Hi -- I'm not sure about a group focused on visualizations, but [email protected] is a good place to ask about research studies ... https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l
-- phoebe On Thu, Aug 12, 2010 at 7:37 PM, William Beutler <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks, Phoebe. I finally finished my post on this, now > here<http://thewikipedian.net/2010/08/12/wikipedia-infographic-lamest-edit-wars/>. > Although it's a little more rant-y than I usually get, I hope McCandless > finds this, takes it well and goes back to the drawing board. Getting > Gizmodo to post that if it happens... well, one can dream. > > As I've alluded to, I am working on a visualization project involving > Wikipedia, so if there is any list or on-wiki group to know about, someone > please let me know! > > And if there is not a more rigorous study or project about edit wars, I'd > love to see that, too. > > Cheers > > > On Tue, Aug 10, 2010 at 10:33 AM, phoebe ayers <[email protected]>wrote: > >> On Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 4:42 PM, William Beutler >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> > I'm working on a blog post about this, but here's an infographic from >> David >> > McCandless (who does some nice work, i.e. Information is >> > Beautiful<http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/>) >> > about Wikipedia edit wars. Full thing >> > here< >> http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/08/wikipedia-edit-wars.png >> > >> > . >> > >> > At least it acknowledges its source is >> > WP:LAMEST<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Lamest_edit_wars>, >> > which is intentionally humorous, but sure wasn't made with statistical >> > precision in mind. So he's done something else: it looks to the average >> > reader like 11,000 edits were spent on the subject of Freddie Mercury's >> > ethnic history in early 2002, but he's clearly taking the total number of >> > edits and that's the oldest record of the article on Wikipedia. It also >> > categorizes incidents glibly (or just inaccurately) listing Jimbo and >> > Wikipedia-related subjects as "Religion" -- and the question over which >> > Palin was more famous occurred in 2008 (which makes sense) not 2003 >> (which >> > doesn't) as it's listed in there. >> > >> > Maybe I'm making too much of this, but while I think it's one thing for >> > Cracked or Something Awful to joke about Wikipedia, I think if you're >> > offering up visual representations of information, more care should be >> given >> > to accuracy. Erik Zachte does some great work -- it would be nice to see >> > more of that developed for visual interest of non-Wikipedians. That's >> > something else I've been thinking about, but I'm curious to hear what >> others >> > think. >> >> Infographics are awesome, but many people rarely take the time to >> investigate the data behind them; thanks for doing so. >> >> I don't know if this is something that would specifically come under >> the purview of the new research committee that is being formed >> (http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2010-August/060306.html >> ) >> but I definitely think this is the kind of thing such a group might >> facilitate -- putting out a call for designers to make infographics >> out of various things that we need to be visualized, or helping >> getting community review of various efforts. I'm not sure what the >> best way for a researcher or designer to get quick Wikipedian peer >> review of their work is now (to catch issues like you identify above); >> maybe a post on the village pump? >> >> BTW, do we have a *non*-humorous page about edit wars with *good* >> examples? I'm not sure if there's a good set of example disputes with >> their resolutions somewhere -- this would be great to have since it's >> invariably one of the first things non-editors ask about, in my >> experience, and having examples (beyond just the vague description of >> process) helps convey what happens. >> >> -- phoebe >> >> -- >> * I use this address for lists; send personal messages to phoebe.ayers >> <at> gmail.com * >> >> _______________________________________________ >> WikiEN-l mailing list >> [email protected] >> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l >> > _______________________________________________ > WikiEN-l mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l > -- * I use this address for lists; send personal messages to phoebe.ayers <at> gmail.com * _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
