Hi,
I think everyone should be very sensitive around personal data, even more so of this nature.
As long as we can make the need for the data clear to participants and those involved, it should be acceptable in my opinion and we can probably learn things about the project dyamics from such research.
It is definately better if we can improve how we understand each other.
Thanks, RhinosF1
On Fri, 3 Apr 2020 at 12:14, Delphine Ménard dmenard@wikimedia.org wrote:
Thank you for clarifying Jonathan. I am with you when it comes to the sensitivity of handling any data of this sort (and any personal data, for that matter).
As to the need for this kind of data, I believe that it is actually extremely important. I have to say that in 15 years in the movement, I have been wondering how we could better learn about the people who participate in our projects and how this knowledge would affect the way we interact with each other. I think that there are a lot of things we are not doing well right now *because* we don't know for sure where people in the movement actually even categorize themselves. The same way we translate things for people to have them in their own language, understanding people's neurological differences or social constraints and their prevalence in our communities might be tremendously helpful in order to design training for conflict resolution, newcomers integration, staff training to work with community members, and even, I imagine, for something as important as writing the code of conduct in a way that makes sense for *everyone*.
As I am developing my program around onboarding WMF staff around community and movement, this is definitely something I want to make sure that we don't overlook, because I think that the better we understand each other, the easier it is to work together productively.
Best,
Delphine
On Thu, Apr 2, 2020 at 9:35 PM Jonathan Morgan jmorgan@wikimedia.org wrote:
Gerard,
To clarify, what grosses me out ("makes me uncomfortable") is the
prospect
of third parties gathering and storing sensitive personal information
about
individual Wikipedia editors without proper oversight mechanisms. Health and medical data is one of the most sensitive kinds of individual data
that
exists. In the United States, as in many other countries, access to this information is heavily regulated--as it should be. Researchers who gather this kind of data should be held to a very high standard of proof that
they
will use the data responsibly, and take specific care to avoid
information
leakage. Ideally, they should be held legally responsible for proper behavior--and that depends heavily on their local jurisdiction and on
their
own truthfulness and transparency--things the rest of us in the movement have little control over. In my opinion, anyone who cares about both science and ethics should always err on the side of avoiding harm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belmont_Report--even if that sometimes means refraining from asking research questions that have scientific
merit
or that could yield practical community benefit.
To your comment about Clarice Phelps, I'm not aware of this individual
(or
article?) and do not know what you are referring to. But I would caution you not to make public speculative statements about the mental health status of any editor, or make generalizations about the motivations or actions of all people who you believe have particular mental characteristics, based on specific incidents you have witnessed or interactions you have had. If I have misread your statement, I apologize for the error.
Best, Jonathan
On Thu, Apr 2, 2020 at 11:29 AM Gerard Meijssen <
gerard.meijssen@gmail.com
wrote:
Hoi, We regularly have problems with people. We have people who are banned because people think they are problematic. We have banned people who
have
contributed hugely to our projects. The notion that it is stigmatising
is a
notion whereby we wash our hands in innocence, we do not want to know.
It is one thing that you personally are grossed out but I hope you understand that given that this is an issue we need to address. It is
not
only people who do not care for rules, it is also the people who obsess about rules. You find it in the excessive attention for Clarice Phelps. People do get hurt, people do get traumatised because of this
inattention.
Thanks, GerardM
On Thu, 2 Apr 2020 at 17:58, Jonathan Morgan jmorgan@wikimedia.org wrote:
There's this study <
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:The_Construction_and_Application_of...
but I don't know if it was ever completed (and as you can infer from
my
posts on the talkpage, I very much hope it was NOT).
In general, any kind of psychometric profiling of Wikipedia editors
kind
of
grosses me out. But as an armchair psychologist myself, as well as a non-neurotypical individual, sure I'm happy to hypothesize that there
are
many of us in the projects. It takes a certain mindset to find the
process
of building an encyclopedia using 20-year old software paradigms to
be
engaging ;)
- J
On Thu, Apr 2, 2020 at 8:49 AM RhinosF1 - rhinosf1@gmail.com
wrote:
Evening all,
I hope everyone is doing well given the crazy world we’re living
in.
I was having a conversation with a few users on Discord today and
we
were
wondering whether wikimedia (or users of other similiar sites would
be
fine) disproportinately fall into the category of having aspergers,
ADHD
and other simmilar conditions.
It would be even better if anyone knew what sort of areas these
users
were
more likely to work in.
Following a chat with Issac in #wikimedia-research, I understand
there
isn’t much support for this kind of research as users may not want
to
reveal this information and there is no clear reason for collecting
the
information but if anyone knows of past research or has any
information,
that would be helpful.
Stay Safe, RhinosF1 -- Thanks, Samuel _______________________________________________ Wiki-research-l mailing list Wiki-research-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l
-- Jonathan T. Morgan Senior Design Researcher Wikimedia Foundation User:Jmorgan (WMF) <
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jmorgan_(WMF)
(Uses He/Him)
*Please note that I do not expect a response from you on evenings or weekends* _______________________________________________ Wiki-research-l mailing list Wiki-research-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l
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*Please note that I do not expect a response from you on evenings or weekends* _______________________________________________ Wiki-research-l mailing list Wiki-research-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l
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