Okay. It’s time to admit that… for a long time I didn’t know that anyone could edit Wikipedia pages. AKA – I really had no idea what Wikipedia was all about, or why professors wouldn’t accept it as a citable source. Obviously I never paid attention to the tag line under the logo, “the free encyclopedia, THAT ANYONE CAN EDIT.” I’m realizing through this class that there is a lot about the Internet that I don’t know, even though I use it more frequently than any other technology. I may be using the internet at a very basic level, mistaking my vast amount of time spent on it, for my real understanding of it.

Now I am officially an editor of Wikipedia. I searched for “Lacrosse” and found a Wiki page full of information about lacrosse history, the differences between the men’s’ and women’s’ game, youth lacrosse, college and international lacrosse, and more. I decided to read the section about women’s lacrosse, since that’s what I know most about, and found an area I could add to. When I first read the page, it talked about differences from men and women’s lacrosse, mainly being about the physical contact of the sport – women can’t hit check each other’s bodies – only sticks – whereas men can slash each other’s bodies with their sticks. I added a tidbit about the fact that the fields are also lined differently for men’s and women’s lacrosse.

When we talked last week about editing a Wiki page I was not keen on the idea. For whatever reason I don’t feel confident posting my own knowledge on the web, knowing that other people might look it up and take it as fact. Even though I know what I said is a fact and would verbally tell anyone who asked about lacrosse, it made me question myself when I typed it and had to click “save page.” I think it was like Shirky said, that somehow the act of writing something down makes that something become a FACT in other people’s eyes. I’m talking in circles now, because I just said that what I wrote WAS a fact… hmm. I think another piece of it is that once I’ve become a part of something like this, COOPERATING with the online community of Wikipedia, some element of what goes on “behind the scenes” is taken away, and it no longer seems as true and real. It’s kind of like, when you hear about cast parties with Hollywood stars – then you go to one, and realize it’s actually not all that fantastic. It’s kind of just like a college party but with grown-ups and wanna be’s, and the drinks are in nicer glassware, (okay, yeah. It’s pretty cool too). Anyway, I hope my point maybe makes a little sense. Maybe not? I didn’t add that much to the page… really just a couple of sentences. So my edits probably aren’t that important to the larger project as of now. HOWEVER. Maybe my tidbit will encourage someone else to expand on the point I’ve raised. Maybe I’ll go back to Wikipedia and add some more details about the women’s lacrosse playing field, or maybe I’ll mention it on the discussion page and hope someone else can do the writing after I’ve provided the idea… then maybe I’ll Wikipedia how to put an image on a Wikipedia page. Ah, the never ending cycles of the internet…