Wiktionary

I just added three entries to Wiktionary which was a somewhat frustrating experience. First of all I some of the words I wanted to edit were not in there. I am thinking I should add more words and definitions to it but what is the point when you have a regular dictionary online? I guess the point is knowing that I am contributing to the web and it may help somebody. And besides, it will be cool to be able to tell people that I added content online.

Once I decided which definitions I would edit, I got to work. I read the definitions which I thought were way too short and vague. Just know that I am a very detail-oriented person and I am quite long-winded. Brevity is just not my thing. So I crafted what I thought were sufficient definitions and then uploaded them. As it turns out, they were reverted back to the original because they were too encyclopedic (aka too long and detailed). Great! So I had to figure out how to trim those suckers down so it wouldn't be so encyclopedic. That is still a work in progress because two seconds ago I just received a message saying that two were already reverted back, again. Argh!!!

I can't really say that I am 100% proud but at least I completed it with a little more detail than the previous definitions although they sounded fine. Hopefully mine are better but I guess Wiktionary doesn't think so.

In any case, here is what I submitted:

Blog - This one reverted once but after I shortened the definition it was fine.

Meta Tag - I wanted the term Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to be included in the definition so I added the term and definition. I didn't write it I just copied it from the entry SEO.

SMS - Now I tried to edit this little bugaboo several times and they just don't like my definitions.

In case you are dying to see my user profile, here it is: My Wiktionary Profile

Wikipedia

I edited my first Wikipedia article today. It was quite interesting. I didn't read any of the introduction information for first time users. I just dove right in and started editing. It was easy until I decided to edit some of the links. I noticed that a couple links were incorrect so I typed in the correct url and it automatically reverted back to what it was because it thought what I was typing in was spam or something. Oh well. The article itself was easy. After I finished, I had to figure out how to find the page that showed the before and after edit. I bet I looked for 10 minutes. Then I decided to edit my profile. I hadn't written any information about myself, just my username. I edited my settings and after 20 minutes of searching I finally figured out how to edit my profile. As I was searching, I came across a lot of information that I would love to read once I find more time. Wikipedia contains articles about how to write articles and edit them and a plethora of other useful information. Not only will I be able to use it as I edit more articles, but it will help me in my own classes as I work with wikis. I used to dismiss any information in Wikipedia thinking it could be bogus information and one should always take it with a grain of thought but I love the concept of having an online encyclopedia of everything that anybody, anywhere, anytime can contribute. I love it! It is absolutely genious! I would love to find ways to incorporate that concept in my own websites and online classes and it has made me really think about the use of wikis. I have used them in classes before but I never really gave them much thought and instead would email or im my group members drafts or important information or questions moreso that actually using it for what it really is, a collaboration tool. I will definitely learn more about wikis and wikipedia and write my own articles.