Editing of a Wikipedia page - The initial experience[]
As I was unable to login to the Wikipedia page with a new user name due to the high volume of new identities made from our shared Pratt IP address, Professor Bowen and I decided upon two courses of action - searching for references as well as performing an anonymous edit on the Noguchi Museum↑ entry.
Below is the text which I would like to improve in style and flow:
"The Noguchi Museum, chartered as The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, was designed and created by the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi in 1985 to preserve and display his sculptures, architectural models, stage designs, drawings and furniture designs It is a two story museum with an outdoor sculpture garden. It is located in the Long Island City section of Queens one block from the Socrates Sculpture Park. In 2004, a major renovation allowed the museum to remain open year round." Wikipedia entry for Noguchi Museum
The Noguchi Museum, chartered as The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, was designed and created by the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi. Opening on a limited basis to the public in 1985, the purpose of the museum and foundation was and remains to preserve and display Noguchi's sculptures↑, architectural models↑, Stage designs↑, drawings↑ and furniture designs↑. The two story museum and adjacent sculpture garden, located in Long Island City↑ section of Queens↑, one block from the Socrates Sculpture Park↑, underwent major renovations in 2004 allowing the museum to stay open year round."
I also added one reference and cleaned up a couple of refernces under the guidance of Professor Bowen's watchful and helpful eyes. Currently all the references and links are working. I also discovered a broken link with one of the New York Times articles and so found the new URL and proceeded to clean up that link as well.
Further explorations and experience with Wikipedia[]
After making the initial and primary edit to the first paragraph of the Noguchi Museum↑'s Wikipedia page I began to undertake some more serious research into the history, mission and place of the museum itself. I have to admit I found myself running short of time and drowning in information!
Issues and questions[]
I cannot conceive of why the Noguchi Museum and its very capable staff have not paid more attention and
Screenshot of iPad Google search result showing Wikipedia in right hand corner
devoted more time to the Wikipedia entry. Most other museums in New York seem to have a stronger, more concise Wikipedia presence. And I discovered while performing my browser tests on various mobile devices the prominence of the Wikipedia entry to the museum in relation to the museum website etc. As shown in the image to the right - the information contained within the Wikipedia page is partially transcribed onto my search result page. What better way to generate buzz and get accurate information about one's institution out there to the public than to have an accurate and complete Wikipedia entry? To date, I have not received any answer from my querry to the museum regarding this matter. The museum has published a dearth of information on the museum, some written by Noguchi himself, and yet the article on Wikipedia is mostly concerned with the felling of a particular near-weed tree in the sculpture garden some years back. I believe this focus does a disservice to the museum and the collection housed within.
Also - I have a great deal of respect now for those individuals who habitually or sporadically for that matter edit Wikipedia entries. The condensing and organizing of information along with the sussing out of various appropriate sources is exhausting and laborious. I am hoping that in the future days, weeks and months I can make a real stab at updating and doing justice to the Noguchi Museum Wikipedia page. Up to date I do not believe I have done so.