Wikipedia is one of the most visited websites on the Internet, regularly bringing in millions of readers a day. But how exactly does a huge site like this work? What are its strengths? What are its weaknesses? Who edits the site? And perhaps most importantly how can you, the reader, help make the site better? In this book, Paul A. Thomas--a seasoned Wikipedia contributor who has accrued almost 60,000 edits since he started editing in 2007--breaks down the history of the free encyclopedia and explains the process of becoming an editor. Chapters include: The History of Wikipedia The Wiki-Ethos: What to Know Before You Edit Getting Started: Making Your First Edits Growing as an Editor: To Wikitext and Beyond Concrete Ways to Make Wikipedia a Better Resource Becoming a Critical Editor: Countering Bias A Short Glossary of Wiki-Slang After reading Inside Wikipedia, you will be ready to contribute to the largest, most comprehensive knowledge base the world has ever seen. What will you write about?
Paul A. Thomas is a library specialist at the University of Kansas and a PhD candidate at the Emporia State University School of Library and Information Management. He has been an avid Wikipedia editor since 2007, having created 260 articles, made over 60,000 edits, and promoted over 296 articles to "good" or "featured article" status. From 2017 to 2020, he also served as a Wikipedia Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, helping to improve articles on Ancient Roman and Latin literature. He lives in Overland Park, KS.
Here's an inside look at one of the world's most visited web sites by a Wikipedia editor who has made over 60,000 edits to the site.
In Inside Wikipedia, Paul Thomas brings an experienced Wikipedian's knowledge in newcomer-friendly prose to explain how to join the community of contributors. His discussion of 'critical editing' in the context of Wikipedia's biases is a particularly welcome addition to the corpus of publications about Wikipedia.--LiAnna Davis, LiAnna Davis, Chief Programs Officer, Wiki Education Expert and accessible. Thomas brings his decade-plus experience of collaborating on Wikipedia to print with this new book. Thomas takes the reader inside the online encyclopedia, revealing its history and culture, and showing the reader not only how to contribute but how to be a good contributor---in short, how to become a Wikipedian.--Joseph Reagle, Northeastern University, Author of Good Faith Collaboration: The Culture of Wikipedia This book should be titled Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Wikipedia (*But Were Afraid to Ask) - as it provides a very comprehensive, yet super accessible summary of what Wikipedia is, how it works, and how one can contribute. If you're not editing Wikipedia yet, it is a must-read. If you do, get the book anyway, and spread the good word!--Dariusz Jemielniak, Professor and Chair of MINDS (Management in Networked and Digital Societies) Department at Kozminski University, Warsaw, Poland, author of Common Knowledge? An Ethnography of Wikipedia and Collaborative Society, and Faculty Associate at Berkman-Klein Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University
