phoebe ayers phoebe.wiki@gmail.com writes:
I wonder if there's a qualitative project somewhere in here about *types* of use -- e.g. if I'm using WP on my phone & my work pc is that really equivalent use? Perhaps I am using them for different kinds of information seeking, e.g. looking up terms related to work vs looking up info on movie stars -- does this different kind of use matter for how we construct and present information, or count "use"?
Beyond the issue of devices, I think this is important in part because the raw traffic counts (and reach numbers and similar) paint a very specific story of what Wikimedia is doing and is successful at. (And what you measure influences what you tend to optimize for.)
Specifically, a small slice of content, mainly English Wikipedia articles on pop culture, recent news events, and U.S. politics, contribute a disproportionate share of views. (A weekly top-25 list for enwiki is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Top_25_Report ). So if you're measuring aggregate numbers, you're measuring mainly that specific type of content. If the goal is really simply to reach as many people as possible, have high page views and unique visitor counts, etc., then this subset of articles is really the only important part of Wikimedia's mission--- articles on, say, mathematics, don't contribute anything to moving the needle if that's the metric.
-Mark