Ahh.. the wide wiki world. I personally have had a love affair with wikipedia for a long time. But little did I know about its other, lesser known brothers and sisters, wikitionary and wikiversity! And I feel as though I've been cheating.. or not doing my part.. or SOMETHING when it comes to wikipedia. I feel like I've been using its resources yet not helping it to be a resource to others. I remember the days of old when sometimes you actually could type in a word and there not be an entry or the entry be a "stub".. and that RARELY happens now. But with no help from me! This was the first I've ever made a profile or even learned how to post something! I've always seen that elusive "edit" button and have even considered clicking on it when I come across a misspelled word or incorrect fact, etc. But I never have done so. Why? Maybe laziness, maybe because I was worried whomever had posted originally would be upset, maybe because I doubted my own knowledge.. But whatever the reason, it's a thing of the past! And it's so silly that I even worried about those last two, because first of all, that's the whole point of collaborative sites like wikipedia-- to add and help and correct each other until it's complete. And secondly, as wikipedia says in their help pages, nothing is permanent! So what if I'm not 100% correct on something. If that's the case, then someone can edit again or revert to a previous edit!
I know it sounds a little corny, but I feel somehow empowered by having set up my profile and even more so, having edited a page! It was exceptionally cool to be able to edit my profile to look like an actual wiki page.. and interesting to see the shorthand ways that the wikimedia circuit has created to point to pages, to format text, etc. And my page edit may have been a minor edit, but it was an edit nonetheless.. my, albeit minute, mark on the world.. or at least the world wide web :)
Check out my profile on wikipedia here.
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