Wikipedia

Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Howard University, Washington, DC, USA/Civil Engineering Economy (Spring 2019)

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Course name
Civil Engineering Economy
Institution
Howard University, Washington, DC, USA
Instructor
Michael OConnor
Wikipedia Expert
Ian (Wiki Ed)
Subject
Applied Microeconomics and cost accounting
Course dates
2019-01-14 00:00:00 UTC – 2019-04-02 23:59:59 UTC
Approximate number of student editors
13


Every entity, public or private, is confronted with the fundamental problem of economics, it wishes to accomplish more than its resources will permit. The problem consists of two fundamental questions that must be answered, namely what objectives should be investigated or explored and how should these be achieved? Economics as a social science answers those questions and is defined as the knowledge used for selecting among “…technically feasible alternatives for the purpose of a rational allocation of scarce resources.” As a subdiscipline, engineering economics narrows the definition of the problem and related questions to that of problems related to the investment of capital, public or private in a broad array of projects, products, processes, and services. Engineers confront more specialized forms of the fundamental problem in the form of inadequate economic evaluation of engineering projects. Civil engineers under constant pressure to deliver infrastructure effectively and efficiently confront complex problems associated with allocating scarce resources for ensuring quality, mitigating risk and controlling project delivery. Engineers must be educated to recognize the role played by engineering economics as part of the evaluations occurring at each phase in the project lifecycle.

The purpose of this class is to introduce the students to the rich history of civil engineers who gave the powerful tools of engineering economy that we enjoy today.
It will also serve to give the students a sense of the role Wikipedia plays in informing the general public on vital topics of today such as infrastructure and project

Student Assigned Reviewing
Mr.Brannon Opportunity Cost
HUBISON3728
WumboWaffles Environmental engineering
Ian0217 Peirson Frank Peirson Frank
Toubizac Opportunity cost Opportunity cost
Glenngrace7
Industryman
Kukismss Geer-Melkus Construction Geer-Melkus Construction
Jamesj320 Transportation Engineering Transportation Engineering
RichRome Thomas curtis Clarke Thomas curtis Clarke
Yasminekhiri Polygamy Polygamy
LARams03
Omkhulu Construction Management Construction Management
Dgj.521 Albert Fink
Nve98 Construction Engineering Construction Engineering
Ccedric2.0 Arch bridge, Civil engineering, Systems engineering, Master of Engineering, Engineering management, Engineering education, Military engineering Environmental engineering science
Sidinho26 Infrastructure Engineering, Project Engineering

Timeline

Week 1

Course meetings
Monday, 14 January 2019   |   Wednesday, 16 January 2019
In class - Introduction to the Wikipedia assignment

Welcome to your Wikipedia assignment's course timeline. This page guides you through the steps you'll need to complete for your Wikipedia assignment, with links to training modules and your classmates' workspaces.

This first Wikipedia assignment requires the following: tasks must be completed by 1/20/2019. 

  1. Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. (To avoid hitting Wikipedia's account creation limits, this is best done outside of class. Only 6 new accounts may be created per day from the same IP address.)
  2. It's time to dive into Wikipedia. Below, you'll find the first set of online trainings you'll need to take. New modules will appear on this timeline as you get to new milestones. Be sure to check back and complete them! Incomplete trainings will be reflected in your grade.
  3. When you finish the trainings, practice by introducing yourself to a classmate on that classmate’s Talk page.

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account. 

The Instructor recommends that the student does not use their real name, nor include a picture of themselves on their user page ... watch clip ... No shared names or account use ... 

Personal and privacy-breaching material on social platforms such as Facebook, Linkedin, and Wikipedia.

Some students add personal information such as contact details (email, instant messaging, etc.), a photograph, their real name, their location, information about their areas of expertise and interest, likes and dislikes, etc. Once added this information is unlikely to ever become private again. It could be copied elsewhere or even used to harass you in the future. The student is cautioned to think carefully before adding non-public information to their user page because they are unlikely to be able to retract it later, even if they change your mind.

  • Privacy-breaching non-public material, whether added by the student or others, may be removed from any page upon request, either by administrators or (unless impractical) by purging from the page history and any logs by oversighters (see requests for oversight). 
  • As a part of this course, no student should edit another user page, but the student may comment on the username talk page.  

Setup a user page under your new account ... See these links

Your course has been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. You can reach them through the Get Help button at the top of this page.

Resources:

Assignment - Get started on Wikipedia

Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. (Because of Wikipedia's technical restraints, you may receive a message that you cannot create an account. To resolve this, please try again off campus or the next day.)

 

 

 

 

Milestones

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Week 2

Course meetings
Wednesday, 23 January 2019
Assignment - Evaluate Wikipedia

 

It's time to think critically about Wikipedia articles, especially civil engineering articles such as biographies, as well as articles on specialized topics such as "engineering economics". You'll evaluate identified Wikipedia articles related to the course and leave suggestions for improving it on the article's Talk page.

 

 

Week 3

Course meetings
Monday, 28 January 2019   |   Wednesday, 30 January 2019
Assignment - Exercise
Adding citations

Read the Wellington, Lounsbury, and Grant articles.

  • Consider the following questions (but don't feel limited to these): 
    • Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
    • Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
    • Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
    • Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?
    •  Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted? 
    • Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
    •  Check out the Talk page of the article. What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic? 
    • How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
    • How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?
  • Familiarize yourself with editing Wikipedia by adding a citation to one of the articles. There are two ways the student may choose to do this and the student must choose one method:
    • Choose at least citation relevant to the article you're evaluating and leave your recommended citation and edit material on the article's Talk page. Be sure to sign your feedback with four tildes — Yasminekhiri (talk) 14:48, 5 April 2019 (UTC).  [reply]
    • Add 1-2 sentences to the same article, and cite that statement to a reliable source, as you learned in the online training and documented on the talk page. Document the edit with a reference to the talk page. 
Guide(s) for writing articles in your topic area

Biographies

Week 4

Course meetings
Monday, 4 February 2019   |   Wednesday, 6 February 2019
Assignment - Discussion
Thinking about Wikipedia Assignment

Exercise

 

What do you think of Wikipedia's definition of "neutrality"? NPV or "No original research" NOR

  • What are the impacts and limits of Wikipedia as a source of information? Particularly for civil engineering data, information or knowledge given NPV or NOR.
  • On Wikipedia, all material must be attributable to reliable, published sources. What kinds of sources does this exclude? Can you think of any problems that might create?
  • For this question, assume we are not engineers, 
    • If Wikipedia was written 100 years ago, how might its content (and contributors) be different? What about 100 years from now?
  • Now we are answering this as aspiring Civil Engineers. We must also face the question of technology and the role it played in the development of civil infrastructure. 
    • If Wikipedia and civil engineering topics were being written 100 years ago, how might its content (and contributors) be different? How would Wellington have written about railroad economy? How would Campbell? John Haydon? Milnor Roberts? What about 100 years from now? What would CE knowledge look like 100 years from now?  Would a wiki platform remain relevant? 

Make a new section on your user page (1000 character minimum in total for both questions)

  • One subheading to answer the first questions ...
    • If Wikipedia was written 100 years ago, how might its content (and contributors) be different? What about 100 years from now?
    • The audience for this question is a general reader with some exposure to technology
  • Second subheading to answer the second set of questions ... 
    • If Wikipedia and civil engineering topics were being written 100 years ago, how might its content (and contributors) be different? How would Wellington have written about railroad economy? How would Campbell? John Haydon? Milnor Roberts? What about 100 years from now? What would CE knowledge look like 100 years from now?  Would a wiki platform remain relevant? 
    • The audience for this question is a practicing civil engineer with fifteen years of experience.  
  • Organize the response in each section any way you wish ... 


Add a citation

Week 5

Course meetings
Monday, 11 February 2019   |   Wednesday, 13 February 2019
Assignment - Choosing Your CE article

Exercise

Choose a topic

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 6

Week 6

Course meetings
Wednesday, 20 February 2019
Assignment - Finalize your CE topic/find sources

Finalize your topic / Find your sources

 

Remember that you will need to find at least three references for your contribution. Do this on your User page in a new heading ... 

Week 7

Course meetings
Monday, 25 February 2019   |   Wednesday, 27 February 2019
Assignment - Start Drafting your CE Contribution

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9

Week 8

Course meetings
Monday, 4 March 2019   |   Wednesday, 6 March 2019
Assignment - Begin Moving Your CE Contribution to Wikipedia

Exercise

Add links to your article

Now that you've improved your draft based on others' feedback, it's time to move your work live - to the "mainspace."

Remember, your contribution should contain at least three references and be substantive.

 

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 13

Milestones

Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.

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