The Wiki Writing Experience

Writing a wikiHow page can be very enjoyable and fulfilling, but at the same time it can be difficult and tedious. There are many different ways in which people can use different types of communication in order to make their wiki. People use photos, information from another wiki, personal experience and step by step instructions. It is very important that the appropriate forms of communication are used while making a wiki page because if the information is hard to understand or not clearly expressed, the whole point of the wiki page is lost.

As with anything in life, it seems to be easier with step by step instructions. A good example of step by step instructions making things easier is when people buy furniture or decorations. Chairs, Christmas trees, ping pong tables and TV stands are all examples of things that come with step by step instructions to help people assemble them. Whether the wiki is about how to make a recipe, perform a task or navigate through life; a step by step list is always the simplest way to get someone to do something right. When people are trying to do something, a lot of the difficulty comes from simply not knowing the steps that they have to do in order to get the task done. The difficulty isn’t in doing the steps, it is identifying what the steps are. So when a wiki gives the person the steps, it is often very easy for that person to accomplish whatever it is that they are trying to do. Even wiki pages such as “how to survive four years of college” have steps in them. A topic as broad as that doesn’t really have set steps, and there are a lot of variables present considering everyone’s life and school is different. However, it is useful to have a step by step instruction because someone who wants to learn how to survive college will most likely have no idea where to start! So steps, even if they apply specifically to that person or not, will help them. It is vitally important that the steps are very organized and clear so anyone reading them can do that. Using simple language and short, concise steps is a must.

Personal Experience is even more important that writing a step by step list about how to do something. Steps are much more effective if the person who has written them has experienced the task first hand. In order to teach someone something effectively, the person who is teaching and making the wiki page must have a background in the topic before teaching it to someone else! If someone wants to write a wiki on how to take care of a puppy, it would help a lot if that person has taken care of a puppy at some point in the past. In terms of actually writing a wiki page, it is a dangerous slope. The coding that is required for the wiki environment is very tedious and attention to detail is a must. One misplaced hashtag or comma can really throw off the presentation of the wiki page. Coding an internet page is like trying to learn a new language only by listening to natives speak it. Speaking from experience, choosing a thing that you have had previous experience doing is a very smart move. If you don’t know anything about Indian food, then it probably would not be a good idea to make a wiki page about how to make a spicy curry dish. Think about how hard it would be for a 12 year old to teach someone how to drive a car correctly, it probably would not go too well. In order for someone to teach somebody else how to do something, the teacher will be much better off if they have done it a few times before. It’s just a fact.

Another thing that is extremely important when making a wiki page is photographs. Wikihow obviously is an internet website that allows people to learn things. This means that there is not any face to face communication between the person who is consuming the information, and the author of the Wikihow article. So, a Wikihow article without pictures is like trying to do an oil painting with blackout glasses on. It just isn’t going to go the way it should. People can follow words on a screen very well, but not everyone can read a paragraph or bullet points and create an accurate image in their heads of what they are reading. Imagine trying to do a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. All the pieces fit together, and they make a perfect rectangle, but all the pieces are black with no images or patterns on them. So the person knows that the pieces do fit together in some way, but they cannot match up the colors or patterns on the pieces. It would be much more difficult than having a regular puzzle where people can see what pieces might fit together. Having a photo or two with each step on a Wikihow page makes it so easy for the consumer to put the steps together and ultimately do the thing they are trying to do! This is one reason that Youtube is often the “go to” for people to find out how to do something. Instead of still images, Youtube offers video which allows the consumer to see the process in full. With photos, there is still some grey area between the steps. Use tying a tie as an example. With photos, people are able to show the end result of each step. But with video, the consumer is able to actually see each step being done in full. Photos are great, but videos are even better when it comes to learning how to do something.

The experience of writing a wiki page is both educational and enjoyable, but it can also be long and difficult if the producer of the page doesn’t know what they are doing! No matter what you do, DO NOT hit publish before you are one hundred percent confident that the wiki page is done! Be sure to use various types of communication, it will only make the wiki page more effective.