I really like it so far, now I'm off to take it. :-)
On 1/21/08, John McC sb_johnny@yahoo.com wrote:
As an aternative to the (apparently stalled) Wikimedia Census, I'd like to get some input (and participation) for the Wikimedian Demographics resource on en.wikiversity.
The surveys are carried out using templates, which include instructions when loaded onto the page... the best way to understand it is to just try it out:
http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Wikimedian_Demographics
The resource is primarily for participants to learn about how surveys and polls are created, administered, and analyzed, but obviously the data collected can be used for the same purposes as the Census data would have been. The wider scope allowed on Wikiversity will also (hopefully) attract respondents who are less interested in topics specific to the Wikimedia Foundation by permitting surveys on everything from politics to sociology to education.
Rather than written responses, WMDG uses templates which automatically create "answerboxes" (which look suspiciously like userboxes) and categories that reflect the answers. Users can then use tools like DynamicPageList to interpret the data (though we hope later to have better interpretation tools using either the main toolserver or perhaps the wikiversity sandbox server).
The first round of surveys includes:
- A basic survey about the level of participation in
the Wikimedia wikis, mailinglists, and so on 2. A set of surveys about nationality, residence, and travel 3. A (very stubby) survey about operating systems 4. A short survey about subjects specific to en.wikipedia 5. A survey about the 2008 US Presidential elections
The goal is to make it easy, educational, and fun for anyone to create more surveys, and so one of the current tasks is to make a few more "survey creation" templates, because the #if/#switch variables used to create the surveys can be rather mind-bending for those not familiar with template scripting. The first of these (which creates yes/no questions) seems to go down easily, and the "add country" template on the nationality, residence, and travel is also quite easy to use.
Input would also be useful on survey questions of specific interest to the foundation itself, such as fundraising or other "Wikimedia-wide" issues (just remember they have to be of the multiple choice or yes/no varieties). The ability to attract readers (rather than just editors) might be a good use of the "anon" sitenotices as well.
I plan to start announcing this on the various "Village Pumps" of the English and "babel" projects over the next few days (it's probably better to let the other-language Wikiversities address the "other-language" projects).
-SB_Johnny
____________________________________________________________________________________Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping
foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l