unu merit wikipedia survey
DESCRIPTION
Overview of the Wikipedia Survey data analysis. The survey is a collaboration between UNU MERIT and the Wikimedia Foundation.TRANSCRIPT
Wikipedia Survey
Wikimania Buenos Aires26 August 2009
Collaborative Creativity GroupUnited Nations University MERITRishab Ghosh, Ruediger Glott, Philipp Schmidt
http://[email protected]
BACKGROUND
• Wikimedia Foundation &United Nations University MERIT
• First official Wikipedia survey (for readers and contributors)
• Questionnaire developed with community input and building on existing research
• Translated into 22 languages by Wikipedia community
BACKGROUND
• Online survey hosted at MERIT. Code reviewed by WP technical community
• Survey went live November 2008• Link to survey was posted in page headers of
WP sites• Staggered across different language editions
to deal with traffic loads
RESEARCH QUESTIONS / OBJECTIVES
• Who is contributing to Wikipedia and how?• Who is using Wikipedia?• What are users' and contributors' perceptions
of quality?• Pragmatic findings that help the WMF improve
use and benefits.• Establish baseline for possible monitoring
system (panel studies)
SCOPE
• Questionnaire contains 50+ questions (with sub-questions) on a broad variety of topics and is broken down into sections:– General, Contributing, Reading, Non-contributors,
Ex-contributors• 310,000 users/contributors accessed the
survey• 175,000 valid responses
ANALYSIS
• Extensive data cleaning (removed more than 3500 cases)
• First sub-reports shared with WMF– Survey Overview (available via blog)– Non-contributors (for WMF presentation)– Quality
ANALYSIS - NEXT STEPS
• August 2009 – Share moderately anonymized data with WMF and make available additional sub-reports
• November 2009 – Publish comprehensive survey report (including all sub-reports)
• Post publication – Open access to all fully anonymized data
LANGUAGE EDITION SURVEYS
• 22 languages (incl. 2 surveys for chinese)• Started with largest language editions• Added further editions based on interest by
WMF, availability of volunteer translators, and diversity of sample
• Top 5 language editions ~ 80% respondents• Russian largest group (tested against
manipulation)
LANGUAGE EDITION SURVEYS
LOCATION
• Responses from 231 countries
USER/ACTIVITY TYPES
• Readers 66% Contributors 31%
• Contributors: 4 hrs / week
• Additional categorization based on focus areas
AGE
• Quartile: 18 yrs - 22 yrs - 30 yrs - 85 yrs
Type Avg Age
All respondents 25.22
Readers 24.79
Contributors 26.14
Female 23.79
Male 25.69
GENDER
• Gender by user type• Female: 30% readers, 12.5% contributors
EDUCATION
• High levels of education (esp. given avg ages)• Contributors slightly higher than readers
(~ 50% with tertiary education)
MOTIVATIONS TO CONTRIBUTE
• Ranked motivations (1st - 4th)
REASONS FOR NOT CONTRIBUTING
HOW TO INCREASE CONTRIBUTION
• I would be much likelier to contribute, if …
FOCUS AREAS AND EXPERTISE
• Culture & Arts most popular, Technology & Applied Sciences (then History, Geography)
• 70-90% of contributors self-identify as “experts”
• Highest shares of experts in technical and scientific fields
• Focus areas do not correspond perfectly with expertise levels. “Geography & Places” attracts high levels of contributors, but comparatively low levels of expertise.
FOCUS AREAS AND EXPERTISE
PERCEPTIONS OF QUALITY
• Quality compared to “traditional” encyclopedia– Reliability (only category where “traditional”
received higher scores)– Broadness– Variety– Depth– Understandability– Timeliness
• Compare reader and contributor responses
QUALITY - RELIABILITY
• The information provided is correct
QUALITY - DEPTH
• The information provides deep understanding of a topic
QUALITY - VARIETY
• A wide range of topics is dealt with
PERCEPTIONS OF QUALITY
• Contributors are both more critical (reliability, understandability) and more supportive (all other dimensions) than readers.
• Relationship between transparency, understanding of the processes and mechanisms, and perception of quality.
ANNEX – ADDITIONAL TABLES
MOTIVATIONS TO CONTRIBUTE
REASONS FOR NOT CONTRIBUTING