Again, we are exclusively looking for the absolute number of Wikipedia

Dear Dan, I hope you are doing fine and that you remember me. I am the lead researcher at The Global Innovation Index (GII). I contacted you last year searching for data on Wikipedia uploads per country. I believe that this request got assigned a task number at some point. Here is what I know: Can you please let me know of this request’s status? Also, if any legal issues seem to be obstructing the compilation of this data, can you please refer us to someone from your legal department to explore the possibility of tailoring a contract/confidentiality agreement between the GII and Wikimedia? Again, we are exclusively looking for the absolute number of Wikipedia updates per year per county. These used to be available via Wikimedia here: https://stats.wikimedia.org/wikimedia/squids/ Hope to hear from you soon. Sincerely, Rafael Escalona Reynoso, PhD, MPA. Lead Researcher at The Global Innovation Index Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management 207 Sage Hall Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853-6201 Phone: +1 (607) 262-0983 Email: re32(a)cornell.edu &lt;soumitra.dutta(a)cornell.edu&gt; http://www.johnson.cornell.edu [image: cid:image001.png@01CB662F.A467E740] On Mon, Apr 4, 2016 at 10:58 PM, Dan Andreescu &lt;dandreescu(a)wikimedia.org&gt; wrote: Yes, once this data is properly anonymized, it should continue to be released in the same shape. We just have to make sure it's properly safe first. *From: *Rafael Escalona Reynoso *Sent: *Monday, April 4, 2016 19:21 *To: *Dan Andreescu *Cc: *Jordan Litner; sacha.wunschvincent(a)wipo.int *Subject: *RE: On Wikipedia edits archive per county. Dan, Thank you for the update. This is kind of what we were expecting. I have a follow-up question: Would the data be collected in the same fashion for subsequent years (2016, 2017, etc.)? Or will this be a single time exercise? Do let me know whenever you can. Best, Rafael Escalona Reynoso, PhD, MPA. Lead Researcher at The Global Innovation Index Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management 207 Sage Hall Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853-6201 Phone 1: +1 (607) 262-0983 Phone 2: +1 (607) 255-9245 Email: re32(a)cornell.edu http://www.johnson.cornell.edu [image: cid:image001.png@01CB662F.A467E740] See www.globalinnovationindex.org *From:* Dan Andreescu [mailto:dandreescu@wikimedia.org] *Sent:* Monday, April 04, 2016 6:13 PM *To:* Rafael Escalona Reynoso *Cc:* Jordan Litner; sacha.wunschvincent(a)wipo.int *Subject:* Re: On Wikipedia edits archive per county. Hey Rafael, We haven't been able to prioritize this work yet. It's been moved here: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T131280 It has two stakeholders but no resources to get it done due to privacy issues. So we won't be able to get the 2015 data cleaned up before your deadline. But we're meeting about it again tomorrow and we will still do it so you can have this data for either next year's report or an amendment. On Mon, Apr 4, 2016 at 11:49 AM, Rafael Escalona Reynoso &lt;re32(a)cornell.edu&gt; wrote: Dear Dan, Hope you are doing fine. Just is quick note to follow up on the Wikipedia data. When do you think this data will be available? We are about to close the model and would very much like to have 2015 data included. Let me know. Best, Rafael Escalona Reynoso, PhD, MPA. Lead Researcher at The Global Innovation Index Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management 207 Sage Hall Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853-6201 Phone 1: +1 (607) 262-0983 Phone 2: +1 (607) 255-9245 Email: re32(a)cornell.edu http://www.johnson.cornell.edu [image: cid:image001.png@01CB662F.A467E740] See www.globalinnovationindex.org *From:* Dan Andreescu [mailto:dandreescu@wikimedia.org] *Sent:* Thursday, February 18, 2016 8:19 PM *To:* Rafael Escalona Reynoso *Cc:* Jordan Litner; sacha.wunschvincent(a)wipo.int *Subject:* Re: On Wikipedia edits archive per county. That's perfect, I added it to the request: https://phabricator. wikimedia.org/T127409 On Thursday, February 18, 2016, Rafael Escalona Reynoso &lt;re32(a)cornell.edu&gt; wrote: Dan, These were my thoughts exactly. Let me then elaborate on the value of the report, the index and why we feel that Wikipedia data is essential. The report is co-published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO, a specialized agency of the United Nations), with the collaboration of three Knowledge Partners: the Confederation of Indian Industry, du, and A.T. Kearney and IMP³rove – European Innovation Management Academy. Now in its ninth edition, the report has established itself as a premier reference among innovation metrics and as a tool to facilitate public-private dialogue and evidence-based policymaking. The Global Innovation Index (GII) is a ranking of 141 economies in terms of their innovation capabilities and results. A total of 79 metrics in the form of data-based indicators are at its core. These rich metrics can be used —on the level of the index, the sub-indices, or as individual variables—to monitor performance over time and to benchmark developments against their peers. These can also help study country profiles over time, and to identify their relative strengths and weaknesses from the rich and unique GII dataset. Each year the GII results are presented within the framework of a top-level international event: • 2013 Geneva, Switzerland at the Opening Session of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) High-Level Segment, organized by WIPO; • 2014 Sydney, Australia in the context of the B20/G20 preparations; and • 2015 London, United Kingdom before the Minister of Innovation and Industry. This year the launch is scheduled for the summer in Beijing, China preceding the preparations for the 2016 G20 summit. Recognizing the need for a broad horizontal vision of innovation applicable to developed and emerging economies alike, the GII includes indicators that go beyond the traditional measures such as expenditure in research and development. That said, an area that is of great relevance and limited to the GII is that of creative outputs. Within it, *Wikipedia monthly page edits (per million population 15-69 y/o)* is a key metric. This indicator, along with others that measure the number of generic top-level and country-code top-level domains and video uploads in YouTube, helps capture what we define as online creativity. Lastly, we believe that the GII can be an important vehicle to signal that Wikipedia is a critical lever to innovation and a factor contributing to a new understanding of the digital information landscape and innovation globally. Based on all the above, we would like to request that our petition to collect data on Wikipedia monthly page edits per country, reported quarterly per year be given priority within your tasks. Sincerely, Rafael Escalona Reynoso, PhD, MPA. Lead Researcher at The Global Innovation Index Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management 207 Sage Hall Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853-6201 Phone 1: +1 (607) 262-0983 Phone 2: +1 (607) 255-9245 Email: re32(a)cornell.edu http://www.johnson.cornell.edu [image: cid:image001.png@01CB662F.A467E740] See www.globalinnovationindex.org *From:* Dan Andreescu [mailto:dandreescu@wikimedia.org &lt;dandreescu(a)wikimedia.org&gt;] *Sent:* Thursday, February 18, 2016 11:17 AM *To:* Rafael Escalona Reynoso *Cc:* Jordan Litner; sacha.wunschvincent(a)wipo.int *Subject:* Re: On Wikipedia edits archive per county. Where the request is coming from, with all due respect, does not matter. We aim to be neutral in how we make knowledge available (namely, we try to make it available to everyone, for free). But, we have to prioritize somehow, and that process definitely takes into consideration the value our work has to the world. So, if you tell me more about what this data could help you accomplish, we could use that to argue that prioritizing your request might save lives, serve the mission of open knowledge, etc. But to answer your other question directly, yes, a letter to Jimmy Wales would not have any effect on this priority process and might be seen by the community we serve as an attempt to circumvent our planning process. On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 10:54 AM, Rafael Escalona Reynoso < re32(a)cornell.edu&gt; wrote: Dan, Let me share with you the following thought. I just had a call with the Dean at the business school here at Cornell, who is the creator of the Global Innovation Index (and my direct boss). I explained the situation with the Wikipedia uploads data and how methodological changes are now making it impossible for us to collect it in the fashion that we were used to. He mentioned that he is an acquaintance with Jimmy Wales and offered to direct him a letter explaining what we need and the importance of the indicator for our index. My notion here is that the issue has more to do with a shortage of labor hand and quite large a backlog than with where the request is coming from. Also, I do not want the letter to come across as an imposition or to give the wrong message. Based on the above, would this letter help prioritize the collection of this data? Let me know what you think. Best, Rafael Escalona Reynoso, PhD, MPA. Lead Researcher at The Global Innovation Index Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management 207 Sage Hall Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853-6201 Phone 1: +1 (607) 262-0983 Phone 2: +1 (607) 255-9245 Email: re32(a)cornell.edu http://www.johnson.cornell.edu [image: cid:image001.png@01CB662F.A467E740] See www.globalinnovationindex.org *From:* Dan Andreescu [mailto:dandreescu@wikimedia.org &lt;dandreescu(a)wikimedia.org&gt;] *Sent:* Wednesday, February 17, 2016 2:57 PM *To:* Rafael Escalona Reynoso *Cc:* Jordan Litner; sacha.wunschvincent(a)wipo.int *Subject:* Re: On Wikipedia edits archive per county. As much as I love to help a fellow Cornellian, we are too small of a team to create one-off solutions like that. We either publish it for everyone or no-one. But even if we did that, we'd still have a lot of work to check whether cross-referencing that data with other data wouldn't hurt privacy. What would help is if you filed a task in Phabricator and tagged it with the "Analytics" project, and described very precisely what data you need, at what time granularity, and what you need it for. We'll use that as proof that we need to prioritize the work sooner than later. On Wed, Feb 17, 2016 at 2:45 PM, Rafael Escalona Reynoso &lt;re32(a)cornell.edu&gt; wrote: Dan, One last thing. We also report scaled data from Google on YouTube uploads and, as you mention, they have to protect privacy. However, we prepare for them an Excel sheet where they simply need to upload the totals for each country (which we never get to see) and they report back to us exclusively the normalized scores (0-100) and rankings for all countries we request information for. Using this procedure it becomes impossible to reverse-engineer the raw values used to obtain these totals and – again – we never get to see the actual data. Is there a chance that we could establish a similar type of arrangement with Wikimedia? Let me know. Best, Rafael. *From:* Dan Andreescu [mailto:dandreescu@wikimedia.org &lt;dandreescu(a)wikimedia.org&gt;] *Sent:* Wednesday, February 17, 2016 2:23 PM *To:* Rafael Escalona Reynoso *Subject:* Re: On Wikipedia edits archive per county. Thank you for this, again. Sorry to pester you with this again but, do you know of any other data (from a source different from Google) where online activity could be measured? Any leads would be quite appreciated. mmm, not geolocated that I know of, and it's unlikely that you'd find that. Because either * an organization is for-profit, in which case they would sell that data * an organization is non-profit, in which case they'd likely need to protect their users and bump up against the same *hard* problems we did But I could be wrong, good luck in your search and do report back if you find any, and especially if you find approaches that help to protect privacy.