WikiHow: Do you have what it takes to create one?

 Have you ever spent hours searching on the internet for the perfect solution to fix a current issue, learn how to do something or perhaps acquire a new skill or talent? If so wikihow is the perfect website for you. WikiHow is a knowledge base website where users could collectively modify and structure content that is directly from the website. Wikis allow its viewers and content creators to post, comment, and edit on another user’s post. This allows opinion based and factual information to be combined together in order to provide extensive use of information to serve its users. 

Due to WikiHow being created under web 2.0 its credibility is always under question. With the exposure and growth of social media web, 2.0 has become a cultural phenomenon characterized especially by its change from static web pages to user-generated content. This is a community-oriented technology movement with easy use and access, opportunities to collaborate, faster loading applications, real-time updates, and social features. This is one of the many reasons why people prefer to use WikiHow on how to do something rather than any other search engine because the content is created without any defined owner or leader and has little inherent structure. 

WikiHow has forever changed the way we communicate with each other. There are four types of effective communication used in WikiHow, verbal, nonverbal, written, and visual. Verbal communication is one of the most common and often used a type of communication. Nonverbal is the complete opposite and is the use of gestures, body language, and facial expressions to convey a message to others. With the use of nonverbal communication, you have to be very careful because it can be used intentionally and unintentionally. For example, you could be sitting on the subway near a group of people who are conversing about the sudden loss of a loved one while drifting off in your imagination, smiling about a pleasing or enjoyable moment you’ve experienced. Do you see how that message could easily be misunderstood? Written communication is the act of writing, typing or using symbols and numbers to convey information. This form of communication could also be very tricky because of language barriers and cultural comprehension if used in the wrong context. Lastly, visual communication is the act of using photographs, art, drawings, sketches, etc. to convey a message through the use of visuals. 

        This is considered the most productive and effective form of communication. Visuals are often used as an aid to provide additional help and support to further understanding the message. 

Visual, verbal, and nonverbal forms of communication were all used to create the WikiHow article on “How to tell a loved one you’re HIV Positive” (How to tell a loved one you're HIV Positive). With referenced information from another wikiHow article call “How to Stay Positive After An HIV Diagnosis” (How to stay positive after an HIV Diagnosis). It made the experience and process a lot easier in terms of figuring out the direction and flow of the WikiHow articles. With choosing a topic that is very controversial and doesn’t always receive the most positive feedback it’s important to build a relationship with the reader through writing the article itself from an objective lens. Limiting the use of the words I, me, and my helps with establishing credibility and informs the reader that thorough research was conducted in order to provide them with the necessary steps on how to do something.  

The same applies to visuals whether that is through the lens of photography or videography. In order to communicate a message or body of information effectively, you must have a thorough understanding and comprehension. What makes an individual qualified and helps establishes their credibility is their personal experience or gathering information from those who have personally dealt with HIV or knows someone who has. Some examples of this would be knowledge or experience working in the public health setting, personal statements gathered from others, or you, yourself with being HIV positive. 

Creating a WikiHow doesn’t have to be a difficult experience. Doing thorough research on your topic, including personal stories that aren’t objective, using references, photos and more if you choose, to break down step by step the process of how to do something and show the end result of accomplishing that you’ll have WikiHow in no time.