Hi all; I have been reading the recent report about the 2008 survey.[1] It is divided into some parts, but the most interesting (for me) is that about non-contributors.
We know about the Wikimedia Usability Initiative, which wants to measurably increase the usability of Wikipedia for new contributors (new toolbar, new upload form, new skin, ...). But I want to share with you two paragraphs about the survey:[2] [...]The primary reason non-contributors would consider contributing is if they “knew there were specific topic areas that needed [their] help” (34-41%). Almost as important an incentive, (31-37%) for all groups, is a clear indication “that other people would benefit from [their] efforts”.[...] ...and... [...]We can expect contribution to increase if explanations of the technical aspects of contributing were made more readily accessible to readers; if it was made more explicitly clear that readers' contributions are welcome, and that people can contribute in many ways including those that don't require domain expertise, such as, for instance, correcting language or obvious errors. The single biggest incentive to increase contribution is probably making more clear what topics and what articles need editing. Wikipedia already has notices on pages which do not meet quality standards, need clean-up, etc. However, these notices are perhaps not explicit enough in addressing and engaging readers who are not yet part of the Wikipedia contributor community. Clearer, explicit identification of topics where readers might contribute, perhaps through notices and requests not limited to single articles, are likely to increase contribution: e.g., if a reader is looking at several articles on psychology, he or she could be presented with a request to contribute to other articles on psychology.[...] As you can read, non-contributors want to know where they can help, so, a new toolbar or a new upload form only would be used if they know what to write and what image is needed to upload. Also, non-contributors choice "I would be much likelier to contribute if... the technology was easier to use" with a very low percent (compared to the other answers). Perhaps, we need a Wikipedia Edit Campaign (similar to the famous annual Wikipedia Donation Campaign) with a sitenotice asking people to edit where they might contribute, using their navigation preferences or geolocalisation. Best wishes, emijrp [1] http://blog.wikimedia.org/2010/04/02/new-reports-from-november-2008-survey-released/ [2] http://wikipediasurvey.org/docs/Wikipedia_NonContributors_15March2010-FINAL.pdf _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
