Pursuant to prior discussions about the need for a research
policy on Wikipedia, WikiProject Research is drafting a
policy regarding the recruitment of Wikipedia users to
participate in studies.
At this time, we have a proposed policy, and an accompanying
group that would facilitate recruitment of subjects in much
the same way that the Bot Approvals Group approves bots.
The policy proposal can be found at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Research
The Subject Recruitment Approvals Group mentioned in the proposal
is being described at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Subject_Recruitment_Approvals_Group
Before we move forward with seeking approval from the Wikipedia
community, we would like additional input about the proposal,
and would welcome additional help improving it.
Also, please consider participating in WikiProject Research at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Research
--
Bryan Song
GroupLens Research
University of Minnesota
Hi!
I am doing a PhD on online civic participation project
(e-participation). Within my research, I have carried out a user
survey, where I asked how many people ever edited/created a page on a
Wiki. Now I would like to compare the results with the overall rate of
wiki editing/creation on country level.
I've found some country-level statistics on Wikipedia Statistics (e.g.
3,000 editors of Wikipedia articles in Italy) but data for UK and
France are not available since Wikipedia provides statistics by
languages, not by countries. I'm thus looking for statistics on UK and
France (but am also interested in alternative ways of measuring wiki
editing/creation in Sweden and Italy).
I would be grateful for any tips!
Sunny regards, Alina
--
Alina ÖSTLING
PhD Candidate
European University Institute
www.eui.eu
Hi all,
FYI, for those who do not regularly follow wikimedia-l, there's a
discussion going on there about Wikipedia surveys (sparked off by one
particular survey) that may be of interest to this list. See
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2014-July/073367.html
Briefly, the meta-question seems to be: we set up some researcher best
practices such that researchers should get approval via RCOM, but that
process is now not active. So now what? What should researchers do?
(Personally, I think the answer should be to resuscitate RCOM, but that's
easy to say and harder to do!)
-- phoebe
--
* I use this address for lists; send personal messages to phoebe.ayers <at>
gmail.com *
Hello my friends,
Aiming the continuity of the education program in Brazil and more
participation of the Brazilian academy, I am proposing the creation and
recognition of a new user group with special focus on Education and
Research.
I would like to work closer to the international Wikimedia movement,
planning and executing activities with foreign universities and chapters.
Here is the proposal
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Brazilian_Group_of_Education_and_…
We are collecting endorsements and confirming some partnership while AffCom
is evaluating the proposal.
Best regards!
Rodrigo Padula
Education Program Coordinator - Brasil
Hello,
the iSchool, Telecom Bretagne (France) has a 3 years grant for a student
willing to do a PhD in France (it is the duration of PhD studies in
France). The grant is ~€1200 per month, which is quite comfortable for
Brest, with possibilities to teach (in English or in French) for
€300/month more.
The research can be done in English.
Skill in management theory and in computing are expected.
A master degree is compulsory.
The subject is available here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8IfgmZdkcDKcVNWdFB3MzJxbnc/edit?usp=shari…
People interested can apply, sending a résumé before September, 2
They will be contacted after this date for further discussion if needed.
Feel free to diffuse this announce.
Thanks in advance,
Nicolas Jullien
Here is a summary of the subject:
Communities aiming at producing a certain kind of knowledge, or
“epistemic communities”, and doing so online, are viewed as central in
the generation of new, innovative knowledge, because the organizations
increasingly rely on virtual teams to produce knowledge, but also
because of the ”open-innovation” relationships they create with those
online communities. Echoing the research on (virtual) team, two points
are particularly studied : the composition of the teams and the
management (leadership) of these communities, but those points are not
jointly studied and are poorly related to the existing literature on
virtual team and leadership in management.
New data extraction and analysis capacities, notably those developed by
a previous project and multidisciplinary research teams make it possible
to go beyond the actual studies, jointly studying the impact of the
structure and of the leadership of the virtual groups on their
performance. This, in order to provide 1) the managers of the virtual
communities with metrics and tools (dashboards) to evaluate and monitor
the efficiency of those communities, but also 2) the Institute (and the
companies) with a better understanding of the new skills the employees
may develop to work in those teams. The case study will be Wikipedia.
--
Maître de Conférences (HDR) / Associate Professor.
LUSSI - iSchool, M@rsouin. Institut TELECOM Bretagne & UEB
In charge of the Master "Information Systems Project Management and
Consulting"
http://www.telecom-bretagne.eu/studies/msc/information-systems-management/
Co-animator of the "ICT and Society" Institut Mines-Telecom's research
network
http://nicolas-jullien.lussi-ischool.eu/
Skype: Nicolas.Jullien1
Tel +33 (0) 229 001 245
TELECOM Bretagne, Technopôle Brest Iroise CS 83818
29238 BREST CEDEX 3
The Wikimedia Research Hackathon on August 6 and 7 takes place parallel to
the general Wikimania Hackathon in London.
Wikimania Hackathon information is available at
https://wikimania2014.wikimedia.org/wiki/Hackathon
Research Hackathon information is available at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Labs2/Hackathons/August_6-7th,_2014
>From the Research Hackathon info page: this "is an opportunity for anyone
interested in research on wikis, Wikipedia, and other open collaborations
to meet, share ideas, and work together. It's being organized by
researchers in academia and the Wikimedia Foundation, but we want anyone
interested in research to participate. Whether or not you consider yourself
a researcher, or would ever want to be one, come with questions, answers,
data, code, crazy ideas... or just your insatiable curiosity."
Local participation will occur at Wikimania London and in Philadelphia, PA,
US. Remote participation is possible and will include researchers and
community members globally.
Please see the Research Hackathon information page for scheduling and
sign-up details.
Further questions may be directed to Aaron Halfaker (ahalfaker(a)wikimedia.org)
or Leila Zia (leila(a)wikimedia.org).*
Pine
*A $1 fine will be imposed by Oliver Keyes on anyone who misspells Leila's
name or misdirects emails to the WMF Executive Director.
The wiki-research hackathon is just a week away. We have 5 idea-pages
started. Make sure to file yours before the event starts.
*Hackathon info:*
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Labs2/Hackathons/August_6-7th,_2014
*Submit your ideas here: *https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Ideas
*Current project ideas ...*
*At a glance:*
*1. Public quer**y interface for Labs *
*2. Screening WikiProject Medicine articles for quality changes *
*3. First edits for male and female newcomers *
4. Editor profiles and interactions
*5. WikiCredit: Measuring value added to Wikipedia *
*With more info: *
*1. Public query interface for Labs *(
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Ideas/Public_query_interface_for_L…
)
The MySQL databases available on labs have a sanitized, up to date copy of
all the Wiki's databases. This is incredibly useful for researchers. The
goal of this project is to make an easy to use, web-based querying
interface for researchers to run queries against Labs databases.
*2. Screening WikiProject Medicine articles for quality changes **(*
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Ideas/Screening_WikiProject_Medici…
)
Recent work in article quality assessment detection can enable us to
automatically identify which articles are most due to be re-assessed. Let's
apply this method to WikiProject Medicine's stubs.
*3. First edits for male and female newcomers *(
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Ideas/First_edits_for_male_and_fem…
)
Past work suggests female editors are more likely to be reverted. In this
study, we would explore the characteristics of articles that men and women
first edit to see if it yields any insight into the observed higher rate of
reversion of early edits of women.
*4. Editor profiles and interactions*
(
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Ideas/Editor_profiles_and_interact…
)
>From doing an analysis of user edit histories, we should be able to
identify “profiles”. Once profiles have been identified it would be
interesting to look at what happens when users of different profiles
interact, particularly when those interactions lead to one (or both)
commencing a “wiki break” soon after.
*5. WikiCredit: Measuring value added to Wikipedia *(
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Ideas/WikiCredit:_Measuring_value_…
)
Let's build a system that will measure and present value-added to
Wikipedia. Let's also consider the implications and design a system that
negotiates trade-offs well.
As part of the global Labs2 hackathon coinciding with Wikimania
(https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Labs2/Hackathons/August_6-7th,_201…),
Dan Andreescu and I are hosting a local hackathon in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.
Where: Impact Hub Philly, 1227 N. 4th Street
When: August 7th, 2014, 10am to 8pm
More info: http://tinyurl.com/philly-wiki-research
The Wiki Research Hackathon is an opportunity for anyone interested in
research on Wikipedia, wikis, and other open collaborations to meet,
share ideas, and work together. Whether or not you consider yourself a
researcher, come with questions, answers, data, code, crazy ideas... or
just your insatiable curiosity.
People will be working on attributing credit to authors of wiki content,
screening medicine articles for quality, analyzing first edits for male
and female newcomers, and more. Join them or work on your own idea!
We're meeting at the Impact Hub in Philly and connecting online with
other groups around the world.
On August 6th, join us online, meet other researchers, and get set up to
access any data that you might need (optional).
Matt Flaschen
Hello,
the iSchool, Telecom Bretagne (France) has a 3 years grant for a student
willing to do a PhD in France (it is the duration of PhD studies in
France). The grant is ~€1200 per month, which is quite comfortable for
Brest, with possibilities to teach (in English or in French) for
€300/month more.
The research can be done in English.
Skill in management theory and in computing are expected.
A master degree is compulsory.
People interested can apply, sending a résumé before September, 2
Feel free to diffuse this announce.
Thanks in advance,
Nicolas Jullien
Here is a summary of the subject:
Communities aiming at producing a certain kind of knowledge, or
“epistemic communities”, and doing so online, are viewed as central in
the generation of new, innovative knowledge, because the organizations
increasingly rely on virtual teams to produce knowledge, but also
because of the ”open-innovation” relationships they create with those
online communities. Echoing the research on (virtual) team, two points
are particularly studied : the composition of the teams and the
management (leadership) of these communities, but those points are not
jointly studied and are poorly related to the existing literature on
virtual team and leadership in management.
New data extraction and analysis capacities, notably those developed by
a previous project and multidisciplinary research teams make it possible
to go beyond the actual studies, jointly studying the impact of the
structure and of the leadership of the virtual groups on their
performance. This, in order to provide 1) the managers of the virtual
communities with metrics and tools (dashboards) to evaluate and monitor
the efficiency of those communities, but also 2) the Institute (and the
companies) with a better understanding of the new skills the employees
may develop to work in those teams. The case study will be Wikipedia.
--
Maître de Conférences (HDR) / Associate Professor.
LUSSI - iSchool, M@rsouin. Institut TELECOM Bretagne & UEB
In charge of the Master "Information Systems Project Management and
Consulting"
http://www.telecom-bretagne.eu/studies/msc/information-systems-management/
Co-animator of the "ICT and Society" Institut Mines-Telecom's research
network
http://nicolas-jullien.lussi-ischool.eu/
Skype: Nicolas.Jullien1
Tel +33 (0) 229 001 245
TELECOM Bretagne, Technopôle Brest Iroise CS 83818
29238 BREST CEDEX 3
Thanks so much for the newsletter [1]! Always a great read...
But have to just say that comments like this: 'it is disappointing that the
main purpose appears to be completing a thesis, with little thought to
actually improving Wikipedia' [2] are really harsh and a little unfair. The
student is studying Wikipedia - they can hardly only be interested in
completing their thesis. We need to remember that researchers are at very
different stages of their careers, they have very different motivations,
and different levels of engagement with the Wikipedia community, but that
*all* research on Wikipedia contributes to our understanding (even if as a
catalyst for improvements). We want to encourage more research on
Wikipedia, not attack the motivations of people we know little about -
particularly when they're just students and particularly when this
newsletter is on housed on Wikimedia Foundation's domain.
Best,
Heather.
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Newsletter/2014/June
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Newsletter/2014/June#.22Recommendi…
Heather Ford
Oxford Internet Institute <http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/> Doctoral Programme
EthnographyMatters <http://ethnographymatters.net/> | Oxford Digital
Ethnography Group <http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/projects/?id=115>
http://hblog.org | @hfordsa <http://www.twitter.com/hfordsa>