This editor is a Labutnum and is entitled to display this Book of Knowledge with Coffee Cup Stain, Cigarette Burn, Chewed Broken Pencil, and Sticky Note.
My name is C. Jason Smith. I was a Professor of English at LaGuardia Community College of the City University of New York for 15 years and am now a freelance writer. I have been teaching web-supported, hybrid, and online courses for over 20 years (beginning in 1993 with the Daedalus system developed at the University of Texas). I am by inclination an edupunk and tend to avoid platforms specifically designed for education because I find them restrictive, unimaginative, and expensive. Students should have free tuition instead.
I have been editing Wikipedia since 2008. This account is the only one I now use, and with it I supervise hundreds of editors a year (and thousands of edits) as well as patrolling pages in Children's Literature, Articles for Deletion (AfDs), and occasionally Images of the Day (IoD) nominees. When I have time, I like creating new pages in my areas of interest. I frequently assist with Wikipedia new-user training at edit-a-thons, usually in NYC, and other events where I prefer working with the creation of new articles in underrepresented areas. My current Wikipedia project is on the Caldecott Medal and the Newbery Medal lists with my Children's Literature (ENG280), Writing Through Literature (ENG102), and The Research Paper (ENG103) students. I am working on a project plan for my ENG101 students.
I am also a very liberal, disabled veteran, expatriate Texan, and have the accent and attitude to prove it.
You can find me at my main page HERE and on Facebook HERE.
Financial Disclaimer & Conflict of Interest
I am a professional writer and writing teacher and am often compensated for that work. However, I do not now receive, nor have I in the past received, financial compensation for my work on Wikipedia, affiliated sites, or for related events. Various articles on Wikipedia contain references to my compensated work, but I do not now make content edits on articles which contain references to my compensated work, or those which represent sources from which I receive compensation (i.e. The City University of New York). In the past I maintained several anonymous accounts on Wikipedia: this disclaimer applies to those accounts as well.
My students are not required to individually publish live work on Wikipedia for course credit, nor are they individually required to edit live Wikipedia content for course credit (ergo they are not "compensated" by me for their work on live Wikipedia articles). Wikipedia training, working in sandboxes, and commentary on talk pages may be required depending on the course.
All the preceding adverbs are extremely relevant.
Verb-tense also counts.
See the "Confessions" section below.
Educational Aims
On Engagement: I feel it is important for student writers to actively observe and positively engage with a writing community outside of the physical classroom (and my isolated feedback). My main goal for working with my students on Wikipedia is to responsibly expand underdeveloped areas of Wikipedia, primarily within my areas of expertise and research competencies; therefore, my students' contributions are usually the creation of new articles (stubs and starts) or small, though significant, additions to established articles, such as adding verified sources. All of my students' work on Wikipedia is supervised as much as possible, and verified, by myself and other Wikipedia volunteers--not always immediately. We all make mistakes individually, but collectively we can overcome them.
On Student Work, Off-site, and Opt-out: My students have the option of working off-site (they do not have to use the Sandbox, but most do so), publishing anonymously, having me publish for them if I am willing based on the quality of their work, or not publishing at all. I maintain the right to allow my students to participate with Wikipedia anonymously, through me, or with a collective account to protect their right to privacy and avoid potential Conflict of Interest issues in forcing them to publish materials on Wikipedia that I assign (please see my COI statement above).
On Multiculturalism and Systemic Bias: I believe the English language Wikipedia incidentally demonstrates systemic bias against several groups including women, children, and non-whites (to name a very few) because most of the current volunteer editors do not belong to those groups, nor do the majority of them have interests in the concerns of those groups. I do not blame them at all. Interests of volunteers are their interests, so I see this as a fact and have no personal agenda to change those editors' interests. My interests as an editor and educator are different. The students in my classes are from all over the world, of all ages (16 to 80+), and predominantly female. Many have full time jobs, several children, and speak several languages besides English. Some are undocumented residents of the US and some are political refugees from other countries. I think it is important to bring these voices (voluntarily) to Wikipedia: for the long-term health of Wikipedia and so that my students understand that they can add to the future knowledge-base of the world in constructive ways.
Student Articles: My students have been creating original articles on Wikipedia since 2009. The first live articles were Elektra: The Hand and Gallura, based entirely on the student's interests and their desire to publish on Wikipedia. My goal is 100 individual student projects per semester in underrepresented areas (I am currently at 44 per semester).
Articles I Initiated, Teach, and/or Heavily Edit
(An asterix* indicates that I am the originating author, but I try to avoid feeling ownership over them.)
Pearson-Marr Archetype Indicator (PMAI)* (psychological personality inventory). I use the PMAI to help students engage with literature from a developmental psychology perspective
Confessions: Wikipedia Things I Have Done Wrong (aka B.A.D.)
I once edit warred not knowing the three revert rule: WP:3RR. No one was blocked. I apologized.
I one time added [citation needed] to another editor's comment in a discussion and got totally schooled (and well deserved) by an Admin.
I was particularly contentious in a discussion about a PoD that I considered pedestrian for an international audience. I now try to offer constructive feedback on the PoD nominations when I have time, and all the editors there are very instructive and helpful.
I made a couple of potential Conflict of Interest (COI) edits to articles several years back (specifically references to my published works) before I completely understood the COI rules. I now avoid editing articles that might potentially be a COI (which is difficult for an academic and professional writer with a wide range of interests), but I try to defer when the discussion seems to go on too long. See my current COI statement above.
I have occasionally been strongly argumentative (hopefully in the the productive sense) on the Education page. I will continue to do so when I feel strongly about something, though I try to choose my engagements wisely.
I once dominated an AfD discussion (on principle, perhaps misguided in hindsight) about a series of Tween books, and some strong words were exchanged between me and a few other editors. I hope I properly qualified and apologized where appropriate. Subsequently, I worked for quite a few weeks to justify the article's existence. Academics like me can be weird: hopefully in the good way.
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