It took a bit of trial and error in order to get the hang of using the Wiki mark-up codes. It took me twenty minutes just to figure out how to align a photo to the right side of the screen! However, once I got the hang of the Wikipedia mark-up language, this turned out to be a surprisingly fun assignment! It's also beneficial to include links - blue words that are used to reference to key words, which link to other relevant Wikipedia articles. This helps readers out, especially when they come across words such as "anthocyanins," one of the antioxidants present in blueberries.
I added some information about berries under the header "Potential health effects", and the studies which have been done on them. I also created a section called "Dietary supplementation" which refers to the role of flavonals present in green tea, and how green tea extract is often added to weight-loss supplements. I also added two photos, one of wild blueberries - which are rich in antioxidants compared to cultivated blueberries. The other photo I added was the chemical structure of epigallocatechin gallate, also known as EGCG. This is the flavanol present in green tea which has been the focus of many recent studies.
I took several screen shots of my Wikipedia page becase initally, two of my entire paragraphs got deleted and edited over! My caption under blueberries described the anthocyanins present in wild blueberries, and within one day my caption had been edited by someone else to state that blueberries only contain Vitamin C - which is completely false! I was so frustrated. They also altered some of my paragraph about supplementation. This made me realize how unreliable Wikipedia truly is, because anyone can edit your work and write what they want. I noticed that Jessie's blog post described similar feelings towards Wikipedia, especially when she referred to inaccurate editing, which is especially problematic when a student is trying to learn about a new topic!
Here are some screenshots of my article after I finished editing:
Superfood Wikipedia article screenshot #1 (2012). Taken by Lindsay Gervais [digital image], March 22 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfood |
Superfood Wikipedia article screenshot #2 (2012). Taken by Lindsay Gervais [digital image], March 22 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfood |