Re: [WikiEN-l] Where are the basic demographics on contributors?

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Jonas Rand

25 Jul 2008 25 Jul '08

7:23 a.m.

Carl Beckhorn <cbeckhorn(a)fastmail.fm> wrote:

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I expect that any site with as many active editors as English Wikipedia should have good statistical data about members - age, sex, race, nationality, and income distributions, among other things. Where can I find these statistics for English Wikipedia? I expect the Foundation has at some point retained an independent polling firm to obtain this data, right? - Carl

I don't want to seem rude, but I don't think that anyone cares about the demographics of Wikipedia. It doesn't matter. Jonas

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Matthew Brown

25 Jul 25 Jul

7:58 a.m.

New subject: Where are the basic demographics on contributors?

On Thu, Jul 24, 2008 at 10:23 PM, Jonas Rand <joeyyuan(a)cox.net> wrote:

...

I don't want to seem rude, but I don't think that anyone cares about the demographics of Wikipedia. It doesn't matter.

Clearly Carl Beckhorn cares, so this is trivially incorrect. More generally, there are interesting things to know about our contributors en masse; for instance, it would be nice to know if there are groups of people under-represented as Wikipedia editors compared to their representation as Internet users, and worth it to try and figure out why that might be so. -Matt

Carl Beckhorn

2:57 p.m.

New subject: Where are the basic demographics on contributors?

I'm very glad to see that this data has been collected, and think it's an important step forward towards the professionalization of Wikimedia. On Thu, Jul 24, 2008 at 10:23:23PM -0700, Jonas Rand wrote:

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I don't want to seem rude, but I don't think that anyone cares about the demographics of Wikipedia. It doesn't matter.

It obviously matters to the Foundation for strategic planning, editor recruitment, and so on. As a more concrete example, information on the geographic distribution and income distribution of contriutors would make it possible to plan Wikimania locations in a more intentional manner. Assuming, of course, that a goal of Wikimania is to encourage participation by contributors to Wikimedia projects. - Carl

Philippe Beaudette

4:48 p.m.

New subject: Where are the basic demographics on contributors?

Jonas, You couldn't be any farther from the truth. Collecting demographics are critical to the long-term sustainability of the organization and the project. From them, you can do appropriate fundraising targeting, project planning, and make growth- oriented decisions with hard data to back them up. _____________________ Philippe Beaudette Tulsa, OK philippebeaudette(a)gmail.com On Jul 25, 2008, at 12:23 AM, Jonas Rand wrote:

...

Carl Beckhorn <cbeckhorn(a)fastmail.fm> wrote:

I don't want to seem rude, but I don't think that anyone cares about the demographics of Wikipedia. It doesn't matter. Jonas

Casey Brown

4:53 p.m.

New subject: Where are the basic demographics on contributors?

On Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 10:48 AM, Philippe Beaudette <philippebeaudette(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

Jonas, You couldn't be any farther from the truth. Collecting demographics are critical to the long-term sustainability of the organization and the project. From them, you can do appropriate fundraising targeting, project planning, and make growth- oriented decisions with hard data to back them up. On Jul 25, 2008, at 12:23 AM, Jonas Rand wrote: > I don't want to seem rude, but I don't think that anyone cares about > the > demographics of Wikipedia. It doesn't matter.

Kevin Wong

7 Aug 7 Aug

5:35 a.m.

New subject: Where are the basic demographics on contributors?

I would agree that demographics are important. And quite interesting at that. I would love to see the statistics. On Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 7:53 AM, Casey Brown <cbrown1023.ml(a)gmail.com>wrote;wrote:

...

On Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 10:48 AM, Philippe Beaudette <philippebeaudette(a)gmail.com> wrote:

Jonas, You couldn't be any farther from the truth. Collecting demographics are critical to the long-term sustainability of the organization and the project. From them, you can do appropriate fundraising targeting, project planning, and make growth- oriented decisions with hard data to back them up. On Jul 25, 2008, at 12:23 AM, Jonas Rand wrote: > I don't want to seem rude, but I don't think that anyone cares about > the > demographics of Wikipedia. It doesn't matter.

I really have to agree with Philippe. Demographics are *always* something important to know, no matter what your "product" is. Which is why we are planning a survey that is due to be released soon (as I said earlier it is still being translated). -- Casey Brown Cbrown1023 --- Note: This e-mail address is used for mailing lists. Personal emails sent to this address will probably get lost. _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l

-- Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to stop and reflect. - Mark Twain

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Carl Beckhorn
Casey Brown
Jonas Rand
Kevin Wong
Matthew Brown
Philippe Beaudette