Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Would anyone like to talk to Rory Cellan-Jones about the falling number of editors?

2009-11-28 Thread Charles Matthews
Michael Peel wrote:
 Next up I think is Andrew, who's talking on BBC Radio 5 Live sometime  
 around 11pm tonight (Richard Bacon show). Hopefully that's the end of  
 the media deluge then. ;-)

 Mike

 On 25 Nov 2009, at 19:58, Thomas Dalton wrote:

   
 2009/11/25 Douglas Gardner microchi...@btinternet.com:
 
 That was a good interview. You covered what needed to be covered :)
   
 I agree, Charles did a good job. Made some good points while playing
 down all the sensationalism. Well done!

 
I now have a video clip of the interview. Anyone keep a press archive? 
And know one end of a DAT file from another, which is well ahead of me? 
I was thinking of transcribing what was said as a record which would 
make me cringe a little less ...

Charles


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[Wikimediauk-l] Would anyone like to talk to Rory Cellan-Jones about the falling number of editors?

2009-11-25 Thread Steve Bowbrick
Guys,

Rory (copied) sent out a request for Wikipedians on Twitter. Thought I'd
forward it to you.

Rory, Wikimediauk-l is the discussion list for Wikimedia UK, the UK
chapter of the Wikipedia mothership.

Steve

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Would anyone like to talk to Rory Cellan-Jones about the falling number of editors?

2009-11-25 Thread Charles Matthews
Whoever does: care required in talking to the media on this point. The 
New York Times article on this general area was really quite misleading, 
and has simply been copied in hundreds of places. The BBC is likely to 
be taken as a similarly reliable source. Anyone trying to compress the 
story to a Twitter-sized message risks misunderstanding. In any case the 
basic point I would always try to make is that if you take 2007 as a 
baseline, when many people were on enWP for reasons of fashion really, 
it looks like participation has dropped back quite a way; but once we 
had some proper statistics from 2009 it seemed clear that this year 
serious participation has been fairly constant.

Charles


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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Would anyone like to talk to Rory Cellan-Jones about the falling number of editors?

2009-11-25 Thread Michael Peel
I've just spoken to Rory by phone, and managed to touch on a number  
of different topics with him - including the Usability Initiative,  
the bookshelf project, Britain Loves Wikipedia and other local  
events, etc. There were lots of issues that I didn't cover (different  
language versions, strategy, different viewpoints on the  
numbers, ...), so I would encourage others to also get in touch with  
him.

I'm generally uneasy about talking about these particular numbers, as  
it isn't yet clear to me either how accurate they are or what exactly  
they mean. As a scientist, I'm very hesitant to talk about results as  
if they're black and white, as they rarely are - unfortunately that's  
how the media like doing things, hence the stories that are coming  
out about how wikipedia is dying - again. Odd how it never actually  
seems to die...

For information, I spoke briefly to the author of the article from  
the Times on Monday, but referred him to Jay at the WMF as I didn't  
real comfortable talking about the numbers. Unfortunately, Jay's in  
Tokyo for the japanese wikiconference this week, hence wasn't able to  
respond to the Times before they ran their story.

I've had no other calls/emails from any other media organizations  
about this story.

Mike

On 25 Nov 2009, at 11:33, Steve Bowbrick wrote:

 Guys,

 Rory (copied) sent out a request for Wikipedians on Twitter.  
 Thought I'd
 forward it to you.

 Rory, Wikimediauk-l is the discussion list for Wikimedia UK, the UK
 chapter of the Wikipedia mothership.

 Steve

 --
 Blogs at BBC AMi
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radio4
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radio3
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/5live
 07768 257 570

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/
 This e-mail (and any attachments) is confidential and may contain  
 personal views which are not the views of the BBC unless  
 specifically stated.
 If you have received it in error, please delete it from your system.
 Do not use, copy or disclose the information in any way nor act in  
 reliance on it and notify the sender immediately.
 Please note that the BBC monitors e-mails sent or received.
 Further communication will signify your consent to this.
   

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Would anyone like to talk to Rory Cellan-Jones about the falling number of editors?

2009-11-25 Thread Kwan Ting Chan

Gordon Joly wrote:


Volunteers Log Off as Wikipedia Ages By JULIA ANGWIN and GEOFFREY A. 
FOWLER


Work by Felipe Ortega

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125893981183759969.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Gordo



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/wikipedia/6650077/Wikipedia-project-losing-contributors-in-record-numbers.html

--
Experience is a good school but the fees are high.
- Heinrich Heine


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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Would anyone like to talk to Rory Cellan-Jones about the falling number of editors?

2009-11-25 Thread Brian McNeil
On Wed, 2009-11-25 at 13:08 +, Gordon Joly wrote:
 Michael Peel wrote:
  I've just spoken to Rory by phone, and managed to touch on a number  
  of different topics with him - including the Usability Initiative,  
  the bookshelf project, Britain Loves Wikipedia and other local  
  events, etc. There were lots of issues that I didn't cover (different  
  language versions, strategy, different viewpoints on the  
  numbers, ...), so I would encourage others to also get in touch with  
  him.

Apparently, Mr Ortega's work is based on people who register an account
and make one edit or more.

The WMF stats are based on slightly different metrics; only people with
five or more edits are classed as contributors.

I am not a scientist or, more importantly, a statistician. But, these
seem like radically different criteria for an analysis.

  I've had no other calls/emails from any other media organizations  
  about this story.

The Press Association are looking for comment.



-- 
Brian McNeil brian.mcn...@wikinewsie.org
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Brian_McNeil
Content of this message in no way represents the opinions or official
position of the Wikimedia Foundation or any of its projects.


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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Would anyone like to talk to Rory Cellan-Jones about the falling number of editors?

2009-11-25 Thread David Gerard
I chatted briefly to Rory Cellan-Jones as well.

* we're not actually doomed
* Felipe is a Wikipedian, his numbers are interesting
* it's the subject of lots of interested and animated discussion
around the project
* it's hard to find new things to write about these days - you need to
work at it
* we cover more stuff in more depth of obscurity than anyone
* usability initiative to make Wikipedia more newbie-friendly

Also - someone is needed for BBC News tonight between five and six. I
can't, but I've forwarded the email to WMUK and the WMF comcom.
Basically someone who can be at a BBC TV studio anywhere in the
country around then!


- d.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Would anyone like to talk to Rory Cellan-Jones about the falling number of editors?

2009-11-25 Thread Paul Williams
2009/11/25 David Gerard dger...@gmail.com


 Also - someone is needed for BBC News tonight between five and six. I
 can't, but I've forwarded the email to WMUK and the WMF comcom.
 Basically someone who can be at a BBC TV studio anywhere in the
 country around then!


I may have this covered - was just phoned by the guy at the BBC and am
making arrangements.


Regards,

Paul Williams
Volunteers Director
Wikimedia UK

*Email:* paul.willi...@wikimedia.org.uk

Wikimedia UK is the operating name of Wiki UK Limited. Wiki UK Limited is a
Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No.
6741827. The Registered Office is at 23 Cartwright Way, Nottingham, NG9 1RL.
The views expressed in this email are, unless otherwise stated, personal and
not those of the Board of Directors or Membership of Wiki UK Limited.
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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Would anyone like to talk to Rory Cellan-Jones about the falling number of editors?

2009-11-25 Thread Michael Peel

On 25 Nov 2009, at 13:18, Brian McNeil wrote:

 On Wed, 2009-11-25 at 13:08 +, Gordon Joly wrote:
 Michael Peel wrote:
 I've just spoken to Rory by phone, and managed to touch on a number
 of different topics with him - including the Usability Initiative,
 the bookshelf project, Britain Loves Wikipedia and other local
 events, etc. There were lots of issues that I didn't cover  
 (different
 language versions, strategy, different viewpoints on the
 numbers, ...), so I would encourage others to also get in touch with
 him.

 Apparently, Mr Ortega's work is based on people who register an  
 account
 and make one edit or more.

 The WMF stats are based on slightly different metrics; only people  
 with
 five or more edits are classed as contributors.

 I am not a scientist or, more importantly, a statistician. But, these
 seem like radically different criteria for an analysis.

He's posted his blog article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2009/11/wikipedia_on_the_wane.html

Sadly a lot of the points I was hoping to get across didn't make it  
into the post, but the last paragraph of his post is great, and  
something I wish the newspaper articles would end with:

So this is a project that is suffering plenty of growing pains - but  
with a Wikipedia entry coming top of Google's search results for just  
about any topic you can imagine, the online encyclopaedia is  
certainly not on the wane.

 I've had no other calls/emails from any other media organizations
 about this story.

 The Press Association are looking for comment.

They called me shortly after I sent that message; I spent ~ 10 mins  
talking to them on the phone. Hopefully something good will come out  
of that...

Mike


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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Would anyone like to talk to Rory Cellan-Jones about the falling number of editors?

2009-11-25 Thread Charles Matthews
I've been invited onto the BBC News Channel for an interview, 7.50 pm 
this evening.

Charles


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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Would anyone like to talk to Rory Cellan-Jones about the falling number of editors?

2009-11-25 Thread Michael Peel

On 25 Nov 2009, at 12:53, Michael Peel wrote:

 I've had no other calls/emails from any other media organizations
 about this story.

I perhaps shouldn't have said that. ;-) I've since spoken to the  
press association:

Wikipedia UK 'definitely not dying'
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ 
ALeqM5hOPGxuYbADpVcf_j_YveKyuzHm1A

(I've phoned them to explain that Wikipedia UK is the Ukranian  
language one, and encouraging them to change the headline...)

I've also just spoken to the Daily Mirror about this topic, so expect  
an article from them soon...

Mike

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Would anyone like to talk to Rory Cellan-Jones about the falling number of editors?

2009-11-25 Thread Gordon Joly
Michael Peel wrote:
 On 25 Nov 2009, at 12:53, Michael Peel wrote:

   
 I've had no other calls/emails from any other media organizations
 about this story.
 

 I perhaps shouldn't have said that. ;-) I've since spoken to the  
 press association:

 Wikipedia UK 'definitely not dying'
 http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ 
 ALeqM5hOPGxuYbADpVcf_j_YveKyuzHm1A

 (I've phoned them to explain that Wikipedia UK is the Ukranian  
 language one, and encouraging them to change the headline...)

 I've also just spoken to the Daily Mirror about this topic, so expect  
 an article from them soon...

 Mike
I shortened that link

http://bit.ly/8uGDlF

I have not read the reports, or the actual research, but what does 
leave actually?

Some people make a statement, others just stop editing.

Gordo



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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Would anyone like to talk to Rory Cellan-Jones about the falling number of editors?

2009-11-25 Thread Michael Peel
 From Rory at the BBC:

@ruskin147: @mike_peel it's a recorded piece at around 1825 on the  
R4 Six O Clock news - have you seen the blog post? http://tinyurl.com/ 
yljcrko 

Mike

On 25 Nov 2009, at 17:01, Gordon Joly wrote:

 Michael Peel wrote:
 On 25 Nov 2009, at 12:53, Michael Peel wrote:


 I've had no other calls/emails from any other media organizations
 about this story.


 I perhaps shouldn't have said that. ;-) I've since spoken to the
 press association:

 Wikipedia UK 'definitely not dying'
 http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/
 ALeqM5hOPGxuYbADpVcf_j_YveKyuzHm1A

 (I've phoned them to explain that Wikipedia UK is the Ukranian
 language one, and encouraging them to change the headline...)

 I've also just spoken to the Daily Mirror about this topic, so expect
 an article from them soon...

 Mike
 I shortened that link

 http://bit.ly/8uGDlF

 I have not read the reports, or the actual research, but what does
 leave actually?

 Some people make a statement, others just stop editing.

 Gordo



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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Would anyone like to talk to Rory Cellan-Jones about the falling number of editors?

2009-11-25 Thread Michael Peel
Next up I think is Andrew, who's talking on BBC Radio 5 Live sometime  
around 11pm tonight (Richard Bacon show). Hopefully that's the end of  
the media deluge then. ;-)

Mike

On 25 Nov 2009, at 19:58, Thomas Dalton wrote:

 2009/11/25 Douglas Gardner microchi...@btinternet.com:
 That was a good interview. You covered what needed to be covered :)

 I agree, Charles did a good job. Made some good points while playing
 down all the sensationalism. Well done!

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