The Wikipedia Revolution: How a Bunch of Nobodies Created The World's Greatest Encyclopedia

I must admit it has been quite a while since my last blog post, can't say there's a specific reason, but laziness and medical studies come as the main factors, my apologies.

So the focus of this post will be about how I've recently been into editing Wikipedia, or The Free Encyclopedia; I'm sure you've used it at some point, it is, after all, usually one of the primary results in a Google Search. Ever imagined where these articles came from, who wrote them, who contributed, and who edited? Well I doubt you have, it honestly isn't something I would do, but being a recent editor has got me thinking, how much credit do these contributors really get for their work, is there anyone who says well done, good job, or even thank you?

The surprising thing is that the majority of people in our society don't know editing is actually possible, which makes it quite obvious why Middle Eastern articles are somewhat low-grade compared to those of the Western world, and by low-grade I really mean that there is much room for improvement. Gratitude? Can't say they get any, that is unless it is from their fellow Wikipedians, usually represented as a barn star posted on the user's talk page; a page on which discussions about user edits are made.
My contributions until now have mainly targeted articles about the Middle East, two articles I am especially interested in are "Jordan University of Science and Technology", the college which I currently attend, and "Suleiman Mousa", my late grandfather, who was the first and only Arab author to write about T.E. Lawrence, or "Lawrence of Arabia", and show the Arab perspective.

What do you need to become an editor? Nothing much really; an e-mail account, a sufficient command in the English Language, good grammar skills, and suitable references for any ad
ditional information you might want to add to an article, or else it will be deleted by an administrator.

I would definitely recommend  becoming a contributor to Wikipedia, with no doubt there will be articles of interest to everyone, and increasing one's spectrum of knowledge is also a pleasant side factor. Beware though, it is a very time-consuming business, so choose your time carefully.