wikiHelp

Writing a wikiHow was a unique experience.  In some ways it was easier than imagined, having never thought about the extensive knowledge held about how the internet/websites work.  Being exposed to the web and social media almost twenty four seven gave a leg up on the assignment. Visualizing how other websites look and sound was a helpful mental guide throughout this process.  In other ways it was harder than imagined, realizing how tedious and precise of a process it is. Picking a topic not already done before, taking the time to do the task and plan out the steps, writing it and getting down to the nitty gritty with coding was lengthy.  Specifically, writing objectively not subjectively while trying to explain to someone how to do something was a challenge. It involved really “slowing down” and thinking about the words in which to choose and the sentence structure, something fairly new.

Reading over other wikiHow’s tremoundlesy helped shape the new wikiHow.  Seeing how the parts and steps were broken down made making the outline more accurate.  The other wikiHow’s were so, for the lack of better words, dumbed down. Simple actions that most would assume were explained, and in detail.  This brought about the realization that not everyone holds the same knowledge/worldly experiences, so never assume. Also the realization that wikiHows are made to teach someone how to do something step by step with no missing details.  The words “well how does one do that?” were on repeat, in the attempt to stop assuming and explain everything as detailed as possible. Instructions such as, “Set up the tent” were too vague, and later translated into something along the lines of “Take the tent out of the package and read/follow along to instructions on how to set it up. Once set up properly package away.”   This wikiHow was used as a guide because it similarly was talking about how to prepare for something.  It had parts and steps to each part that explained more thoroughly.

Another struggle was figuring out how to properly compartmentalize the steps and the things you’ll need list.  Considering the topic was on how to prepare versus how to perform a task there was no specific way to do things.  This required thinking about what was most logical for a first time festival goer reading this article. Once that mindset was put into place it all came somewhat easy.  Researching the festival would come first then buying the ticket and so on. The things you’ll need list was lengthy because all supplies had to be listed from personal items, tent items and more.  The list was never fully complete until the coding process, random items would come to mind and get added. Collaboration amongst friends/fellow festival goers was a huge help to the process. When going to a music festival packing/preparing is a group effort, what one person may forget the other will remember.  Most of the times roles are delegated at the beginning, this person has a tent, the other has a canopy etc. Packing it all alone usually isn't the case, so writing a wikiHow and trying to remember it all was tough. Guidance from friends was especially helpful when it came to the tips and the warnings. It was like a group of veterans pulling together to give the best tips for first timers.

Taking and editing the pictures in Photoshop was a fun part of the process.  After taking a bunch of pictures process of elimination was used when picking the final five used.  Editing the pictures was also tedious but very needed. Not only was it important to change them over to the correct size and resolution but playing around with the lights and darks made a huge difference.  Photoshop was also used to edit out mistakes in the picture and blur logos and things of that sort. The blurring technique was used in this picture.

Coding the wikiHow was the final fine tuning of it all.  Using the copy and paste method from a previous wikiHow article was more than helpful.  After everything was put into place it all came down to a few re reads to make sure everything looked right.  Being able to save the wikiHow and preview it in the final format put the coding to the test.

After the upload of the wikiHow to Prepare for a Camping Music Festival a notification appears saying something about being similar to other articles.  This was somewhat defeating considering all of the hard work put into this article.  There was initial research upon this subject and it was concluded that there are a few articles about music festivals but none about camping at one.  Thus there was need for knowledge on this subject because it is a hard type of trip to prepare/pack for. All in all this was a stressful yet rewarding process.  The feeling of accomplishment for starting and finishing this project is a reward in itself, even if the article doesn’t remain posted.