Playing in the Sandbox

“Wikipedia--- with the cooperation of many Wikipedians---has developed a system of self-governance that has many indicia of the rule of law without heavy reliance on outside authority or boundary” (Zittrain 143). In other words, Wikipedia acts as a democracy. And as Corbett and Everly explain, “In a democracy, rhetoric as the actualizer of potential depends on citizens who are able to imagine themselves as agents of action, rather than just spectators or consumers” (Corbett and Eberly 131). This is the entire backbone of Wikipedia, a community of individuals who operate as producers rather than consumers and who work together to create a more accurate and comprehensive product.

I had the chance to become a member of this community when I took on the task of editing an article titled “Anonymous web browsing.” This article is on Wikipedia’s “watch list” for needing improvement. In The Lessons of Wikipedia, Zittrain states, “Be conservative in what you do; be liberal in what you accept from others” (Zittrain 134). The original author/s of the article on anonymous web browsing definitely took this to heart because the article is nowhere near complete. While I did not feel comfortable adding general content to the article given that I have no knowledge of anonymous web browsing, I did have the opportunity to make edits in nine situations, including but not limited to, fixing punctuation errors, editing word choice, and restructuring sentences.

[Here are two examples of changes I made in order to improve clarity:

Original: Some may fear that no one can ever really be anonymous due to the fact that, if they suspect illegal activity, law enforcement can request logs from the user's Internet provider.

My Edit: Some people may fear that anonymity is impossible, since law enforcement officials can request logs from the user's Internet provider if the officials suspect illegal activity.

Original: HTTP cookies are strings of text that are saved on a computer by browsing different web pages.

My Edit: HTTP cookies are strings of text that are saved on a computer when a user browses different web pages.]

While I was able to easily alter whatever I deemed necessary in the Wikipedia article, the “encyclopedia’s usefulness follows directly from its popularity and from the seriousness with which those who administer the site oversee and vet individual entries and provide guidance” (Hood Revision in Thinking). In other words, if I decided to include inappropriate of incorrect information in the article, Wikipedia’s popularity and the sheer mass of users in addition to the scrutiny of website’s administrators, would ensure that the content be removed. This is why Wikipedia is a useful and principal source.

I did not, however, include inappropriate content. Instead, I did my best to improve the overall clarity and credibility of the article. Although my edits were minor, as I saw the changes I made immediately become public, I could not help but wonder about the piece’s rhetorical velocity, “a strategic concept of delivery in which a rhetor theorizes the possibilities for the recomposition of a text based on how s/he anticipates how the text might later be used” (Ridolfo and Rife 229).

“Because it is visible, public, and ongoing, Wikipedia demystifies writing process, bringing it out of writers’ private spaces, but at the same time, renders the final product obsolete and irrelevant, a trace of previous generations’ cycles of production and exchange.” (Hood Explanation in Process) Although I furthered the article toward what one can only think of as completion, Wikipedia’s ongoing and infinite nature invalidates the notion of a final draft and begs for more writers to add, “mix, mash and merge” (Ridolfo and Rife 229). The essence of Wikipedia is intertextual, a concept Porter explains as including “the bits and pieces of Text which writers or speakers borrow and sew together to create new discourse" (Porter 34). I feel accomplished and confident about contributing to an article’s success, but I am a very small donor to the both figurative and literal “web of meaning.”

Zittrain, Jonathan. "After the Stall" The Lessons of Wikipedia. Print.

Hood, Carra Leah. "Editing Out Obscenity: Wikipedia and Writing Pedagogy." Editing Out Obscenity: Wikipedia and Writing Pedagogy. Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.

Corbett, Edward P.J., and Rosa A. Eberly. “Becoming a Citizen Critic: Where Rhetoric Meets the Road.” The Elements of Reading. 121-138. Web. 

Ridolfo, Jim and Martine Courant Rife. Rhetorical Velocity and Copyright: A Case Study