2013 11 eduwiki cardiff

Great Britain Historical GIS Project:A Vision of Britain though Time

Introducing Students to Independent Research through Editing Wikipedia Articles on

English Villages

Humphrey Southall (University of Portsmouth/Great Britain Historical GIS)


Applied Human Geography course• Course for first year human geographers at the

University of Portsmouth• This year only c. 50 students on course, but

introduced in 2011-12 when a “bulge” intake meant we had 103 students on course– Need for a practical course that could handle a lot of students

with limited staffing

• Course runs weekly over year, but during first half of the year they do a different assignment where tutorial groups do fieldwork around Portsmouth– One requirement was developing a clearly distinct assignment– So in second half they work individually and entirely online– Reports on the two assignments contribute equal marks

1st November 2013


The assignment – from the handout (1):

• In the second half of the year we will be using on-line resources to study places you do not know personally and will not be visiting.

• Each student is assigned a different place, and more specifically the Wikipedia article about that place. These articles already exist but are very short.

• Your task is to substantially extend your assigned Wikipedia article to provide a rounded description of the place and, in particular, an account of its historical development.

• The final article must be of not more than four pages when printed using Wikipedia's default settings.

1st November 2013


The assignment – from the handout (2):

• Because you will be writing about villages well away from Portsmouth you have no personal knowledge of, or opinions about, everything you say must be supported by referencing, sentence by sentence.

• Your sources of information will mainly be other web sites, and your mark will depend on how thoughtfully these are chosen, how carefully they are referenced, and how you respond to comments from others.

• The reliability and usefulness of the information you add is much more important than the amount.

1st November 2013


Course Programme for 2013

1st November 2013

Date Session Topic

25 Jan Lecture Introduction: Writing about places

28 Jan Class Working with Wikipedia 1: Each student has to register, find an article to work on, and add descriptive sentence to it

1 Feb Lecture Researching places on-line: Systematic sources about parishes

28 Jan Class Working with Wikipedia 2: Adding text from a 19th century gazetteer, and a population time series, plus source references for both

8 Feb Lecture Researching places on-line 2: Qualitative sources about places

Then weekly Surgery I am available in my office to discuss content, and the two postgrads

are available to help with using Wikipedia

22 Feb Guest Andrew Gray (British Library): Working with Wikipedia community

22 Mar Lecture When and how to cite online; when and how to copy; plagiarism

Late March Tutorials Formative Assessment: draft articles presented to tutorial groups

9 May Deadline! Submission of printed version of final article to department office


Criteria for choosing articles (1):

1st November 2013

Criterion Yes No

I have never been there and have no plans to visit before May 9 2013. As far as I know, I have no connection with this place. (If answer is “no”, return sheet unmarked for someone else.)

✔

The existing article is very short, and contains no socio-economic statistics other than, possibly, the population in 2001 (Look at the article itself, within Wikipedia)

✔

The article can be edited, but has not been edited other than by a "bot" since the start of 2013 (Is there an "Edit" link?; check the article's "View history" link).

✔

There is not a separate linked article or articles for separate villages within the parish, or they are also very short (if such articles exist, discuss them with us).

✔

There is a settlement there, visible on a modern map (Click on coordinate at top right of article, and then on Bing Maps/OS Maps, but if your answer is no you must get us to agree).

✔


Creating a shortlist of villages with Toolserver• Possible to systematically extract lists of articles from

Wikipedia meeting some of these criteria:– http://tools.wmflabs.org/catscan2/catscan2.php?categories=Civil

+parishes+in+North+Yorkshire&show_redirects=no&before=20120101&smaller=1500&doit=1

• Results for NorthYorkshire– There used to be

more, before course started!

– Deepest thanks toAndrew Gray forshowing me this

1st November 2013

http://tools.wmflabs.org/catscan2/catscan2.php?categories=Civil+parishes+in+North+Yorkshire&show_redirects=no&before=20120101&smaller=1500&doit=1





Criteria for choosing articles (2):

1st November 2013

Criterion Yes No

The place is currently a Civil Parish. (Go to http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk; type in the place name; click on "more areas" and select "Parish", then Search).

✔

There is a "place page" for the same place within A Vision of Britain through Time. (Go to www.visionofbritain.org.uk and type the place name … into the main search box).

✔

There is a descriptive gazetteer entry from the 19th century (This should appear on the place page in Vision of Britain). ✔

A population time series is available for at least three census years (From the Vision of Britain place page, click on "Units and Statistics”; click on a unit which has "CP" against its name; click on "Population"; click on "Total Population”).

✔

Occupational statistics are available for 1881 (Still in Vision of Britain, click on "Census Reports" in the sidebar; click on 1881/10: "Occupations of Males and Females …" if this exists).

✔

http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/

http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/


Getting started with Sawley, North Yorkshire

1st November 2013


Wikipedia article for Sawley, North Yorkshire: Before


Googling for Sawley

1st November 2013


List of more formal source for parishes

1st November 2013


Wikipedia article for Sawley, North Yorkshire: After


Wikipedia article for Sawley, North Yorkshire: References

• The students are banned from visiting “their” village

• Nothing in Portsmouth libraries• So research must be entirely online


Placename data for Sawley from Survey of English Place Names


BBC Domesday material for Sawley


Monumental Trees for Sawley (!)


2011 Census Key Statistics for Sawley from Neighbourhood Statistics


Population data for Sawley 1881-1961 from Vision of Britain


1st November 2013

Occupational Statistics for Sawley in 1881 from Vision of Britain


Population data for Sawley 1801-51 from Hist-Pop (Essex)


Wikipedia article for Sawley, North Yorkshire: References

• The students are banned from visiting “their” village

• Nothing in Portsmouth libraries• So research must be entirely online

This is the best of the 2A articles – but four students got first class marks


History page for Sawley

1st November 2013


Assessment -- You will be marked on seven criteria: 1. Inclusion of required systematic information

Statistical trends from the census + parish administrative history

2. Effective use of sources to create a sense of place and a sense of historical evolution

3. Originality in use of sourcesHave you gone usefully beyond the sources we suggested?

4. How well your article is laid out and illustrated

5. Quality of referencingWherever possible include a hyperlink to the source, but each footnote should clearly identify the source and enable the reader to assess its quality, without following links

6. Engagement with other Wikipedia users

7. Adherence to Wikipedia guidelines:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_UK_geography/How_to_write_about_settlements

1st November 2013

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_UK_geography/How_to_write_about_settlements


“Engaging with other Wikipedia users”

• Criterion added after 2012 Eduwiki meeting• Partly about how students respond to comments from

and edits by other users• But primarily about whether they have a complete

article complete in time for other Wikipedians to engage with it and improve it before submission deadline– Deadline is in second week back after Easter– Criterion is whether a reasonably complete article exists by

end of term before Easter– I am trying to train students not to leave everything until the

last minute!

1st November 2013


Practical Issues:• Students required to register using univ email addresses

– Discovered students could not upload directly into article until their account had made TEN edits, and waited four days

– Failed to discover this when I tested instructions as my account had been around much longer

• Strange undocumented “features”:

1st November 2013


Practical Issues:• Students required to register using univ email addresses

– Discovered students could not upload directly into article until their account had made TEN edits, and waited four days

– Failed to discover this when I tested instructions as my account had been around much longer

• Strange undocumented “features”:

1st November 2013

Running a course like this you really need access to an Andrew Gray …


Conclusions:• The students found working “in public” challenging

– In first year course ran, some thought they could just hand in a conventional course paper instead

• They learnt a lot about referencing– Biggest problem, and commonest reason for fails, was copying

text from other sites, including a hyperlink to the source but not identifying text as quotation -- still plagiarism!

• … and, in the end, most students clearly took great pride in what they had done– Excellent introduction to doing independent research– Manageable for first years because sources so systematic

• I hope we didn’t place too big a burden on other Wikipedians– Deepest thanks to KeithD

1st November 2013


All about Keith D

1st November 2013

2013 11 eduwiki cardiff

Technology

vision of britain

assigned wikipedia article

editing wikipedia articles

historical development

right of article

existing article

wikipediathe article

draft articles