The Experience of Creating a WikiHow Article

        This WikiHow project was much more difficult than originally anticipated. There was a lot of detail and thought that needed to be put into it to make it a professional-looking, objective article. From creating original images, to making the recipe several times to ensure that not a step or detail was missed, this was quite the experience. This project required the use of Adobe Photoshop, and basic knowledge of coding and website development as well. The coding was more challenging than using Photoshop. Having to make sure every part of the code was perfect was important, because if it wasn’t perfect, if there was a space too many or one too little, it would mess up the whole article. Overall, creating a WikiHow article is a highly detail-oriented task, one that can be challenging, but fun and beneficial to anyone at the same time.

  One of the more difficult requirements of this assignment was writing objectively and not in the first person. Not injecting yourself or your thoughts into something is not normally done, or at the very least, not thought about often when writing any kind of article. It is very easy to slip up and throw a “we” or “you” in there without even thinking about it. But thinking and writing in this way is exactly what made this assignment a challenge, and it was why this project was assigned. It forces the mind to think in a different way than it usually does, and that is how growth happens.

Another somewhat difficult aspect of this assignment was gathering the photos. The photos had to be taken as each step was being done, so the ability to multitask and the need to slow down and carefully analyze each step to make sure the picture was depicting the step in the best way possible was crucial. Using another person to act out the steps was helpful for this part, but also it allowed an outsider to practice the steps written as they are to see if they make sense when just given to someone who has never made a dairy-free Starbucks pumpkin cream cold brew. It provided a chance to only focus on taking quality photos, as well as get feedback on the steps written out. 

When it came to writing out the article in WikiHow code, it was surprisingly easier than originally anticipated. Although it was easier, it was still quite surprising. The article needed to have “tips” and “warnings” which were definitely the hardest part of writing up the final article. Because creating this drink was just second nature, lots of thought was given to create a three quality tips and warnings beyond the obvious ones that could’ve been written like “put blender lid on before blending.” Some serious thought had to be given for these two sections, and thinking as someone who maybe hasn’t created this drink before was a fun and unique experience. What was complicated was working with the updated WikiHow platform. The new update was clearly designed to make making an article easier on the writer because it took away any coding used. After discussing the issue with the class and the professor, and figuring out a way to convert the simplified way of writing an article to a more advanced way that allowed coding, the project was for the most part smooth sailing from there.  

Part of writing the article meant including some references to other WikiHow articles. Since this article was about a coffee drink, the references were also about making other kinds of coffee drinks. These references were not only meant to be beneficial to the reader, but they were beneficial in writing and coding the article because they were similar in layout to the dairy-free Starbucks pumpkin cream cold brew article. Looking at those provided a good foundation on how to code this article.

Overall, this project was a lot of fun to create. Yes, it was highly detailed oriented, which became kind of tedious after a while, but thinking and writing with the intent of being detailed and including things that may be forgotten in the usual swing of a routine was what made this assignment a good one for growth and improvement. It was intended to push writers out of their comfort zones in both writing and thinking. The creativity that was able to go into this kind of assignment was freeing. Most college level writing assignments are very structured and boring, but this was something that was fun to make, and using the WikiHow platform was so untraditional to a typical college setting. It was a refreshing and exciting assignment to partake in.