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Throughout this digital media journey, I have said that I am comfortable being an observer. It is equal parts lack of knowledge and laziness. So while blogging has been a struggle, the thought of editing a Wikipedia entry seemed too daunting to even attempt.
While I understand that Wikipedia’s entire platform is based on editing by people and is therefore, is not always a reliable source. To me, it was still a big deal because I carefully consider every media post response carefully.
How I began
The assignment asked to make the edit on something we know well. While I like a lot of things and feel I am fairly knowledgeable, I felt like I needed to be an expert to really contribute. This left me with a short list.
- all things glitter and unicorns
- pasta
- Starbucks
Since the last one has been my gainful employer for eight years, it felt like the logical choice.
Prep Work
I would need a lot of training, right? Not really. I completed about an hour worth of online training through Wikipedia. The training was short and had small quizzes at the end of each module to check for understanding.
This is in addition to the content provided by the class modules, the process now felt very straight forward and not quite as daunting.
I then went to Wikipedia’s entry on Starbucks and read over everything to see where I could add something that would contribute and could be properly cited. After all, I have quite a bit of knowledge working there through internal websites and news. This does not automatically equate to the ability to use this information for adding to the Wikipedia entry.
I also saw that the entry was semi-protected as shown in the photo below.
That’s OK! I am still thinking yes, I can do an edit here.
There is a lot of information about Starbucks. The company is almost fifty years old with stores all over the world. Where to begin? The history? That feels solid. I also do not spot any small grammatical errors that I can correct to make an edit on for the assignment. While It would feel a bit like a cop out, I am also starting to worry about what I can add.
And the winner is…
Food Bank donations under the Environmental and Social Policy tab. Their policies on environmental and social issues are some of the best I have seen by large corporations. This is one of the main reasons I have stayed with Starbucks for so long. I feel proud to call myself a partner and it feel like adding an update to this section is important.
Here I go!
” In September 2019, 60% of Starbucks are participating in FoodShare. This level of participation contributed to 20 million meals served to those in need.”
While I had hoped to add an even more recent update, I understood that I must cite a valid source that can be verified by anyone. I know the number is now substantially larger as more stores are now participating. There was a big roll out over more areas at the start of 2020. This information is not yet available and therefore, I will just have to wait until the information can be validated for that update.
I added in the citation for the source with a simple button. Wikipedia did all the work for me. They converted it to a link and properly added it the reference list. The citation number 268 is all me! The process reminds me of the handy little tool from the ASU library that converts sources into proper citation for every style your professor could request.
Now just hit Submit Changes.
It is up and it has been a few hours with no changes. There was mention of submissions getting changed back or removed immediately. Now I am unsure if this is truly immediately or if it is a matter of several days. While I am confident in my submission, I understand that the Starbucks entry is semi protected.
Who is this girl?
I will be checking periodically over the next few days to see if I can now call myself a Wikipedia contributor. At the onset of this class, I would never have considered this possible. While the contribution was small, for me it was monumental. I do not know how of if I will contribute to digital media in the future. I do know, I am about to have a lot of free time on my hands by finishing school so perhaps I have begun a new path that includes the title digital media contributor.
