Taking a weird trip down memory lane, I decided to see what Wikipedia had to offer on my last boss, Admiral Michelle Howard. I worked for ADM Howard for just under two years, very closely, first as her Flag Aide and then as her speechwriter while she was the Vice Chief of Naval Operations.

Comprehensiveness

It’s a bit tough to fully consider what is a comprehensive report about a person, particularly one who you know personally. From the perspective of ADM Howard’s career milestones and highlights, everything is present and accurate. Perhaps one of the most important and impactful things about ADM Howard’s public life is the list of all the firsts that she has been…the number of trails she’s blazed and barriers she’s broken. All of those things are captured within the body of the article.

The content that I feel is missing has more to do with capturing more of the quality of her personality, work ethic, and the determination which allowed ADM Howard to succeed to the degree she has. I’m not surprised the article lacks this color, partially because it’s a bit harder to capture given the information that is publically available (and therefore citable) about her. However, I know of several news sources which discuss for example, her early family life, her experience at the Naval Academy, and even discriminatory comments made about her by senior colleagues (for which that colleague was strongly punished.) Indeed, the Wikipedia entry is instead largely a copy and paste of her official Navy biography.

Sourcing

As the most prominently drawn from source is ADM Howard’s official biography, edited by ADM Howard’s staff and approved by her, it is certainly an appropriate and accurate citation. However, where that the only source, one might be concerned. Obviously figures in the public sphere as senior as she is in the military might have motive to portray herself in a particular light or to control the information available about her life and career. Additionally, the Navy on a broader level has an interest in the kind of information available about her and her career. There is a decent list of articles published in reputable news organizations like Bloomberg Politics, The Washington Post, the Navy Times, and press releases from organizations like the NAACP.

Overall, I do think the lack of more personal content I discussed with regard to the comprehensiveness has a lot to do with the sources used (and not used) and the portions of information taken from those. I also think it’s consistent with the kind of messaging and publicity that ADM Howard herself and at the advice of the Navy’s Chief of Information are careful to portray and cultivate.

Neutrality

To a large extent, the content I think is largely missing would likely be considered a bit more controversial or portray the Navy to a disadvantage. For that reason, it’s not hard for me to imagine that the Navy has gone to some effort to the Wikipedia largely aligned with her professional public bio. That said, the information is factually accurate and certainly doesn’t reflect any significant or strong bias in the language and content actually present.

Readibility

The sequencing and language of the article is not the most accessible, particularly for a civilian audience. ADM Howard’s career milestones are all mentioned but they are not discussed chronologically and there is some repetition and redundancy around the list of firsts in her career. The somewhat garbled and overly formal information and language is a barrier for readability and is also my biggest critique of this Wikipedia article overall.

Format

The formatting of the Wikipedia page is good – consistent with other Wikipedia article formats, with functioning links and appropriate categories.

Illustrations

The illustrations which are present are good – fun fact, I was present when her official picture was taken, so it’s interesting to see it in such a public forum. I think the article would benefit from pictures of the ship she historically first captained (USS RUSHMORE.) I know there are also other public pictures of ADM Howard with family (mentioned in the article) and during other historical events mentioned in the article which I think would give more complete visual portrayal to go with the content of the article.