The Internet is an ever-changing environment. Through its many evolutions, the Internet has continuously pushed to become a more friendly environment for users. One of the things to come out of this evolution is the wiki page. The first question you might ask, however, is what is a wiki page? The textbook definition of a wiki is, “A wiki is a Web page that can be viewed and modified by any- body with a Web browser and access to the Internet.” wikiHow is a community-based website that allows users to help other users accomplish tasks, try something new, and read up on something that they were not originally familiar with. It is a website emerging from the Web 2.0 concept, giving users exactly what they were looking for right away. It has become popular in recent years due to the fact that users are easily able to publish their own content onto the Web quite simply. wikiHow allows users around the world to publish something they feel is important as quick as possible with minimal complications. One might ask: If it is that easy to post something onto wikiHow, how is there no duplicates? How is do you think of something that is not already posted onto wikiHow?
Above: an example of a Wikihow Page
Potential wikiHow posts are put through a rigorous screening process before being published onto the Web. While it is a difficult process to get published, it is one of the easiest sites to post original, informative content on the Internet. In addition, it builds upon Web 3.0 concepts with the ability to allow others to edit, comment, and share information to a Wiki page as easily as they are posted. This ability is unique to wiki communities such as wikiHow, and even its bigger counterpart, Wikipedia, and allows for users to connect in ways unknown before the Internet. For example, a wikiHow user originally posted a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Since its original posting, 289 other people have edited and contributed to the improvement of this post. Some modifications to the original post included the different types of chocolate chip cookies (original, vegan, chewy, vegan, oatmeal, banana -- just to name a few) as well as the actual steps of the process and the ingredients needed. The user-friendly and connectedness that a type of forum like wikiHow provides is outstanding and it is a great example of the evolution of the Web today.
Even though wikiHow is a community forum that allows for people to post whatever they want to, it is pretty easy to find a topic that hasn’t already been discussed on this forum. However, if the topic you are trying to write about has an article already posted about it, there are ways to differentiate your article from the one posted. For example, the topic for my own wikiHow project, there was already a similar topic posted onto wikiHow under the title “How to be a Pop-Punk Kid.” While the similar article was already published, I already had an idea on how to specify my topic. Instead of calling my topic “How to be Pop-Punk,” I specified how this topic related to my hometown of Buffalo, NY, making the article able to be published onto the wikiHow forum.
The first project for Web & Social Media Production was to post a wikiHow page on the student’s topic of choice. While this seems like it should be the easiest part of creating a wikiHow page, it certainly is not. It is necessary to check wikiHow to make sure the topic hasn’t already been posted on the site before deciding on a topic. However, if the topic has already been posted about, narrowing it down to a more specific topic might be the best decision. The topic I had originally chosen for my wikiHow page was on “How to be Pop-Punk”, which apparently was already posted onto the site. Since I believed this to be my strongest topic with the most information, I decided to look into how to narrow down this topic. The eventual topic ended up being “How to be Pop-Punk in Buffalo, NY” -- a topic with a lot of information and had yet to be written about on wikiHow. Writing a post for wikiHow is a unique experience that is hard to accomplish, but once you do, it is a gratifying experience. It is difficult in the sense that the article is put through an intense screening process, and if it is not written how wikiHow would like it, then it will not be published.
One way that this happens is all based on the communication of your message. One way this could happen is when you are writing about a topic, it cannot be too promotional or persuasive towards a certain product/brand. For example, if you are discussing the recipe for the chocolate chip cookies again, you cannot say to use TollHouse chocolate chips, but just regular chocolate chips. If an article is too persuasive on one topic, it won’t be posted. Another way an article may not be posted is due to copyrights. For example, in my wikiHow project, I used some of my friends’ photos for my topic since they were better than my own. Despite the fact my friends gave me permission and I did cite them as the owners of the photo, it was not enough. The admins are working with me to gain permission so that my photos may in fact be restored to page.
Above: the first photo, taken by my friend Mariah Howe, restored to my Wikihow page
With these restrictions, you may wonder how exactly you can get your ideas across to the web on your wikiHow page. However, there are many ways around it. You can use some of your own photos, even if they aren’t the best, so long as they help to support your topic and go along with the wikiHow page. In addition, you can use your own words and many other forms of media to help you. For my own wikiHow page, most of the information came solely out of my own thought process. But, I asked my friends to help me along the way. I asked them, “When you think of Buffalo & pop-punk, what comes to mind?” Most of them came up with the same ideas as I did: Pizza, Mighty Taco, going to shows downtown, buying records, love the city. Their ideas helped to solidify my own as well as helped me to improve upon my own work. If you are stuck, you can also use some of the other related wiki pages to help you with your information and to boost your own page.
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