For our first group assignment, we spent time on Wikipedia looking at different articles and taking a closer look at the conversations and interactions that are happening behind the scenes. Much of the edits, discussions and conversations about the collaborative editing process that makes Wikipedia what it is take place on the "talk" pages.
We also took a look at the "history" pages of articles, too see how edits have taken place over time. It was interesting to see spikes in edits over time, especially when a specific event changes the facts about a person, place, concept, etc.
This shed some light on the incredibly interesting process that makes Wikipedia a well-oiled, collaborative machine. After studying the strengths and weaknesses, we took three different approaches on how to alter Wikipedia: (1) how to improve Wikipedia; (2) how to 'break' Wikipedia; (3) how to extend the Wikipedia model into a new form or content.
Our presentation is below: