User:LynzeeWhite/NMAC 3108 Journal

July 18, 2019: A reflection of the semester

Critiquing articles

I feel that by critiquing the Sidney Lanier Cottage article, I learned a lot of the "do's and dont's" that are a part of Wikipedia's in depth process. I learned about Quality Rating, which is how Wikipedia separates the "good" and "featured" articles from the "start" and "stub" ones. I reviewed different elements that is consistent through the best Wikipedia articles:

• Detailed lead section
• Clear structure
• Balanced and neutral content
• Good sourcing

While critiquing the article that I selected, I reviewed the above elements to see if my article did well or needed more help. When I saw what could be done better, I set out researching different information that would make for a more in depth article. Because there is so much information on Sidney Lanier himself, I found it hard to stay focused on his birthplace alone. I did not want the article to become about Sidney Lanier, so I searched through different articles and websites to find information that was reflective of his life, but focused on the cottage itself. I also felt that it was important to include things that were important to his life story, but also pertinent information to the cottage. An example of this is to include that he played for the Peabody Orchestra in Baltimore, but that is relevant because the museum has his flute on display.

Summarizing my contributions

I started by adding information that was necessary to include, such as the days that the museum is open for the public. After that, I began adding in more information, such as information about Sidney's Salons and the different associations affiliated with Sidney Lanier Cottage. I rearranged the opening section, because it included information that would be more relevant to the Museum today and History sections. After moving out some of that information, I added a summary to the opening that would reflect the entire article. I took a field trip to Sidney Lanier Cottage, and took pictures. Nobody was there, but I did get some pictures of signs on the outside of the cottage. I added the pictures into the correct sections. I updated the picture in the information box, because the old one had Christmas decorations on the outside of the home.

I believe that my edits were necessary to create a more in depth article that reflects the museum and what it means historically to the middle Georgia area. All of my edits meet the elements that are necessary for a good Wikipedia article.

Peer review

When reviewing a peers' article on the International Cherry Blossom Festival, I reviewed the information that was already present in the article, along with information that was posting in her journal. I offered advice about combining a few sections that seemed redundant, and looking for more information in news articles, not just books and articles. One peer mentioned that my article seemed to lack important information and that the lead section did not represent the article as a whole. These edits were taken in to consideration, and were part of the reason I changed the lead section and worked so hard to find information to insert into the article.

Feedback

I have not received any feedback, however a user did ask a question the Talk page. He asked which historical district the house was located in. This question was answered in the article, but responded back to him and said it was located in the Macon Historic District (Macon, Georgia), and that I had ensured that the article mentioned that.

Wikipedia generally

I have never spent much time in Wikipedia, so these past eight weeks have been part of a large learning experience. I learned about everything listed above, but also some of the more basic things, such as formatting a Wikipedia article, writing in my journal, and using the coding to respond to other users. I feel that a Wikipedia assignment is way more in depth that any assignment I have previously done. The need for perfection is important, and I have continually tried my best in obtaining the very best work. I believe that the internet is only going to become more and more important, and there needs to be accurate and reliable sources available to users. My article reflects this and is something that can be used for another students research project or for someone planning a trip to Macon.

I have learned more than I expected this semester. @Grlucas: Thank you for a great and informative semester!

July 18, 2019: Adding in pictures and field trip

I took a trip to Sidney Lanier Cottage yesterday. I arrived at around 1:30 or 2 pm, and the door was locked. I was, however, able to take some pictures of the home and a few different signs outside of the home that had great information that would reinforce what my article already says. I will be adding these pictures to my article today, and will then write in my journal a reflection of the semester.

July 13, 2019: Editing Wikipedia

I found the checklist incredibly helpful when reviewing my article. I did change the introduction section to be more of a summary of the content that follows. There was great information that was there, so I moved it to the correct section (either the History section or the Museum today section). I am planning to go to the Sidney Lanier Cottage over the next few days to take pictures that follow the Wikipedia rules. I will also continue over the next week to add more relevant information into the article!

@LynzeeWhite: It looks like you've made some strong edits. Keep up the good work. —Grlucas (talk) 13:52, 15 July 2019 (UTC)

July 13, 2019: Expanding my article

Today, I spent a little bit of time working on the article for Sidney Lanier Cottage. I was able to add a little bit of information, as well as move some information around to make a little more sense. I added information about event rentals, as well as information about it becoming a Landmark of American Music and a Landmark of American Poetry .

I learned that there is now a Lanier Center for Literary Arts. I think this is a great thing to include in my article, and I did add it into the "Museum today" section. I, personally, feel that it would be better suited to be a section of its' own, but there isn't much information to include. They host book signings and writers' workshops, but beyond that, there's not much that goes on with it. Would it be okay to create a section, even if it's brief, or should I keep that under the "Museum today" tab?

@LynzeeWhite: I think it would be alright just to keep the information under the "Museum Today" tab. However, if you end up finding more similar information I think it would be a good idea to make a new section.— Sabub (talk) 04:34, 13 July 2019 (UTC)

@Sabub: Thank you for the feedback. For now, I will leave it there. Maybe my field trip will help me learn more information about it! LynzeeWhite (talk) 13:32, 13 July 2019 (UTC)

LynzeeWhite I enjoyed reading your contributions to your article. I think adding a Landmark of American Music and Poetry was a good idea.-Acm2625 (talk) 13:13, 15 July 2019 (UTC)Acm2625

July 11, 2019: Linking to other articles

I had planned on taking a field trip to Sidney Lanier Cottage this week, but have been sick. I am feeling much better, therefore I am planning to take the field trip within the next few days. I plan to take pictures for the Wikipedia page and hopefully learn more about it from the staff that is working that day. A user asked a question on the Talk page a few weeks ago. They asked which historic district the house was in. I know that the article says the Macon Historic District, but I plan to look into this further to make sure that I have enough detailed information on the article.

I was able to link the Sidney Lanier Cottage article to The Marshes of Glynn. I think the previous users who worked on this article did a great job of linking other articles to this one, but I was able to link Peabody Orchestra, Macon Historic District (Macon, Georgia), and Gothic Revival architecture to my article.

July 8, 2019: Images on Wikipedia

I learned quite a bit this week concerning the restrictions of images on Wikipedia. A question that I came up with is concerning logos. I know logos are restricted on Wikipedia, but does this include the sign of a location? I am planning to go to Sidney Lanier Cottage this week, and had planned on taking pictures of the museum, as well as the sign out front. I am looking forward to this field trip that I will be taking and will be taking several pictures that will give a visual representation of what the museum is and what it includes.

@LynzeeWhite: Be sure to proofread and revise. Use links and references to support your ideas. Your own photos should be just fine to use, especially if you "donate" them to the commons. —Grlucas (talk) 16:06, 8 July 2019 (UTC)

@LynzeeWhite: Thank you for sharing your question in your journal. I learned something new. Keep up the great work.-Mightymize (talk) 00:26, 14 July 2019 (UTC)

July 6: 2019: Social Media

I have not yet developed a social media plan for Sidney Lanier Cottage, however I did spend some time looking over the two of the largest social media platforms: Facebook and Instagram.

• Facebook: The link to the Sidney Lanier Cottage Facebook page can be found here. There are only 388 people that "like" this page, and the last post was posted in August 2018. Facebook is popular with people across many ages, but specifically those who were teenagers when it first emerged and older. I think the potential to reach many people is there, but is not being utilized. Many people may not feel that it is somewhere to take their young families, but by sharing pictures of children enjoying the museum or hosting events that would target young families, there would be an increase of foot traffic, as well as social media presence. The older generation seems to be the one that would enjoy going to the museum, but there is not much mention of anything the museum offers currently to target this age group (or any other).
• Instagram: Instagram is vey popular among preteens, teenagers, and young adults. It surprised me that there was no Instagram account for Sidney Lanier Cottage. The hashtag #sidneylaniercottage had been used in exactly 100 posts. I believe that having an Instagram account would help create more buzz that is desperately needed.

I believe that having a strong social media presence is very important for a business. I think it would be a great idea for Sidney Lanier Cottage to create an Instagram account and to begin using their Facebook on a regular basis. There are ways to engage the audience.

Some good posts for the museum to post would include:

• "As a child, Sidney Lanier loved playing the flute, which can be found here at Sidney Lanier Cottage. Share pictures with us of your family enjoying the museum in the comments below!"
• "You can visit Mary Day's wedding dress at the Sidney Lanier Cottage! Did you know that we are also a wedding and bridal shower venue? Share some pictures with us in the comments below of a recent event you attended here at Sidney Lanier Cottage!"

July 3, 2019: Continuing on with my article

Earlier this week, I spent some serious quality time with Wikipedia and a good cup of coffee. I used my Sandbox, and followed the peer review process on the Sidney Lanier Cottage article. I feel that this helped me a lot with understanding it from a different view. I noted several things I wanted to add into the article, and I began to add in these things. I felt like I did a lot of work the other day, and that I made a lot of progress. I was a little discouraged that whenever I added the new content into my article it still seemed so short. I would like the content that I add to be pertinent information, so I have tried to keep it all focused on the cottage/museum and the history of it. Would it be relevant to include a section on the life and work of Sidney Lanier himself, or keep it to just the cottage/museum?

I will be going on a field trip to the museum next week and hope to capture some original photos that reflect the historic value of the cottage.

June 26, 2019: Editing Wikipedia

Something that I have learned about editing Wikipedia is actually something I did not realize was as important as it is until today! I spent the morning working on Wikipedia, and listened to the recording that @Grlucas posted. Dr. Lucas mentioned that it is important to mark "This is a minor edit" while editing a Wikipedia page, and this relieves some of the burden of searching for the content needed to find, and this makes the viewers' (in the case Dr. Lucas) search more difficult. I apologize for not doing this like I should have, and will be more mindful of it in the future.

I did not know this either, I am going to work on my page and mark that it is a minor edit. Thanks for sharing this information.Ysabella Escalona (talk) 04:38, 28 June 2019 (UTC)

@LynzeeWhite: Yes, thanks. This should be somewhere in your initial training... —Grlucas (talk) 15:49, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

@LynzeeWhite: This is something that I learned in the training, but I was not using appropriately. Now I will make sure to mark my minor edits appropriately.

@Mightymize I noticed you left a reply without using a signature in your response. If you add four of the "~", it will add your tag, date, and time. Just a helpful hint to help you get as many points on assignments as possible! LynzeeWhite (talk) 14:25, 3 July 2019 (UTC)

June 26, 2019: Peer Review

Today, I spent some time reviewing an article about the International Cherry Blossom Festival that sabub is working on. I found it helpful to review the Wiki Education lesson several times before doing the peer review, and even leave it open while giving my feedback. I feel that I did a good job on the review, and tried to include information on what I believe would greatly help the article. I think that it is incredibly helpful that we have our peers help us with our article, so that they may offer a fresh pair of eyes to help make these articles the absolute best!

@LynzeeWhite:Thanks for reviewing my article! It was very helpful to have another person take a look and catch things that I did not notice. I have already reviewed another person's article, but if no one reviews yours, I would be happy to take a look. As you said, a fresh pair of eyes is very helpful!— Sabub (talk) 06:59, 29 June 2019 (UTC)

June 18, 2019: Free Journal

This week, I spent some time reviewing some mistakes that Dr. Lucas pointed out to me, and fixing them. An issue that I was having was responding to comments. I played around the Visual and Source editing pages, and realized how to properly tag someone in a comment, and sign off on a comment in the User page, which is something that I was struggling with. I am excited to be into the "project" stage of the course, where we will be working on the articles we selected. I think that is very beneficial for us, but also for the Middle Georgia community!

@LynzeeWhite: Please strongly consider revising the titles of your journal posts from "Free Journal" to a more descriptive title. The new titles should reflect the content of what you are writing about. For example, the above Journal post could be titled "Revisiting Wikipedia Training". You may also want to break up your content by adding subheadings like "Fixing Past Issues" and "Planning for the Future".—TSchiroMGA (talk) 12:01, 24 June 2019 (UTC)

June 18, 2019: Add Citations & Copyediting

I actually feel like that was easier than I anticipated. When I added information and provided a citation to the Sidney Lanier Cottage page, I thought it would be difficult, but it wasn't at all! I also spent time copyediting by making some things capitalized or rephrasing the wording to flow a little better. I'm excited to do this project, and believe that this hands on experience is very beneficial versus a lecture.

June 11, 2019: Free Journal

I feel like Wikipedia is so much more in depth that I ever realized. I have not ever used it much, and was taught not to by teachers throughout my education. I have been more and more impressed each week at the amount of effort and work goes behind the scenes in Wikipedia. I have seen the red links on certain topics before, but never knew what that meant. I think it's a great resource for users to know what topics need more information, or need an article in the first place!

June 11, 2019: Potential Articles

I have 3 topics that I am considering: The Allman Brothers Museum, Rose Hill Cemetery, and Sidney Lanier Cottage.

All three articles are brief, neutral, and contain reliable sources.

The Allman Brothers Museum only contains a brief overview of the history and purchase history of the museum. There is very little information concerning the museum today. I think it could include a little more depth and organization concerning the history , but needs a big focus on the current state of the museum. What can you see there? What's the address? Are there guided tours? What are the business hours? Do they do anything special throughout the year?

The Rose Hill Cemetery has a brief overview of the museum, and the history. It does include notable people buried there, which I think is a great thing to have. It is probably the one who needs the least work, but does need to be organized a little better. There was one specific source (Macon Telegraph) that did not have a usable link. This needs to be corrected.

The Sidney Lanier Cottage has a pretty interesting history that did not go in, what I feel, sufficient depth. It included information about the owners, renovations, and a brief mention of the current state of the museum. My statement about this is the same as the Allman Brothers- it needs a bigger focus on the current state of the museum.

@LynzeeWhite: Very interesting articles. It speaks volume on how well one can make an article that is already good, great. If you choose the Rose Hill Cemetery article, I'm sure you can restructure it properly. If you decided to go with one of the other articles I'm sure you'll do just as fine. --AmaniSensei (talk) 14:38, 14 June 2019 (UTC)

@LynzeeWhite: I think that the Allman Brothers Museum will allow for a good opportunity to update since there is very little updated information about them museum currently. This would also prove to be beneficial to the museum and I am sure that the staff would appreciate you efforts to clean up the article. Kehli.west (talk) 04:00, 15 June 2019 (UTC)

@LynzeeWhite: For all three potential articles, you seem to have a firm grasp on what needs to be fixed/added to improve their overall quality. Based off of your descriptions, I would say the topic that is best suited for your interests is either the Allman Brothers Museum or Sidney Lanier Cottage. I chose these two because, on these, you added the most details on what you intend to add and you also described one of the place’s history as interesting. Atallent (talk) 13:44, 16 June 2019 (UTC)

@LynzeeWhite: Why did you blockquote your entry? I think each of these articles could be improved. Be sure to revise your writing. —Grlucas (talk) 11:53, 18 June 2019 (UTC)

@Grlucas: I updated it to take away the block quote. Thank you for catching that. LynzeeWhite (talk) 16:46, 18 June 2019 (UTC)

June 3, 2019: Free Journal

The topic for this is discuss whatever we want, so I'm just going to make a continuation post on what I have learned from the lesson for Week #2. I did not realize how in depth the process was to evaluate a Wiki article. I'm still learning the ropes of Wikipedia, and trying to remember things learned from Week 1, and build off of that for week #2, but I think that this is a great "real world" way to learn, and I am learning a lot! Something else I learned was the difference in a Page Title and a Heading, and how that changes the way the articles are set up.

@LynzeeWhite: Hey! I'm glad you are learning a lot. I am definitely learning quite a bit myself! Also, like you said, evaluating articles is definitely more in-depth than I originally thought! I think it is good practice for evaluating articles in everyday life, though. This way we can make sure what we are reading is factual and not biased. Hope you continue to learn a lot!— Sabub (talk) 04:56, 6 June 2019 (UTC)

June 3, 2019: Article Evaluation

The article that I evaluated is based on my hometown, Cochran, Georgia. This is a brief, but up-to-date, article that includes important information on Cochran's history, government, location, important dates, and noteworthy people. It is current with who our mayor is, police chief, and city manager. The article is short, which is probably what led to it's Quality Rating being listed a "Start". It does, however, seem to give a generic overview of Cochran, including important dates, demographics of the population, and information concerning where Cochran is located. Something I found distracting was that it seemed to have a negative outlook on some of the community leaders, but overall does not include a persuasive tone. It gave information on some of the more scandalous happenings in Cochran. Because Cochran is a town that invests into the students and sports, I feel like that should be mentioned, and that it should shed more information on MGSU, since Cochran does hold a large campus. Something that I did like was a "notable people" section, but I feel that it could be updated to include Rebecca Howell, who recently made the top 24 on NBC's The Voice. I did check several of the sources, and while most of the links worked, I'm not sure that they would all be the best sources. One user used badcopnews.com to explain how one officer was convicted of child molestation, but there are more reliable sources that are available. The article is a part of WikiProject Georgia and WikiProject Cities. However, I only see one person who has posted to the Talk page, username InternetArchiveBot. The link for this article is: Cochran, Georgia.

Very interesting assessment @LynzeeWhite:! I agree, that the information about Rebecca should be included in the article. This is a huge accomplishment. It would shed more light on the city of Cochran. On the other hand, society tends to spread bad news before society spread good news. Unfortunately, this is how society works. This article: Cochran, Georgia. is a prime example of this. But thanks to you and your assessment, there can be more positive light surrounding the city of Cochran and it's magnificent achievements. --AmaniSensei (talk) 19:34, 3 June 2019 (UTC)

@AmaniSensei: Your comment formatting is messed up. Did you not see that? You must correct these errors rather than just leaving them. —Grlucas (talk) 21:15, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

I lived in Cochran for about 2 years on the MGSU campus. There are also some beautiful farms located in that area. \ 2600:8807:B400:1202:3885:40B1:3008:EC58 (talk) 03:56, 6 June 2019 (UTC)

@Grlucas: I was totally unaware. To my knowledge, I did not have any errors. I usually preview my page before I click publish. --AmaniSensei (talk) 21:47, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

@LynzeeWhite:Hey Lynzee! I enjoyed reading your article evaluation. Articles should have a neutral tone. I agree that the article should have more information about MGSU since it is a major campus with lots of sports and advance academics department in information technology.-Acm2625 (talk) 12:19, 8 June 2019 (UTC)Acm2625

@LynzeeWhite: Hey! I took a look at this page and agree with what you said in your evaluation. I also used to live in Cochran while playing on the soccer team there before I moved up to Atlanta and was fully online. I found it very interesting that you chose Cochran as your topic and it was interesting to learn a little bit more about the town. Strasburg7312 (talk) 15:31, 9 June 2019 (UTC)

@LynzeeWhite: You are missing a key component of your article evaluation. What is it? You make some good points; consider summarizing your main points at the beginning — called the inverted pyramid — to make your text a bit more screen-friendly. Are there other ways you can increase usability? Your writing is generally strong. —Grlucas (talk) 21:15, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

@Grlucas:I went back and reviewed this section to see what I was missing. I noticed that I did not include the Quality Rating. I am updating my evaluation to include this, as well as a little bit of a better summary of my main points at the beginning. Thank you for your feedback. LynzeeWhite (talk) 16:46, 18 June 2019 (UTC)

@LynzeeWhite: (I assume it's you.) No, you're missing links. (And I did no see your reply because you did not reply correctly. You should review talk page conventions again.) —Grlucas (talk) 11:51, 18 June 2019 (UTC)

@Grlucas: Thank you, I updated the link to the article concerning Cochran. I am reviewing the talk page lesson to learn how to format my replies correctly. LynzeeWhite (talk) 16:44, 18 June 2019 (UTC)

June 2, 2019: Free Journal

Wow, I just learned a lot in the past couple of hours! I have never even thought about making a Wikipedia account, but this was a lot more in depth than I realized! I learned how to create an account, set up a journal, properly respond to others, and I learned how to insert a signature in the Talk tab. This was challenging, for sure, but I feel that the challenging aspect will make this class very affective. It's going to be a great semester!

@LynzeeWhite: Well done. Welcome to NMAC 3108. —Grlucas (talk) 20:33, 2 June 2019 (UTC)

June 2, 2019: Introduction

My name is Lynzee White, and I'm a Junior in the NMAC program. This class is a requirement for my degree, but will be greatly beneficial in the world of public relations, which is what I hope to enter into after graduation. I don't think of myself as particularly interesting, but I am a mother to a three year old, and have been married for almost a year! I'm looking forward to a great semester