Taking a quick step back from all the very enthusiastic questioning of the researcher's motives...
Kiril, Regarding your methods, Your proposal states <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Modelling_Behaviour_in_a_Peer_Production_Economy_upon_Evidence_from_Wikipedia> that for this study "The editors will be sampled from the pool of contributors to all language editions over Wikipedia's entire history and will be classified into groups based on their longevity on the project." But it says little more than that. When I read this description, it does not sound to me like you will necessarily be contacting editors for this study, or intervening in any way into Wikipedia. Stuart and Pine's questions seem to assume that you will be in some way recruiting editors as participants, asking them to change their behavior, asking them questions, etc. *Will you be performing any of the above activities?* If not, the questions asked so far may be beside the point. Anyone is free to perform analysis on publicly available and free-licensed data. If you do plan to intervene in Wikipedia in some way, or work with editors as research participants or co-researchers, and you would like the members of this mailing list to provide you with feedback or other support, please describe the support or feedback you would like to receive in more detail. If your study is non-interventionist but you still want feedback, we can provide that too. Perhaps you can be more clear about the kind of feedback you want; that will keep the conversation going in an interesting and productive direction that everyone on the list can benefit from. Finally, we the members of this list (whether volunteers or WMF staff) are not peer reviewers, do not speak for the Wikipedia community, and are not empowered to approve or deny research requests. Best, Jonathan On Mon, Feb 24, 2020 at 11:23 PM Kiril Simeonovski < kiril.simeonov...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Stuart, > > Thank you for your thoughts so far. I really like how the discussion is > progressing. > > The methodology will, of course, yield other results about editor dynamics > and growth paths. Paid editing and sock puppetry as systemic risk factors > could be included in the model exogenously but it might be possible to > endogenise them in any future research. At this stage, the most important > thing is to lay the grounds for developing a sensible model that can be > later upgraded with new assumptions. > > As for the editing experience, I've been around since 2008 (this is my edit > log <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAuth/Kiril_Simeonovski > > > ). > > Best, > Kiril > > On Tue, Feb 25, 2020 at 12:37 AM Stuart A. Yeates <syea...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > > Hi Kiril > > > > Let's just say that history has taught us to be risk-averse to > > drive-by researchers. > > > > Can you point us to other research output using this methodology? Do > > you (or any of your team) have significant editing experience? Are you > > familiar with the firestorm that is paid editing and sock puppetry?? > > > > cheers > > stuart > > > > -- > > ...let us be heard from red core to black sky > > > > On Tue, 25 Feb 2020 at 10:43, Kiril Simeonovski > > <kiril.simeonov...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > Hi Pine, > > > > > > The findings from the research will be articulated to draw clear > > > conclusions about what causes utility and disutility from > participation, > > > and how this is perceived by different editors. For instance, it is > > natural > > > to assume that editors come to contribute by adding content that will > > > remain visible, while blocks and reverted edits are risk factors that > > drive > > > them away, although different editors have different levels of risk > > > aversion. Similarly to any other research, the benefit for the > community > > > and individual editors is going to be indirect but yet not > insignificant > > to > > > be accepted in the future process of decision-making (if the research > > > demonstrates the existence of high level of risk aversion towards > > > something, then it automatically signals that doing that thing is > harmful > > > for the environment). > > > > > > I know that it's impossible to predict the extent to which this > research > > > would make impact because the body of literature is very poor on > > > volunteer-driven environments in a dynamic setting but it's definitely > > > worth to start off something that might attract the attention of > > > researchers in this direction. At the end, the research is not meant to > > > carve rules in stone that any single editor should respect but rather > to > > > suggest something that individuals and communities might find useful > (the > > > means of doing this will definitely not turn Wikipedia into a > laboratory > > or > > > put someone's privacy in danger). > > > > > > Best, > > > Kiril > > > > > > On Mon, Feb 24, 2020 at 9:43 PM Pine W <wiki.p...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > > Hi Kiril, > > > > > > > > Thank you for sharing your proposal. > > > > > > > > I am concerned about the possibility of Wikipedia being used as a > > > > laboratory for experiments that consume volunteers' time and/or > > > > personal data, and don't benefit Wikipedia or its participants. Does > > > > your research benefit the community, and if so, how? It sounds like > > > > your research intends to develop a model of decision trees for > > > > individual Wikipedians, and at first read I don't understand how the > > > > individual research subjects or the community would benefit. > > > > > > > > Sorry if this sounds defensive, but I hope that you understand why > I'm > > > > asking. > > > > > > > > Pine > > > > ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine ) > > > > > > > > On Mon, Feb 24, 2020 at 6:00 PM Kiril Simeonovski > > > > <kiril.simeonov...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > Hi all, > > > > > > > > > > I am currently working on a research concerned with modelling user > > > > > behaviour on Wikipedia. The idea is to design a field experiment > > over a > > > > > random sample of Wikipedians in order to examine their risk > > preferences > > > > and > > > > > define (dis)utilities that will be used in a utility-maximisation > > model. > > > > > > > > > > I have already submitted an abstract that got accepted for the > > > > > biennial Foundations > > > > > of Utility and Risk Conference 2020 < > https://www.furconference.org/> > > > > and my > > > > > future plans include presentation of the concept at other research > > > > > conferences (including Wikimania 2020). > > > > > > > > > > You can visit the project page > > > > > < > > > > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Modelling_Behaviour_in_a_Peer_Production_Economy_upon_Evidence_from_Wikipedia > > > > > > > > > > of this research on Meta. Your questions and comments are welcome > at > > any > > > > > time. Thank you! > > > > > > > > > > Best regards, > > > > > Kiril > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > > Wiki-research-l mailing list > > > > > Wiki-research-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > > > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Wiki-research-l mailing list > > > > Wiki-research-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Wiki-research-l mailing list > > > Wiki-research-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wiki-research-l mailing list > > Wiki-research-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l > > > _______________________________________________ > Wiki-research-l mailing list > Wiki-research-l@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l > -- Jonathan T. Morgan Senior Design Researcher Wikimedia Foundation User:Jmorgan (WMF) <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jmorgan_(WMF)> (Uses He/Him) *Please note that I do not expect a response from you on evenings or weekends* _______________________________________________ Wiki-research-l mailing list Wiki-research-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l
