Thanks for looping me in J-mo. Here's my take on this: 1. Wikimedia Affiliates are gathering this kind of data because they need it to help guide their support of wikimedia projects in their country. Should the WMF be responsible for gathering this data for just one project? Probably not. I endorse Jmo's suggestion for IEG. Pete, you can (and probably should?) partner with English-language chapter and user groups as well. This could be something Program Capacity & Learning team can help guide as well since we are focusing on affiliate partnerships. I would not be surprised if this topic comes up during Wikimedia Conference next week.
2. Ultimately, online surveys are a terrible way to get census-style data. The editing team was thinking about a way to get this data in a highly protected way, but I'm not sure if that is still something they are thinking about. As J-mo says, its very hard and time-intensive to do correctly. While this data is useful to show progress on certain goals, the results are not super actionable for either the WMF or affiliates. Pete - would you be interested in creating an IEG? You can also post something in IdeaLab to get a conversation started. Hope this is useful for you! Edward On Thu, Apr 14, 2016 at 9:11 AM, Ryan Kaldari <[email protected]> wrote: > So it does. Strange that they ask about English Wikipedia, but are citing > cross-wiki statistics. I suppose an update of either would be welcome. > > On Thu, Apr 14, 2016 at 10:07 AM, Jonathan Morgan <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Oh, I thought it was an Enwiki specific request, because the thread Pete >> pointed to >> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Jimbo_Wales/Archive_206#Updated_demographic_statistics_on_Wikipedia_editors> >> starts with the following sentence: >> >> *"Does anyone know if there is a reasonably up-to-date source regarding >> demographic statistics on regular English Wikipedia editors?"* >> >> Either way, I have no objections. Just opinions :) >> >> Jonathan >> >> On Thu, Apr 14, 2016 at 9:00 AM, Ryan Kaldari <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> This request is not about English Wikipedia; it's about demographics for >>> Wikipedia editors in general. Apparently, the last time we did a cross-wiki >>> demographic survey was 2008. Let me know if that isn't correct. >>> >>> The specific questions that people would like answers to are: >>> * What is the gender of Wikipedia editors? >>> * What is the age of Wikipedia editors? >>> * What is the educational background of Wikipedia editors? >>> * What is the relationship status of Wikipedia editors? >>> * What percentage of Wikipedia editors have children? >>> >>> On Thu, Apr 14, 2016 at 9:44 AM, Jonathan Morgan <[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> CC'ing Edward Galvez, our survey specialist. >>>> >>>> Hi Pete, >>>> >>>> I support this idea in general, and am always interested in learning >>>> more about the demographics of our communities. A few >>>> considerations/suggestions (these are opinions: I'm not in a position to >>>> launch or kill a project like this). >>>> >>>> - It takes much more than a month to deploy and analyze a (useful, >>>> successful, and LEGAL) survey. Especially when you're asking about >>>> people's >>>> off-wiki lives (see Dan's comments above). WMF ran an annual editor >>>> survey >>>> for several years, and ended up stopping in part because it took a lot >>>> of >>>> time, and there was no clear research question to justify the continued >>>> effort of re-running the survey. >>>> - I'd like to hear a more detailed rationale about why we think the >>>> demographics of English Wikipedia may have changed since the last >>>> survey. >>>> - I'd like to hear a more detailed rationale for why it is more >>>> important to understand the demographics of English Wikipedians (who >>>> have >>>> already been surveyed) as opposed to, say, the demographics of >>>> contributors >>>> to languages associated with countries where a large number of people >>>> are >>>> coming online for the first time (and hence represent areas of >>>> significant >>>> content growth within Wikipedia as a whole). We've run comparatively >>>> fewer >>>> surveys targeted at these users, and we have greater reason to suspect >>>> that >>>> the demographics of these contributors are actively shifting. >>>> - This sounds to me like it could be a great Individual Engagement >>>> Grant project. If someone submitted this as an IEG and it was accepted, >>>> I >>>> would be happy to support the project by working with the project >>>> leader to >>>> craft a useful survey and get the relevant Legal approval. >>>> >>>> Best, >>>> Jonathan >>>> >>>> On Thu, Apr 14, 2016 at 5:05 AM, Dan Andreescu < >>>> [email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Hi Pete. This is a subject that comes up every now and then, but >>>>> there is no active effort I know of to measure demographics. While it >>>>> seems simple, and should be in a more ideal world, it is not. Any sort of >>>>> self-identification tends to be heavily biased because a lot of >>>>> minorities, >>>>> when they identify as such, are harassed in some pretty miserable ways. >>>>> We >>>>> could run some of the tools we have to survey, like quick survey, and keep >>>>> results anonymous, what specifically were you looking for? >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Friday, April 8, 2016, Peter Ekman <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> Hi, >>>>>> >>>>>> Jimbo, on his talk page, said I should ask somebody at the WMF about >>>>>> what's been going on and what might be happening soon re: Wikipedia >>>>>> demographic surveys >>>>>> >>>>>> Please see, >>>>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Jimbo_Wales#Updated_demographic_statistics_on_Wikipedia_editors >>>>>> >>>>>> My feelings are: >>>>>> *This is an important problem that should be easily dealt with and can >>>>>> be solved by a commitment from the top brass, and >>>>>> *we need to take a spectacularly simple approach to just get it done. >>>>>> >>>>>> Any feedback would be appreciated via my e-mail or even on Jimbo's >>>>>> talk. >>>>>> >>>>>> Sincerely, >>>>>> Pete Ekman >>>>>> aka User:Smallbones >>>>>> >>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>> Analytics mailing list >>>>>> [email protected] >>>>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/analytics >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> Analytics mailing list >>>>> [email protected] >>>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/analytics >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Jonathan T. Morgan >>>> Senior Design Researcher >>>> Wikimedia Foundation >>>> User:Jmorgan (WMF) <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jmorgan_(WMF)> >>>> >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Analytics mailing list >>>> [email protected] >>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/analytics >>>> >>>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Analytics mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/analytics >>> >>> >> >> >> -- >> Jonathan T. Morgan >> Senior Design Researcher >> Wikimedia Foundation >> User:Jmorgan (WMF) <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jmorgan_(WMF)> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Analytics mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/analytics >> >> > -- Edward Galvez Survey Specialist Learning & Evaluation Wikimedia Foundation
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