For this assignment, I was able to look at Wikipedia in a different way by seeing how it’s like to contribute to the platform. I chose to edit the Santa Maria, California page because it is my hometown and something that I felt I had enough knowledge to contribute to. After reading through it, I felt that it did a great job encompassing the city, but felt the need to add a few extra sentences on the culture, more specifically, the Santa Maria style bbq.
The first step that I took was deciding what information to add into that section. I chose to talk a bit more about the bbq because of a conversation I had with my roommates the other day when one of them came home with a tri tip that was from Santa Maria. I researched reliable sources and found an article from Food & Wine that discusses the history of the bbq style and how it is considered one of California’s most iconic regional food tradition’s.
Before making any edits, I learned that Wikipedia requires new editors to propose changes on the article’s Talk page. This is something I never noticed as a regular user, but have learned through this class that it’s an important part of maintaining transparency and collaboration. On the Talk page, I created a new section explaining that I was new to editing and outlining the idea that I was wanting to add to the preexisting article.
After posting my proposal, I waited to see if any editors would respond. I didn’t receive immediate feedback, but according to the assignment instructions, it’s acceptable to proceed if no objections are raised. I added my two sentences directly under the existing barbecue description. I included a link to my citation and double checked that my formatting was similar to the rest of the article. As seen in the screenshot below, the sentences that I added are in the second paragraph of this article. As a local, the article that I cited is 100% true when saying that it is one of the state’s most iconic regional specialties.
This experience definitely changed my view of Wikipedia. I’ve usually just used it as somewhere to get quick information, but contributing to it, even just a few sentences, was pretty rewarding. Before going into it, I had no idea how the behind the scenes worked and now I have much more respect for the people who edit and go through each article. Overall, editing this page gave me a new outlook on Wikipedia’s collaborative effort that is dependable on writer’s thoughtfulness, respect, and their commitment to writing accurate information.
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