:16, 21 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

REPLY:

I'll see what I can find out for you re: flagging the page for review by members of the community. I'm not sure how much I can personally contribute to your discussion of the topic (just given my own expertise in the area), but I'll give it some further thought.

Michael Dick 23:39, 21 October 2011 (UTC)

QUESTION:

Hi Michael, I'd like to cite an online document - a witness' legal declaration for a court case. This document is already used as an External Link on the article, but it has been redacted. Do you know if we must use redacted documents or if I can add the original untouched document? It contains no defamatory information as far as I can tell. Thanks, Ashley Bodiguel (talk) 17:01, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

REPLY:

That's a great question, and I'm not sure if there's a definite answer I could give here. Perhaps you want to pose this question to the broader community via the article's talk page? I'm sure others with more experience editing Wikipedia (and/or an administrator) will have something to say about this.

Michael Dick 01:35, 25 October 2011 (UTC)

QUESTION:

Hi Michael, I was wondering if you could please take a look at my sandbox, to let me know if these paragraphs look alright to post. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Rainjane/sandbox My contribution addresses a specific article, and I cite it over & over. Could you please tell me how to use "Ibid" in the Ref section, instead of repeating the full citation ad nauseum? Thanks so much for your help! Best, Rainjane (talk) 05:35, 26 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Update: I read that Wikipedians prefer that I not use "Ibid" - apparently, the article will be flagged for cleanup if I do? - and so have posted the article. I still welcome any comments on how to improve it. Thanks again, Rainjane (talk) 14:12, 26 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

REPLY:

Yes, "Ibid." is not well-received on WP. Better to repeat the citations and/or re-structure the article so that you are offering the one citation at the end of a block of text (as appropriate).

Michael Dick 21:45, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

QUESTION:

Hi Michael, Siobhan Stevenson recommended that I contact you about an issue I am having with my wikipedia article "digital divide." Another wikipedia contributor criticized my entry as being "school-essay" like and asked if I was doing it for a class and suggesting that it was inappropriate for students to be contributing to wikipedia as part of a class project, but did not offer any constructive feedback beyond "it's not wikipedia style". Earlier in the talk pages, the same contributor also wanted to know if someone else was doing this for a class project. I found the tone to be really dismissive. This article has been specifically highlighted for wikipedia initiative in the universities and criticizing student contributors just for being students seems counter-productive. I was hoping you could check out my contribution-- it's a subsection of the "digital divide" entry titled "second level digital divide" and check out the talk page for the entry, as well, and let me know how to address this situation and offer me some constructive feedback, so I can learn what is appropriate "wikipedia-style". Thanks! Istudentstgeorge (talk) 16:38, 26 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

REPLY:

I responded to your query privately via e-mail.

Michael Dick 21:45, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

QUESTION: — Preceding unsigned comment added by Itsdavidbaxter (talk • contribs) 15:05, 27 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Michael,

For my article Virtual herbarium I created the sections "Specimen Imaging" and "Uses." For the Uses section, I didn't want to reiterate all the uses of a traditional herbarium, so I added a "See also:" link to that section of the herbarium page. I wanted to check whether this was an appropriate use for this type of linkage. Any other criticisms are also welcome. Thanks! Itsdavidbaxter (talk) 00:40, 27 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

REPLY:

I'm actually not too sure. Often we see re-directs, but those are to separate pages or sections of pages. I'd post this question on the talk page for that article and/or wait to see what the broader WP community does with it.

Michael Dick 03:55, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

QUESTION:

Hello Michael,

Could you please clarify what we are supposed to do on the spokesperson's sandbox? Thank you for your time! --Sndradee (talk) 19:22, 24 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

REPLY:

As discussed in tutorial and on the course page, use this person's sandbox to work collaboratively on the edits you will make (and use the sandbox's talk page to discuss and document your group writing process). Michael Dick 02:09, 25 March 2012 (UTC)

Harold Innis

Your Wikipedia project looks interesting. It seems to have generated a few more hits for the Harold Innis entry as well as the one on Monopolies of knowledge. I contributed heavily to these entries and so, I'm happy to see the academic interest in them. I've posted a few suggestions for improving the Monopolies of knowledge entry on its discussion page --- improvements that would answer the rather shallow concern about "notability." Also, if you're planning to continue this Wikipedia educational project in future years, the entry Empire and Communications needs to be completed. I find that most editors are happy to make minor contributions to articles, but shy away from the research needed for more substantial ones. Still, Wikipedia is an amazing success. I wonder what Harold himself would have thought of it! Bwark (talk) 02:05, 21 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]


An Invite to join WikiProject Canada

You are cordially invited to participate in WikiProject Canada

The goal of WikiProject Canada is to improve the quality and quantity of information about the country on Wikipedia.

Moxy (talk) 07:03, 4 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Concern expressed

Just thought you might like to know about the concern expressed at Wikipedia:Editor_assistance/Requests#Photo_manipulation about the work of Section 601, group Photoshop Manipulation. Just a drive-by FYI. Regards, TransporterMan (TALK) | DR goes to Wikimania! 13:46, 28 March 2012 (UTC) PS: Dropping this same note at User_talk:Bryangopaul — TM 13:50, 28 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. I'll ensure we look into this. Michael Dick 12:39, 29 March 2012 (UTC)

Another set of concerns

Hi Michael, I expressed serious concerns at User talk:Esms10 about the draft article that student has been developing. After I left that note, a little digging led me to the class page, and I thought it might be good to let you know about the concerns as well. LadyofShalott 01:31, 9 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for letting me know and for your helpful comments to the students. I've been quite clear with them that creating a new article is beyond the scope of our assignment (it's an editing assignment that is designed to introduce them to the general principles of WP and encyclopedic writing, as well as related technical skills) and that they must conform to all relevant WP policies. I'll re-state this again on the student's talk page. Many thanks again. Michael Dick 14:00, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassadors update

Hi! You're getting this message because you are or have been a Wikipedia Ambassador. A new term is beginning for the United States and Canada Education Programs, and I wanted to give you an update on some important new information if you're interested in continuing your work this term as a Wikipedia Ambassador.

You may have heard a reference to a transition the education program is going through. This is the last term that the Wikimedia Foundation will directly run the U.S. and Canada programs; beginning in June, a proposed thematic organization is likely to take over organizing the program. You can read more about the proposal here.

Another major change in the program will take effect immediately. Beginning this term, a new MediaWiki education extension will replace all course pages and Ambassador lists. (See Wikipedia:Course pages and Help:Education Program extension for more details.) Included in the extension are online volunteer and campus volunteer user rights, which let you create and edit course pages and sign up as an ambassador for a particular course.

If you would like to continue serving as a Wikipedia Ambassador — even if you do not support a class this term — you must create an ambassador profile. If you're no longer interested in being a Wikipedia Ambassador, you don't need to do anything.

Please do these steps as soon as possible

First, you need the relevant user rights for Online and/or Campus Ambassadors. (If you are an admin, you can grant the rights yourself, for you as well as other ambassadors.) Just post your rights request here, and we'll get you set up as quickly as possible.

Once you've got the ambassador rights, please set up at a Campus and/or Online Ambassador profile. You can do so at:

Going forward, the lists of Ambassadors at Special:CampusAmbassadors and Special:OnlineAmbassadors will be the official roster of who is an active Ambassador. If you would like to be an Ambassador but not ready to serve this term, you can un-check the option in your profile to publicly list it (which will remove your profile from the list).

After that, you can sign on to support courses. The list of courses will be at Special:Courses. (By default, this lists "Current" courses, but you can change the Status filter to "Planned" to see courses for this term that haven't reached their listed start date yet.)

As this is the first term we have used the extension, we know there will be some bugs, and we know the feature set is not as rich as it could be. (A big wave of improvements is already in the pipeline. And if you know MediaWiki and could help with code review, we'd love to have your help!) Please reach out to me (Sage Ross) with any complaints, bug reports, and feature suggestions. The basic features of the extension are documented at Wikipedia:Course pages, and you can see a tutorial for setting up and using them here.

Communication and keeping up to date

In the past, the Education Program has had a pretty fragmented set of communication channels. We're trying to fix that. These are the recommended places to discuss and stay up-to-date on the education program:

  1. The education noticeboard has become the main on-wiki location for discussion of the Education Program. You can post there about broad education program issues as well as issues with individual courses.
  2. The Ambassadors Announce email list is a very low-traffic announcements list of important information all Ambassadors need to be aware of. We encourage all Ambassadors (and other interested Wikipedians) to subscribe to the list; follow the instructions on the link to add your email address.
  3. If you use IRC regularly, or need to try to reach someone immediately, the #wikipedia-en-ambassadors connect IRC channel is the place to find me and fellow Ambassadors.
Ambassador training and resources

We now have an online training for Ambassadors, which is intended to be both an orientation about the Wikipedia Ambassador role for newcomers and the manual for how to do the role. (There are parallel trainings for students and for educators as well.)

Please go through the training if you feel like you need a refresher on how a typical class is supposed to go and where the Ambassadors fit in, or if you want to review and help improve it. If there's something you'd like to see added, or other suggestions you have for it, feel free to edit the training and/or leave feedback. A primer on setting up and using course pages is included in the educators' training.

The Resources page of the training is the main place for Ambassador-related resources. If there's something you think is important as a resource that's not on there, please add it.

Finally, whether or not you work with any classes this term, I encourage you to post entries to the Trophy Case whenever you see excellent work from students or if you have great examples from past semesters. And, as always, let students (and other editors!) know when they do things well; a little WikiLove goes a long way!

--Sage Ross (WMF) (talk) 20:41, 14 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Student working on Divergent (novel)

Hi, I applaud the number of students that you are facilitating to use Wikipedia this spring as a Campus Ambassador. However, one of the students for this semester, SaniaH3 chose a B-class article that myself and a couple other users are in the midst of editing intensely to push it towards WP:GA: Divergent (novel). Currently, the article is rather well developed, and, from my experience as a Campus Ambassador and instructor who has used Wikipedia writing assignments, (s)he is going to have a really hard time adding 500 words that will stick, as a new user, while we are working on the article. I would recommend that they choose a different article to develop. For example, the subsequent novels in the series are underdeveloped, such as Insurgent (novel) and Allegiant (novel), and there are a number of other children's lit, and other novels that could use work. If (s)he needs help discovering another, feel free to point them towards me, novels are my area of focus on Wikipedia, Sadads (talk) 15:01, 3 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for letting me know and for the kind words. I'm surprised to hear this, as we specifically asked students to choose a stub instead of something that is as well developed as the article you cite. I'll look into this further with the student and will advise them as appropriate. Again, many thanks for reaching out. michaelh.dick (talk) 17:13, 3 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
They tried to add content, and another user reverted because it approached WP:Synth problems. Though I think some of the work that they added could be useful (I am going to try to recover some of the information from their attempt), it goes well beyond what is being represented in the sources. I would normally directly contact the student, but since you are on the ground, I will leave it to you. Is that okay? Sadads (talk) 20:39, 3 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
That's fine. The assignment ended today, so I'd encourage you to do what you feel is best with the article. Our teaching team will follow-up with the student offline as appropriate. michaelh.dick (talk) 02:12, 4 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks! Apologize to her for the kind of icy reception there, but the contributions were pushing too much opinion and synthesis and not enough reporting of what secondary sources proposed about the topic. As an instructional design concern: usually its a good idea to have student choose articles to contribute to at least a few days before they need to add there content. When I did a one-week assignment this last semester, I had students come on Monday with 2-3 articles identified that had significant gaps, and then a small 10 minutes workshop with their peers to compare why they choose their topics. This helps students rule out articles that are hard to contribute to, and very few of the students got resistance on articles. Also, I noticed this particular student didn't have a good sense of the difference between Verifiability and Synthesis. Did your student take the training? I always emphasizing article choice and how verifiability works in class time as well. I hope this helps, Sadads (talk) 15:24, 4 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
No problem. Again, we're pleased that the community is engaging with our students and bringing these matters to our attention. On the whole, it's tricky to get the message across to a large class like this - we certainly do talk about the items you mention in our Wikipedia tutorials and absolutely ask them to select topics early on for the reasons you've identified (and also to engage with the community, to revise their work, etc.) Students obviously work at their own pace. One thing I know some classes try is to break the assignment into smaller chunks and stagger the due dates (to create a series of smaller, scaffolded assignments). Again, size is a concern for us, but that's definitely something for us to keep in mind in future. Thanks again for reaching out to us. michaelh.dick (talk) 02:18, 5 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
In my experience, lower division undergrads need the scaffolded stage-gates, and those stages needed to be incentivized, otherwise they don't work out. Upper division undergrads and grad students usually can do a good job without too many gates/assignments leading up. Also, I find asking students to add something to a page that they have taken relevant coursework in helps them find more accurate gaps (especially if they are already taking more focused and specialized coursework). This also helps them find scholarship and reliable sources to help contextualize (even if it is just a textbook). Having students edit articles in small groups (of 2-3) also works really well (and requires less on-wiki grading). This helps mitigate the students a) choosing topics that aren't great choices and/or b) adding content with bad formatting or poor language/grammar. These kinds of classes keep the community on its toes, asking for more curation on our part. Though this isn't a bad thing (much of the community thrives as curators); its also a good idea to try to mitigate mistakes of ignorance, especially from lower division undergrads, so that a couple bad apples don't taint the overall impression made by the class. Keep up the good work, and careful reflection on community feedback! Hope you keep experimenting, Sadads (talk) 23:54, 6 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks again for commenting and for the kind words. We've indeed done different things in the past regarding group work and topic choices, and will continue to explore various options in the future (including, as I mentioned, the scaffolding piece). I do think it's important to stress that we've been running this assignment in various iterations over the past few years with relatively few issues flagged by the Wikipedia community (given the hundreds of students who have made contributions). I think this back-and-forth is really a part of the assignment, and not an unintended consequence of it, as the class is all about exploring the rhetoric of digital and interactive media environments. So, while there's always room for improvement in how we run assignments like these and in how we teach Wikipedia in the classroom, I think experiential learning always involves an element of learning from mistakes rather than trying to mitigate them outright. I know the students are indeed grateful for this level of civil discussion with fellow editors as they learn how best to contribute to this collaborative exercise. We're also hopeful that our work inspires students to continue working on projects like these long after the formal assignment is over. Cheers! michaelh.dick (talk) 17:55, 8 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Brilliant! Didn't realize on the quite the scale that you have been running the project! Good job, hope you keep it up, Sadads (talk) 19:44, 8 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Belated thanks for the compliment! michaelh.dick (talk) 12:04, 14 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Discussion of your class project

Hi. Please note that your class project is being discussed at Wikiproject Video games. Can I suggest you look at the discussion and respond to the concerns raised there. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 20:51, 3 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. I'm in the process of doing this right now. michaelh.dick (talk) 02:13, 4 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
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