Hi Jonathan,
You have correctly deduced from the description that there will not be any
interaction with editors and all the data for the research will be drawn
from the publicly available edit histories. The most confusing part that
gives impression of intervening is perhaps the "experiment", which
conceptually differs in the social sciences from its more common meaning in
a laboratory environment. That said, this research is not going to consume
editor's time for surveys nor it is going to convert Wikipedia to a
laboratory or ask people to change their behaviour.
I came here with the announcement after creating the proposal on Meta and
following the guidelines regarding research projects with the goal of
getting some useful input from other researchers subscribed to the mailing
list and learning how to administratively proceed with the proposal on Meta
(What should be done next on Meta? Will there be an appointed WMF
researcher to contact regarding this research?).
My request for help from research community regarding this research will
be mostly technical (e.g. smart random sampling of editors, existing tools
for research purposes, etc.)
Best,
Kiril
On Tue 25. Feb 2020 at 17:06, Jonathan Morgan <jmorgan(a)wikimedia.org>
wrote:
Taking a quick step back from all the very
enthusiastic questioning of the
researcher's motives...
Kiril,
Regarding your methods, Your proposal states
<
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Modelling_Behaviour_in_a_Peer_Prod…
that for this study "The editors will
be sampled from the pool of
contributors to all language editions over Wikipedia's entire history and
will be classified into groups based on their longevity on the project."
But it says little more than that.
When I read this description, it does not sound to me like you will
necessarily be contacting editors for this study, or intervening in any
way
into Wikipedia. Stuart and Pine's questions seem to assume that you will
be
in some way recruiting editors as participants, asking them to change
their
behavior, asking them questions, etc.
*Will you be performing any of the above activities?* If not, the
questions
asked so far may be beside the point. Anyone is free to perform analysis
on
publicly available and free-licensed data.
If you do plan to intervene in Wikipedia in some way, or work with editors
as research participants or co-researchers, and you would like the members
of this mailing list to provide you with feedback or other support, please
describe the support or feedback you would like to receive in more detail.
If your study is non-interventionist but you still want feedback, we can
provide that too. Perhaps you can be more clear about the kind of feedback
you want; that will keep the conversation going in an interesting and
productive direction that everyone on the list can benefit from.
Finally, we the members of this list (whether volunteers or WMF staff) are
not peer reviewers, do not speak for the Wikipedia community, and are not
empowered to approve or deny research requests.
Best,
Jonathan
On Mon, Feb 24, 2020 at 11:23 PM Kiril Simeonovski <
kiril.simeonovski(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Stuart,
> Thank you for your thoughts so far. I
really like how the discussion is
> progressing.
> The methodology will, of course,
yield other results about editor
dynamics
and growth paths. Paid editing and sock puppetry
as systemic risk
factors
could be included in the model exogenously but it
might be possible to
endogenise them in any future research. At this stage, the most
important
> thing is to lay the grounds for developing a sensible model that can be
> later upgraded with new assumptions.
> As for the editing experience,
I've been around since 2008 (this is my
edit
log <
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAuth/Kiril_Simeonovski
>
> ).
> Best,
> Kiril
> On Tue, Feb 25, 2020 at 12:37 AM
Stuart A. Yeates <syeates(a)gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > Hi Kiril
>
> > Let's just say that
history has taught us to be risk-averse to
> > drive-by researchers.
>
> > Can you point us to other
research output using this methodology? Do
> > you (or any of your team) have significant editing experience? Are you
> > familiar with the firestorm that is paid editing and sock puppetry??
>
> > cheers
> > stuart
>
> > --
> > ...let us be heard from red core to black sky
>
> > On Tue, 25 Feb 2020 at
10:43, Kiril Simeonovski
> > <kiril.simeonovski(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Hi Pine,
> >
> > > The findings from
the research will be articulated to draw clear
> > > conclusions about what causes utility and disutility from
> participation,
> > > and how this is perceived by different editors. For instance, it is
> > natural
> > > to assume that editors come to contribute by adding content that
will
> > remain visible, while blocks and
reverted edits are risk factors
that
drive
> them away, although different editors have different levels of risk
> aversion. Similarly to any other research, the benefit for the
community
> and individual editors is going to be
indirect but yet not
insignificant
> to
> > be accepted in the future process of decision-making (if the
research
> > > demonstrates the existence of high level of risk aversion towards
> > > something, then it automatically signals that doing that thing is
> harmful
> > > for the environment).
> >
> > > I know that
it's impossible to predict the extent to which this
> research
> > > would make impact because the body of literature is very poor on
> > > volunteer-driven environments in a dynamic setting but it's
definitely
> > worth to start off something that might
attract the attention of
> > researchers in this direction. At the end, the research is not
meant to
> > carve rules in stone that any single
editor should respect but
rather
> to
> > > suggest something that individuals and communities might find useful
> (the
> > > means of doing this will definitely not turn Wikipedia into a
> laboratory
> > or
> > > put someone's privacy in danger).
> >
> > > Best,
> > > Kiril
> >
> > > On Mon, Feb 24,
2020 at 9:43 PM Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > > Hi Kiril,
> > >
> > > > Thank
you for sharing your proposal.
> > >
> > > > I am
concerned about the possibility of Wikipedia being used as a
> > > > laboratory for experiments that consume volunteers' time and/or
> > > > personal data, and don't benefit Wikipedia or its participants.
Does
> > > your research benefit the
community, and if so, how? It sounds
like
> > > your research intends to develop a
model of decision trees for
> > > individual Wikipedians, and at first read I don't understand how
the
> > > > individual research subjects or the community would benefit.
> > >
> > > > Sorry
if this sounds defensive, but I hope that you understand why
> I'm
> > > > asking.
> > >
> > > > Pine
> > > > (
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
> > >
> > > > On Mon,
Feb 24, 2020 at 6:00 PM Kiril Simeonovski
> > > > <kiril.simeonovski(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > >
> Hi all,
> > > >
> > > >
> I am currently working on a research concerned with modelling
user
> > > > behaviour on Wikipedia. The
idea is to design a field experiment
> over a
> > > > random sample of Wikipedians in order to examine their risk
> preferences
> > > and
> > > > define (dis)utilities that will be used in a
utility-maximisation
> > model.
> > > >
> > > >
> I have already submitted an abstract that got accepted for the
> > > > > biennial Foundations
> > > > > of Utility and Risk Conference 2020 <
>
https://www.furconference.org/>
> > > > and my
> > > > > future plans include presentation of the concept at other
research
> > > > > conferences (including Wikimania 2020).
> > > >
> > > >
> You can visit the project page
> > > > > <
> > >
>
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Modelling_Behaviour_in_a_Peer_Prod…
> > > >
> > > >
> of this research on Meta. Your questions and comments are
welcome
> at
> > any
> > > > > time. Thank you!
> > > >
> > > >
> Best regards,
> > > > > Kiril
> > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > > Wiki-research-l mailing list
> > > > > Wiki-research-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > > > >
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l
> > >
> > > >
_______________________________________________
> > > > Wiki-research-l mailing list
> > > > Wiki-research-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > > >
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l
> > >
> > >
_______________________________________________
> > > Wiki-research-l mailing list
> > > Wiki-research-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > >
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l
>
> >
_______________________________________________
> > Wiki-research-l mailing list
> > Wiki-research-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> >
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l
>
>
_______________________________________________
> Wiki-research-l mailing list
> Wiki-research-l(a)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(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l