Research:Wikimedia Summer of Research 2011

WSoR 2011

Contact

Diederik van Liere
Maryana Pinchuk
Steven Walling

Wikimedia Foundation

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Research:Projects

This page documents a research project in progress.
Information may be incomplete and change as the project progresses.
Please contact the project lead before formally citing or reusing results from this page.

The Wikimedia Foundation Summer of Research (WSoR) has brought eight academic researchers to study longterm participation trends in Wikipedia. In light of the results of the Editor Trends Study and the Board's resolution on openness, this multidisciplinary team will be using week-long group sprints to answer detailed questions related to participation.

From June through August 31st of 2011, the project will run sprints that provide both qualitative and quantitative explanations of how new editors interact with Wikipedia, as well as data-driven recommendations for exactly what can be done to improve retention. You can read about the team in the announcement.

If you're interested in an example of the kind of work that the summer will be producing, Maryana Pinchuk and Steven Walling produced three preliminary sprints on the topic of Communication to New Editors 2004-2011. Current sprints from the project will be listed on this page. Data and code produced will be released under a free license.

Research questions

Research:Wikimedia Summer of Research 2011/Questions

The draft set of research questions is still evolving, but is a good look at the set of topics this summer will focus on. Please feel free to comment on on the question set, especially looking to point out existing research and ways that the questions can be clearer to those outside the Summer of Research team.

Sprints

To create a create a new sprint:

1. Use this form to create the sprint page. Make sure to give your sprint a name.
   
   
2. Add a link to the sprint page under the appropriate space below.
3. Start researchin'

Past research areas

May be completed, still in progress, or simply avenues of inquiry that have been ended for technical reasons or prioritization. If you have questions please ask on the relevant Talk page.

• Quality of PPI editor work -- Drdee
• Newbie reverts and article length -- EpochFail
• Generating a common editor sample -- Zack
• Newbie Teaching Strategy Trends -- Staeiou Drkill Jtmorgan
• Patroller work load -- EpochFail
• Alternative lifecycles of new users -- Staeiou, Jtmorgan
• Taxonomy - Deletions -- Diederik
• Ignored period and retention - Whym
• Research:Newbie reverts and subsequent editing behavior - Swalker
• Deletion notifications to new users -- Staeiou
• New user help requests -- jtmorgan
• Anonymous edits -- declerambaul
• Rhetoric of the welcome message -- Drkill
• Sentiment analysis tool of new editor interaction -- Whym
• The Speed of Speedy Deletions -- Staeiou
• New User Participation in Help Spaces -- Jtmorgan Swalker

Current research areas

• Rhetoric of the welcome message -- Drkill
• Measuring overall contribution of editors -- declerambaul Diederik
• New User Participation in Deletion Processes --Staeiou
• The Magical Difference Engine -- Swalker declerambaul, Whym
• Vandal fighter work load -- EpochFail