Regarding this, I have had heard different stories about contributors. I seem to recall one study that concluded that, while 85% of the **edits** are done by a small core of contributors, if you take a random page and select a sentence from it, this sentence is more likely to be the result of edits by contributors from the "long tail" than core contributors. I forget the reference for that study though.
Does someone on this list have solid information about this? I think it's a fairly crucial piece of information that we should have a clear handle on as a research community. Alain > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:wiki- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Felipe Ortega > Sent: November 13, 2008 5:33 PM > To: Research into Wikimedia content and communities > Subject: Re: [Wiki-research-l] "Regular contributor" > > You have a very similar effect in larger Wikipedias. In those ones, > there is no very active, "single bus"-like contributor, but a core of > very active users concentrating about 85% of the total number of edits > per month. > > It seems that in these languages, though, there is a generational relay > in which new active users jump into the core to substitute those who > eventually give up, for any reason. So, the concentration becomes > stable after a couple of years (aprox.) and the encyclopedia is able to > continue growing. > > Best. > > F. > > > --- El jue, 23/10/08, Gerard Meijssen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > escribió: > > > De: Gerard Meijssen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Asunto: Re: [Wiki-research-l] "Regular contributor" > > Para: "Research into Wikimedia content and communities" > > <[email protected]> > > Fecha: jueves, 23 octubre, 2008 10:27 > > Hoi, > > I missed that this was the research mailing list.. my fault. > > Consequently my answer was not appropriate. With this in mind, it is > > interesting to learn how the spread is in particularly the smaller > > projects. In my opinion there must be a certain amount of productive > > people in order to get to a community that does not have one person > > who is the "bus factor". > > > > Having someone who drives the bus is really important. I wonder how > > you can point this person out. I think that someone who is just > > editing is important but it is not all that builds a community. > > Thanks, > > GerardM > > > > On the Volapuk wikipedia Smeira was really important. When he left, I > > understand that activity collapsed. > > > > 2008/10/22 phoebe ayers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > > 2008/10/21 Gerard Meijssen > > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > > >> Hoi, > > >> When you divide people up in groups, when you > > single out the ones "most > > >> valuable", you in effect divide the > > community. Whatever you base your > > >> metrics on, there will be sound arguments to deny > > the point of view. When it > > >> is about the number of edits, it is clear to the > > pure encyclopedistas that > > >> most of the policy wonks have not supported what > > is the "real" aim of the > > >> project. > > >> > > >> When you label groups of people, you divide them > > and it is exactly the > > >> egalitarian aspect that makes the community > > thrive. > > > > > > > > > But this isn't about labeling people for the rest > > of time and saying that > > > this is how they are defined *on Wikipedia* -- > > it's about saying how do you > > > study people who regularly contribute to Wikipedia, > > and as a part of that > > > how do you define the group that you are studying, > > which is an important > > > question for any research study. > > > > > > Given that it's impossible to study every > > contributor to the project in > > > every study, and since many researchers are interested > > in why people who > > > spend a lot of time or effort working on Wikipedia do > > so (and what exactly > > > it is they do), this is a very relevant question for > > this list. > > > > > > --phoebe > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Wiki-research-l mailing list > > > [email protected] > > > > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wiki-research-l mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Wiki-research-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l _______________________________________________ Wiki-research-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l
