It turns out that anonymization is hard(see [1,2,3]). A quick web search
would have made that clear.
We do sometimes provide researchers with NDAs for the purposes of
anonymizing data. Again, we have limited time an energy, so such NDAs have
been (1) limited to work that is immediately relevant to our own and (2)
exists for the purpose of anonymizing and making the data public -- so that
everyone can benefit.
For example, see an project aimed to release anonymized view logs[4]. That
proposal has been in process for more than a year though because legal
agreements with national research labs are Hard. It seems like search logs
are a candidate for that process, but we'd need to see an anonymization
proposal before moving forward.
1.
2.
3.
4.
-Aaron
On Fri, Apr 3, 2015 at 9:47 AM, Valerio Schiavoni <
valerio.schiavoni(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Those logs could have been cleaned up further and
re-released, especially
since the privacy issues had an impact only on "small percentage of queries
".
Frankly, it's a pity that after the initial announcement they had to
quickly retract.
Nonetheless Wikimedia could release them for research purposes, asking
interested users to sign NDA or such.
I would be very surprised to discover that in 2015 there are no means to
properly anonymize datasets and release them to the public.
best,
Valerio
On Fri, Apr 3, 2015 at 4:38 PM, Aaron Halfaker <aaron.halfaker(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
> Maybe someone managed to grab those logs before they took them offline.
>
>
> If they did, I hope they won't share. They were taken offline due to
> privacy issues.
>
> From the blog post: "We’ve temporarily taken down this data to make
> additional improvements to the anonymization protocol related to the search
> queries."
>
> -Aaron
>
> On Fri, Apr 3, 2015 at 9:32 AM, Valerio Schiavoni <
> valerio.schiavoni(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> There has been at least one attempt to release such data:
>>
>>
>>
http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/09/19/what-are-readers-looking-for-wikipedia…
>>
>> Maybe someone managed to grab those logs before they took them offline.
>>
>> Similar but older logs are available here:
>>
http://www.wikibench.eu/
>>
>> best,
>> valerio
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Apr 3, 2015 at 4:09 PM, Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Oliver,
>>>
>>> Do we even record search logs? It might be a good idea if we didn't.
>>>
>>> Pine
>>> On Apr 3, 2015 6:16 AM, "Simon Givoli" <givolis(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
>>>
>>>> Thanks Oliver,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Sorry if I wasn't clear enough.
>>>> My dissertation will involve consented participants. Their search logs
>>>> will be recorded while searching Wikipedia. The search logs will then be
>>>> analyzed in order to find recurrent search patterns across participants.
>>>> Before beginning the experiment, I want to check that I can indeed
>>>> find patterns in search logs, using several different algorithms. The
idea
>>>> is to check these algorithms on Wikipedia search logs already available.
>>>> Hence my request.
>>>>
>>>> Simon
>>>> Message: 5
>>>> Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2015 09:37:33 +0300
>>>> From: Simon Givoli <givolis(a)gmail.com>
>>>> To: wiki-research-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>>>> Subject: [Wiki-research-l] Wikipedia search logs needed
>>>> Message-ID:
>>>> <CAN=
>>>> 5oGhNQS+KnObeNmsB1cWHFM-w-mXgQaS5GcNFn7qrU1kuRg(a)mail.gmail.com>
>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>>>>
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> I'm looking for a dump or db of Wikipedia users search logs. I would
>>>> like
>>>> it to be with recent data, but it doesn't have to be extensive, even
a
>>>> small sample size would be sufficient. I aim to use this db to test a
>>>> new
>>>> research tool I'm developing for my dissertation.
>>>>
>>>> Can anyone point me to a relevant source?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks'
>>>> Simon
>>>>