A for Effort

On: October 2, 2010
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About Mares Kahrel
Hi I'm Mares! I just finished my study Media & Culture and started my New Media Master. I've always worked in bars, but I decided to do something else and started an internship at an advertising company called QI. I work there as a content manager. I thought it would be good get some relevant work experience, before I get my degree and have to find a job in 'The Digital Media World'. Besides working and studying I spend as much time as possible with my friends. I'm trying to find the right balance between work, study, friends, travels, dancing, sports and going out, which sometimes makes me want to have 40 hour days so I wouldn't have to deal with the shortage of time ;). But I guess we all do sometimes.....

Website
http://mareskahrel.wordpress.com    

While searching for a subject to write about on Wikipedia, every word I came up with already existed. So I thought about the example that was given, and decided to write about the history of the Amsterdam Dance Centre. I took my time on writing something interesting about it. After posting it, I got a message straight away. My article would be deleted AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! Well….A for effort. I guess they might have thought I was promoting the school. My second article had more success. I decided to write about the profession Art Director on the Dutch Wikipedia. It’s still there, but there’s a request for correction of the article. So hopefully there will be a few eager people who agree to the fact that my definition doesn’t do right to the profession, so that they will take some time to edit it and help my articlesurvive.Wikipedia is one of the most well known user-generated content applications, written by users collaboratively. Everyone who’s got internet access can write an article and share it with the rest of the world. Others can edit it as they please. The idea is that eventually with the help of multiple editors, and article has the quality it needs.

Although everyone can write articles on the site, there is a group of people that take on the responsibility of checking the quality of the articles that are written. They make it there ‘job’ to make sure Wikipedia offers correct and interesting information. I wonder what their motivation is for taking on this responsibility. They put time and effort in their work and don’t get paid for it.Is it because they want to be part of a community, and take on responsibility for that community? It could also be a reputation issue. The ones who constantly check the articles or place interesting articles get appreciation for what their doing, which might give them a powerful feeling in the community in which they work. They obviously wish to be taken seriously. Or is it just a time consuming hobby, something they simply enjoy doing?

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