User:Strasburg7312/NMAC 3108 Journal

June 1, 2019: Introduction

Hello everyone, my name is Brandon Bernard and I am a IT major with a concentration in digital media and game design. I plan on graduating in December of this year and hope to get through the rest of my classes without any issues. While I am getting my BA in IT I am also going through flight school at the moment and I will hopefully be done in July. I am currently a commercial pilot with an instrument rating and plan on finishing with my CFI next month with ATP Flight School. Things that I like to do in my free time are to spend time with my friends and girlfriend and see my family. I also play a lot of soccer, listen to music, and have a model railroading hobby. My favorite tv shows are How I Met Your Mother and Whose Line Is It Anyway?. I'm looking forward to this class and hearing from many of you.

June 1, 2019: Second Journal

To be honest, I've never even edited in Wikipedia before so this is all very new to me. If anyone has any suggestions on the best way to post and how to edit the journals, please let me know! I can't wait to read some of the other classmates journals.

@Strasburg7312: I think you're off to a fine start. You can always tweak as you go. Here's a tip: try linking some of the items you list in your first entry, like Whose Line Is It Anyway? —Grlucas (talk) 13:54, 2 June 2019 (UTC)

@Grlucas: That is extremely helpful. I didn't know that you could do that. I went ahead and added them in up top. Thanks! —Strasburg7312 (talk) 15:30, 2 June 2019 (UTC)

@Strasburg7312: 👍🏼 I try to discover something new every time I edit on Wikipedia. There's much you can do. —Grlucas (talk) 16:53, 2 June 2019 (UTC)

Hi! If all else fails you can always Google it. There are a variety of ways you can get help from within the Wiki circle. However, if it seems too overwhelming just Google it or look up video tutorials. @Strasburg7312: --AmaniSensei (talk) 18:25, 8 June 2019 (UTC)

June 8, 2019: Third Journal: Textual Scholarship

The article that I decided to chose was from the academic disciplines section. I chose to do mine on textual scholarship. I felt like it related to the class and some of the goals we were trying to accomplish in it. It is a short article but it seems to me that everything is related to the topic. There isn't anything distracting on the page and I felt like all of the data was up to date. The only thing that I would think about improving is giving a little bit more information into the overview section. Even in that section, I thought that they did a great job. There isn't much that I would change or improve to this article. The article is neutral and factual and has many resources in there. If you would like to double check the information, or gain more knowledge of the subject, the writers have listed the links and resources at the bottom of the page. It seems like all of these are credible and reliable sources. The talk page has little input except for one comment talking about possibly renaming the article. Other than that one comment, it seems that it is rated well and that there are no other concerns. If I had to ask one question about the article, I would like to ask how these people that study textual scholars get into the field and how they improve what they do. What would be the best way to improve your skills and edit in the best way possible? I feel like if I knew a bit more in that area, it would help out with this class. This would be a great information when it comes to the areas where we have to examine, evaluate and critique articles. Strasburg7312 (talk) 04:06, 9 June 2019 (UTC)

@Strasburg7312: This seems like it is a very good evaluation of the article that you chose and those seem like important questions to ask. Would you be able to provide the link to the article here? NVaden (talk) 17:54, 9 June 2019 (UTC)

@NVaden: I went ahead and linked it up! I didn’t realize I didn’t link it. Thanks for letting me know! Strasburg7312 (talk) 02:10, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

@Strasburg7312: How did you choose this particular article? Please add the article you evaluated to the WikiEdu dashboard. Also, you should consider better, more descriptive titles than "Third Journal" (and they are journal posts). Be sure to proofread. Thanks. —Grlucas (talk) 15:03, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

@Strasburg7312: I would also agree that the questions you asked are pretty fair and I think this article would definitely benefit from additional sections about the field of study itself. Ajhawkins95 (talk)

June 8, 2019: Fourth Journal: Choice of Topic, Strasburg Railroad

Since we were allowed to do our fourth topic on one of our choosing, I decided to do mine on the Strasburg Railroad. This is my all time favorite railroad and has been since I was little. My parents and I would go up to the railroad every year. It is located in Pennsylvania near Lancaster, PA. The railroad was chartered in 1832 and is the oldest running short line in America. They do a lot of servicing for other people and companies as well as running their own operations. I have pictures of the wheels from the Walt Disney locomotive when I was there once. That was neat to see because the wheels had been shipped over night so no one would see that they had been transferred. They have 5 operable steam locomotives, two of which are in the shops for service, and one of those 5 is a replica of Thomas the tank engine. Everything that is listed on the page is factual and it doesn't appear to have any opinionated comments. There are plenty of resources as well to back up the information on the page. I thought I would share this with everyone to give a little bit more background into my interests and more information about myself. Strasburg7312 (talk) 15:18, 9 June 2019 (UTC)

Hi! Is there a connection between the article and your username or is it just a coincidence? Either way, good article find @Strasburg7312: --AmaniSensei (talk) 15:16, 9 June 2019 (UTC)

@AmaniSensei: Yes there is! I just updated this journal and gave a little of background into it! —Strasburg7312 (talk) 15:22, 9 June 2019 (UTC)

Wow! That's pretty dope. @Strasburg7312: --AmaniSensei (talk) 15:27, 9 June 2019 (UTC)

Very interesting journal. I find it important that even though these railroads have operations to function, they still provide services for society. Tionnetakala (talk) 00:22, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

@Strasburg7312: Be sure to proofread and revise. Is that first sentence the best it could be? Any typos? Is your post title descriptive? 😁 —Grlucas (talk) 15:05, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

June 16, 2019: Fifth Journal, Topics chosen and Sandbox edit

While going through my notes and some of the notes I have gotten from classmates, I have been trying to proofread over my articles and make sure I'm not missing any spelling or grammar errors. I have also started to add more descriptive titles to my journal entries and make sure I'm looking at all of the notes left. The three topics that I am looking at for my topic are Strasburg Railroad, Manchester United, and Piper PA-28 Cherokee. I have looked at these pages and it looks as though they have been written well. Even though they have been written like this, these are topics that I know I have a good amount of knowledge on with multiple books on the topic and other credible resources to be able to edit these topics. Strasburg7312 (talk) 12:55, 17 June 2019 (UTC)

@Strasburg7312: Did you proofread and revise your writing? How do your article choices relate to Macon, GA? Please see the assignment again. —Grlucas (talk) 11:45, 18 June 2019 (UTC)

@Grlucas: I missed the part where the article had to be from Macon, Georgia. I will revise my topics and edit the journal entry with the updated topics. I proof read this entry here, but I haven't gone back and fixed any of the other entries. I will go back over those and make sure I have not missed anything in those. Is there anything that I have missed in this journal entry here? Strasburg7312 (talk) 13:03, 18 June 2019 (UTC)

@Strasburg7312: Professor Lucas mentioned in RQ1 that the article should be an entry from a local Macon, Georgia person, place, or thing. If i'm not mistaken, the article could also be an entry dealing with your hometown. For example, I chose Taliaferro County Courthouse. Tionnetakala (talk) 19:23, 23 June 2019 (UTC)

June 16, 2019: Sixth Journal, Topic of my choice

Since I was able to choose a topic of my choice for this entry, I chose ATP Flight School as my topic. Since I go to the school, I thought this would be a good choice to review.

While reviewing the article, there are some quality facts about the company and a little about the history but I feel as though there are some pieces left out. There are almost no pictures of today’s current fleet or the past fleets. In the information about the fleets, there are no parts concerning the use of Diamond aircraft in past times as well. They are also missing information about the newer aircraft coming out about the g1000 Archer aircraft and 172 aircraft. It seems like it has been updated recently but I feel like more could definitely be added to the article.

I would add some more information from the ATP website such as the type of training they do and about how long the timeline is. I would also list their current locations, where as the article one lists how many locations they have.

@Strasburg7312: Reviewing articles is not a waste of time, but what should these posts be about? —Grlucas (talk) 11:47, 18 June 2019 (UTC)

@Grlucas: For this entry I was trying to relate this to the topic of content gaps in this weeks assignments. Should I be including other objectives when making these journal entries? I might be a little bit lost on this. Strasburg7312 (talk) 13:03, 18 June 2019 (UTC)

@Strasburg7312: Sorry, why would you be lost? This is a major assignment that is detailed on the syllabus. What could I clarify here? —Grlucas (talk) 20:33, 18 June 2019 (UTC)

@Grlucas: I guess I was confused on the goals. I must have misread along the way. So when doing the topics of our choice, it should be from the following; Documenting your work, Reflecting on your progress, Practicing your writing and wiki skills, Planning your work, or Helping others who might be facing similar challenges. It doesn't always have to be reviewing an article to try and improve our Wikipedia skills? I think that's what I was lost on. Strasburg7312 (talk) 22:08, 18 June 2019 (UTC)

@Strasburg7312: 👍🏼 That is correct. —Grlucas (talk) 11:53, 19 June 2019 (UTC)

June 23, 2019: Seventh Journal:Final topic choice, copy editing, and adding citations

This week, I decided to copyedit the Central of Georgia Railway Wikipedia page. While going through their page, I picked up on grammatical errors that I sometimes miss in my own work, and tried to fix some of the language that was used. While I only made four edits, I felt like it was resourceful. When Carroll talked about the stylebooks that are used, I tried to edit to those standards.

@Strasburg7312: Wikipedia has it's own style manual. Should you be using that?

While working on this page, I decided on a final topic to work with. I will be working on a new Wikipedia page, Central of Georgia Railway #509. This is a 2-8-0 steam locomotive that sits in downtown Macon. It has been partly disassembled in effort to try and restore the engine at some point. The audience that I will be trying to direct towards are people who live in Macon and are interested with the history, railroad buffs that have an interest in the roster of the Central of Georgia Railway, and anyone with an interest in transportation. There are multiple groups that could be drawn to this new article.

The last part of our assignments this week is adding citations to an article. I was going to try and choose my own article, but I decided to find some sources for the new article I will be writing. For now, I have added a reference section to this sandbox and cited the website for the flight school that I currently attend. The lesson provided on adding citations was really useful and it made adding citations extremely easy for me.

June 23, 2019: Eighth Journal, Progress and Challenges

Throughout the past couple of weeks, I have learned a lot more about Wikipedia and how to use it. This is actually something I had been interested in a couple of years ago when I was trying to edit a Wikipedia article. I felt as though I have been progressing every week and I actually feel as though I keep learning and building on new skills. I am also trying to log all of the changes I make. In the instance where I was copyediting, I would make sure that every edit I made, I was putting a comment with it explaining what I had improved.

I will add that there have been challenges along the way and that I didn't fully understand how to accomplish some of the tasks. The tutorials and guides help out a lot if you take the time to go through them and practice those skills. Another really helpful resource is the wiki help page and YouTube. Plenty of people post videos about how to accomplish certain tasks on YouTube and how to do things correctly. The help page is also really resourceful since a lot of the people on there have experienced some of the same challenges that we are experiencing right now.

As far as the final project goes, I'm hoping to have the basic structure of the page done by the end of this week and have most, if not all, of my resources found and cited.

@Strasburg7312:Good job that you are doing additional research to figure out how to learn Wikipedia. Another helpful hint is to utilize the edit page of existing articles and use the code to shape your formatting on your article. I found this so helpful with my formatting. I will be working more on content of my article throughout this week. I wish you much success in finishing up!Kehli.west (talk) 01:34, 30 June 2019 (UTC)

@Kehli.west: It's great that you are making good use of your time to work efficiently on the final project. I on the other hand, am still gathering enough sources for my own article–which I've decided to build from scratch.Ousainou Adeniyi (talk) 02:50, 30 June 2019 (UTC)

June 30, 2019: Peer Reviews

Going into our last couple weeks, I think peer reviews will be extremely beneficial to all of the students. I have peer reviewed one article so far and it allows you to see other examples of how to structure your content. It also allows you to see mistakes that you may have made in your own article. There are often times where I miss errors or left out something that I didn’t notice even after proofreading it myself. Getting a second set of eyes on your work is always helpful because you aren’t just seeing from your own point of view anymore. I’m interested to see the feedback I get on my article and what I can expand on going into next week.

@Strasburg7312: Would you mind posting a link to your peer review?—TSchiroMGA (talk) 13:21, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

@TSchiroMGA: Absolutely! Brandon B peer review Strasburg7312 (talk) 13:35, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

@TSchiroMGA: 👍🏼. @Strasburg7312: You mean: My peer review. Do you see the difference? Did you read "Link Logic"? —Grlucas (talk) 15:37, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

@Grlucas: Shoot. Yes, I remember creating a link like that in either one of my other journal posts or my article. I had a huge brain fart moment. 🤦🏻‍♂️ Strasburg7312 (talk) 19:00, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

@Strasburg7312: It happens to the best of us. —Grlucas (talk) 19:09, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

June 30, 2019: Learning more about Wikipedia

As we go into week 6, I keep learning more about features that are in Wikipedia. With the reading this week, I learned the proper way to title headings on our articles. I originally thought that the entire heading was supposed to be capitalized before I read more into the "Editing Wikipedia".

Another thing that I ended up learning about was how to add images into our articles and how important it is to make sure that it is either your own image you are posting, or that you have permission from the person that owns the image you will be posting. I didn't realize this until I was looking at how to insert a photo into my assigned topic. I have emailed the owner of the photo that I'm and trying to use and I am hoping to hear back soon on whether or not I can use the photo. Learning how to add these images is on page 11 of the editing Wikipedia document that I posted above. For anyone writing in digital media, this is extremely helpful because it adds visual points to your topic.

Lastly, I have learned how to add in bullet points and numbered lists which helps when trying to organize external links or add breaks in paragraphs without having to use the < br > function.

@Strasburg7312: Great. Missing any links? Remember, you're writing for digital media — not paper. Show us. Yes, ditch that <br />! —Grlucas (talk) 15:39, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

@Grlucas: I was missing a link. I meant to come back in and totally forgot. I added the URL as a link to the Editing Wikipedia PDF and made sure it was linked correctly. It should be working now! Is there a way to get rid of the PDF logo next to the link or does it just appear when doing PDF links? Strasburg7312 (talk) 19:11, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

@Strasburg7312: The PDF icon is for accessibility, so you would not want to remove it. You should also use links to support your other assertions and to help readers. For example, it's great you learned how to add images, but how does that help a reader? —Grlucas (talk) 10:28, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

@Strasburg7312: I totally agree that there is so much to be learned on Wikipedia. I like how checks are put on each step to make sure that integrity is present when using information. The process to add a photo is very simple and I found it helpful. I ended up not adding the intended photo because it did not meet the criteria to use without permission from the person who took it. I have just decided to go take my own photos and this will save me the headaches.Kehli.west (talk) 21:23, 5 July 2019 (UTC)

July 7, 2019: Developing a social media plan

While writing about my topic, I have thought about the need for a social media plan and I have debated whether or not it is necessary. Most pages on Wikipedia usually don't need a social media plan but certain topics would. I would say that most pages that would have social media attached to them would be a page about a company or a product. Since my topic is a historical artifact, I don't think it is necessary. That being said, I have seen social media pages made for my topic before.

While looking through our assigned reading this week, I had a change in perspective on how to use social media and the different types of social media to use.. I personally don't use blogs very much and sometimes forget that they are part of the social media community so it allowed me to see how people can use blogs to help promote their topic. I also learned about how to use social media correctly and what not to do. The book uses a reference to a soccer game and that you shouldn't just keep your eye on the ball. If you focus less on the direct objective, you will usually have a better outcome.

If I were to add a social media plan to my topic, I would keep in mind what our reading had to say about reputation. My topic is engine 509 that sits in the middle of downtown Macon, Georgia. It is in need of restoration and has been sitting in rust for a long time. Most of the social media pages that I have seen about engines are usually in efforts to raise money. I would use something like Facebook to try and raise money as well but that wouldn't be my main focus. I might have a link on the page to a fund raising page, but like the book says you don't want to be so focused that you drive away the audience. It would maybe be a good idea to post past pictures of the engine and some history at first and tell about the efforts to bring it back to life. If people are interested and donate, those people will naturally want to see progress. Posting pictures of the progress would be a good idea as well to show that what you are trying to accomplish is working and that the efforts are for a good cause. Reading through this really helps broaden the way social media should be used and how to bring in your audience without being narrow minded.

@Strasburg7312: I like that your social media plan begins by inviting people to learn more about the subject. When they know about the engines history and needs they may become invested, and get involved. Today, most people are immediately turned off by a sales pitch or any request for donations. I like that your plan doesn't start with an ask. Your plan is to serve the audience through education, then offer them ways that can contribute. I believe your plan would attract more positive attention by building a community around the common goal of restoring the engine.

July 7, 2019: Challenge of finding images

While working on our articles, I have realized how hard it really is to find pictures to add if you don't have access to take pictures yourself. I have emailed multiple people throughout the week trying to ask for access to their photos and have received no replies. Unfortunately you can't just add in photos that aren't yours. I have looked at wikipedia commons and it is a great resource for people to use when adding photos to their pages. I wish their were already photos registered on there that I could use because it would be much easier to access. There are tons of photos than can be used and I was shocked with how many photos were actually on the page. There are some that are beyond just generic based photos. Hopefully I can take advantage of this resource more if I keep editing pages on Wikipedia in the future.

@Strasburg7312: Is there something stopping you from taking you own? And I agree: the Commons is a great resource. I’ve donated images there over the years. —Grlucas (talk) 10:57, 8 July 2019 (UTC)

@Grlucas: I going to try and make a trip down later in the week to have a picture by this weekend. I live up on the north side of Atlanta and I have flight training almost every day except the weekends. If I can't make it down or don't have a reply with permissions for one then I will try to see if maybe a friend can take one for me. Strasburg7312 (talk) 20:30, 8 July 2019 (UTC)

@Strasburg7312: Ah, fair enough. No worries! —Grlucas (talk) 22:20, 8 July 2019 (UTC)

@Strasburg7312: Trust me I completely understand. I am going through similar hassle as well. I would also suggest using Flickr Commons. Ousainou Adeniyi (talk) 07:36, 14 July 2019 (UTC)

July 14, 2019: My online field trip

Unfortunately, over this past weekend I have not been able to find the time to travel down to Macon. Hopefully, I will be able to make it down this coming weekend and take a photo of the locomotive for my topic. I had a bit of an online field trip this weekend, but that proved to end in a bit of a bummer.

I finally received permissions by the author to use his photo that he posted online. Even though he gave me permission, I am afraid to post it. I do not have a license with the photo and it seems like choosing the option of having permissions to use it on Wikipedia is setting my article up for speedy deletion. I do not want to lost all of the work that I have put in over the past couple of weeks just for one simple photo. It is looking like I will have to bite the bullet and find the time to travel down to Macon unless I can find another suitable option to be able to use the photo I have permissions for.

I've read over the module from the Wiki Edu dashboard and it is under my impression that since I didn't receive a license from him, I am not allowed to use it. If anyone has any insight on this, I am all ears and would love to know if I can actually use this photo.

@Strasburg7312: Be bold. —Grlucas (talk) 13:43, 15 July 2019 (UTC)

July 14, 2019: Almost final edits

As we approach the final week of this class, it is very interesting to see all of the things we have learned with Wikipedia and how interactive it is. I have recently uncovered another source that I will be adding to my article this coming week. I'm really hoping that I can expand the article a bit more since the source I have acquired is actually a published magazine from the Central of Georgia Historical Society directly relating to the final resting place of engine 509 and the history of the locomotive. I ordered it about a week and a half ago and it finally came in the mail over the weekend.

I have also received permissions for the use of a photo which I talked about in my other journal post for this week. Since I have moved my work out of the sandbox, other people have been contributing to the article! It's exciting to see and know that other people are viewing an article I wrote. While editing throughout the weeks, it has made me realize how many people contribute to Wikipedia articles.

@Strasburg7312: You seem to have made a good use of your time. It pretty impressive that we as a class have come so far when looking back. Communal feeling a strong benefit for us editors. It makes us writers feel part of a community that actually cares for one another. Personally, I don't feel like I am by myself when writing, now that I have this input of continuous feedback and advice from other members. Ousainou Adeniyi (talk) 08:09, 15 July 2019 (UTC)

@Strasburg7312: Great! Keep working. —Grlucas (talk) 13:45, 15 July 2019 (UTC)

July 21, 2019: Last week of class

Critiquing Articles

I learned a lot about the different functions of wikipedia throughout this course. A lot especially in the last few weeks. Since I didn’t find an article to try and critique and edit, I had to learn about writing my own from the sandbox and transferring it to Wikipedia. I had to find multiple sources and even bought some books and articles that helped with my research. I decided on this article because I wanted it to be something I was interested in. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have put the effort into it that I needed to.

Contributions

Most of the edits I did were adding more information afterward and proofreading and finding errors I had made with grammar. I also finally made it down to Macon and got to take a couple pictures for the article. I was nice to take the field trip down and see what I was writing about first hand. I felt like every edit that I had made to the article improved it a bit more each time.

Peer review and feedback

Overall the peer reviews and feedback from the Wikipedia community were extremely helpful. The peer reviews helped point things that maybe I had missed or different points of view on how I should add or write something in. The feedback was extremely helpful because people helped add in tags that I never knew you could do before in Wikipedia. They also helped see where I could edit more and they helped me improve the placement and authenticity of my work. I tried to publicly thank all of the people who gave feedback by hitting the thank button on the history page.

Things that I learned

Some of the things that I learned while taking this course is that digital media is different than writing for a normal English class where you are writing a paper and you might be talking about your opinion. You have to stay biased about your topic and you really need to make sure your sources are credible. I also realized that it is much easier if you have your own photos for your work because even though you may have authorization to use a photo for Wikipedia. They may not have given you a license and that can prohibit you from actually using that photo. Since Wikipedia is accessible from almost everywhere, anyone can see it and add to it. This is important because people are able to add changing events and history to your page when you might not see it. I think Wikipedia is an incredible source since you can link your page to so many others and it’s almost like endless learning.

Remarks

Overall I have really enjoyed this class even though it was a bit out of my realm. It has made me want to research more and make even more pages! I also want to point out that it is extremely satisfying to go onto Google and see that my own article pops up when I search my title! 😁 Super cool!

@Strasburg7312: Quick. Add links and subheadings!—TSchiroMGA (talk) 10:53, 22 July 2019 (UTC)

@TSchiroMGA: Thank you! Almost forgot to do that. 😬 Strasburg7312 (talk) 14:09, 22 July 2019 (UTC)

@TSchiroMGA:That was a good save. Ousainou Adeniyi (talk) 03:37, 24 July 2019 (UTC)