When me and my course-mates learned at the start of the academic year that we had to edit a Wikipedia article, we accumulated a certain amount of scepticism. As an assignment, the task appeared somewhat odd. I have to admit, however, that the resulting experience was engaging and enjoyable. The process of selecting an article requiring work turned out to be a fascinating process. The editing, expanding, and improving of that article revealed itself to be surprisingly fascinating.
My selected Wikipedia article was about the novel the Snapper by Roddy Doyle. I had found my way to this Wikipedia page due to flicking through Wikipedia Articles on different pieces of media with which I had recently interacted. The Snapper revealed itself as a lucky discovery. For one, the article was incomplete, a stub. The core content, the plot summary, cut off the end of the novel, and switched the order of events. Expansion was therefore a convenient choice. Similarly, there were opportunities to expand information on the novel’s adaptations, and add sources in footnotes.
Yet the main feature which drew my attention to editing this article featured in the plot summary. The novel contains a sexual encounter between the protagonist, Sharon Rabbitte, and an older man, which in the novel may be reliably interpreted as sexual assault. The Wikipedia summary, on the other hand, described this encounter as a “drunken one-night stand.” This misleading phrasing and misinterpretation was to be the core of my editing session. Drunken Assaults such as Sharon’s have in real life to often been misinterpreted. Therefore it was important to me that theWikipedia summary, which probably serves as the first port of call for anyone casually researching the novel, would more accurately do the novel’s contents justice.
My editing session began with expanding the plot. This mainly consisted of adding the novel’s finishing events, such as Sharon’s giving birth, and a few details, such as Sharon’s personal relationships. The core change, the sexual encounter, involved two edits. First I changed the phrasing ” a one night stand while drunk” to “a sexual encounter while drunk.” Secondly, I inserted a sentence referencing the widespread interpretation of the encounter as sexual assault. Here, I took special care with phrasing. I designed my additions to convey a neutral and objective perspective, adhering to the site’s guidelines. I furthermore inserted two footnotes, respectively containing a citation from the novel, and a retrospective article containing said interpretation. The Wikipedia page already included a footnote referencing a contemporary review referring to the encounter as sexual assault.
Having accomplished this major change, I finished up with a small expansion of the ‘Adaptations’ section. During the editing process, the addition of footnotes and sources felt especially rewarding. The extension of five to eleven sources on a short article gave an impression on securing the article’s footing and foundation in research in a way that was satisfying as an (aspiring) academic writer.
Viewing back to the experience, I have to admit I would be tempted to pick up Wikipedia editing again. Starting in secondary school, people that grew up in the presence of the internet like me could not escape lectures on the alleged evils of Wikipedia. While it is still obviously necessary to approach the site with caution, this editing session revealed to me a more positive side of Wikipedia’s communal nature. There is a certain reassurance that editors can sometimes be informed people who are passionate. Furthermore, I learned about the ways in which Wikipedia protects itself from bad actors to a certain extent, as course-mates ran up against protected or semi-protected articles. Despite a necessary scepticism, the insight into Wikipedia’s well intended, positive nuances felt new and fascinating. Admittedly this enthusiasm may have been spurred on by the enjoyable, communal setting in which our editing session took place. Regardless, the session exercised skills in research, objective writing, and critical approach from which I will benefit in future without a doubt.
