The WikiHow Process

 In today’s world, when someone has a question that they need a quick answer to, they immediately go to an Internet search engine. Whether it’s looking up symptoms of an illness to self-diagnose, finding a new a recipe, seeking a solution for a problem; the world wide web has it all. Two sources that many people will stumble upon are wikiHow and Wikipedia. wikiHow communicates an outstanding amount of information specifically related to “how to dos”. Wikipedia is basically an online encyclopedia that contains information on pretty much anything and everything. However, many people may not be aware of exactly what a “wiki” is. The dictionary definition of “wiki” is: a website that allows collaborative editing of its content and structure by its users. Wikis allow people to communicate in a way that is much different from the pre-technology era. The ability to give feedback to users posts and make adjustments to them has truly opened up the doors of communicating online.

In the class, students were informed that they would be writing a wikiHow article for the first project in the course. After learning about the assignment and the requirements that would need to be fulfilled to complete it properly, there were several steps that students had to follow. First, the students had to create a wikiHow account. Then, they had to develop three topics to write about, then look up whether or not there was already a wikiHow post on the topic. They then had to create a blog post about the topic, and then decide which would be the best topic to write about. Choosing a topic to write about was the hardest part. It was very difficult to generate ideas for completely original topics that were not already made into a wikiHow article. It took a bit of time and a lot of thinking to come up with the three topics. The three topics chosen were: how to curve the brim of a baseball cap, how to grow the glutes with three exercises, and how to cook chicken bulgolgi. The curving of a baseball cap was eliminated after realizing that the process was much too simple and did not involve many steps. The growing glutes topic was also eliminated because it is a very difficult process and is hard to outline. So, this left the recipe for chicken bulgolgi. This is a recipe that is very simple yet yields great results, so it was the ultimate choice for the final topic. The topic would be helpful to those looking for new recipes to cook online. It is great for those looking for a healthy Asian cuisine that doesn't require the use of red meats.

The next step was to create an outline for the final wikiHow topic. There needed to be an introduction to the article, steps that would need to be followed, and lastly, a conclusion. The introduction would communicate that the bulgolgi recipe is an authentic Korean dish that is usually made with beef. However, this recipe that is instead made with chicken is an alternative for those who do not eat red meat and tastes just as great. The steps that would follow would be listed to instruct the reader to make the chicken bulgolgi. This was a challenge because there is not typically a structured recipe that is followed, so putting one together took some time. It is very important to be as precise and descriptive as possible in a wikiHow, so this was also a bit challenging. Lastly, was the conclusion that would help wrap up the idea and give some closure for the person following the instructions. Finding the right ways to communicate the introduction and conclusion in an efficient way was a challenge because it had to be informative, and wasn't to contain any words that would make it seem like one was trying to "sell" the idea.

Then, students met with the professor one on one to ensure that the wikiHow was in good condition. She provided advice, and after receiving feedback from the professor on what needed to be fixed and what could be added, students wrote the final wikiHow article, included three tips, three warnings, and three separate links to related wikiHow articles. Because the recipe involved chicken it was important to remind people to be careful dealing with raw meats. It was also easy to include links to other Korean dishes because many Korean dishes pair with one another.

The next step was to write the final wikiHow with code. This was a little bit scary at first for those who had no prior experience with coding. However, the professor directed students to go to a published wikiHow article to reference the coding process there. This made the process much easier for those who had never coded before.

Next, students had to execute the wikiHow article steps and take photos for each step. The photos would act as a visual form of communication that assists those following the recipe in seeing how to properly complete each step. It was difficult to have to photograph each step all the while trying to complete the entire process. Some assistance would have been helpful in order to make taking photos of each step easier.

Finally, students were to insert the photos that they took of each step into the article with the coding. From there, students were able to copy and paste the final wikiHow with code into wikiHow itself. The student had to go to where it said to “create an article” on wikiHow, then to “advanced editing”, then paste the article into the text box and finally, click publish.

The process of creating the wikiHow was quite complex, but it was quite interesting and overall, rewarding. Communicating through a wiki definitely takes some getting used to before one gets the hang of it, but it becomes much easier.

Here is the link to How to Cook Chicken Bulgolgi, and here is a related article about wikis.