Let's report and learn from non-successes (more often)

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Asaf Bartov

4 Jul 2013 4 Jul '13

12:05 a.m.

Dear colleagues, I wanted to remind us all of the importance of learning from when our plans and efforts don't succeed, whether due to mistakes or just an experimental hypothesis turning out to not be the case. We at the Wikimedia Foundation have had such an experiment a few months ago, and an idea we thought had potential turned out to have none of the hoped-for impact. We wrote it up and drew some (I think) interesting learning points from it, including possibly next steps for those who may want to experiment along similar lines. The learning is featured in a Wikimedia Blog post here: http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/07/02/english-wikipedia-editor-pilot-philipp… which also links to the full report on Meta. I am also pleased at the discussion the blog post has already generated. Cheers, Asaf -- Asaf Bartov Wikimedia Foundation <http://www.wikimediafoundation.org> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! https://donate.wikimedia.org

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Maryana Pinchuk

4 Jul 4 Jul

12:20 a.m.

New subject: Let's report and learn from non-successes (more often)

On Wed, Jul 3, 2013 at 5:05 PM, Asaf Bartov <abartov(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

...

Dear colleagues, I wanted to remind us all of the importance of learning from when our plans and efforts don't succeed, whether due to mistakes or just an experimental hypothesis turning out to not be the case. We at the Wikimedia Foundation have had such an experiment a few months ago, and an idea we thought had potential turned out to have none of the hoped-for impact. We wrote it up and drew some (I think) interesting learning points from it, including possibly next steps for those who may want to experiment along similar lines. The learning is featured in a Wikimedia Blog post here: http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/07/02/english-wikipedia-editor-pilot-philipp… which also links to the full report on Meta. I am also pleased at the discussion the blog post has already generated. Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

Yes! Big plus-one! Though I would refer to it as "confirming the null hypothesis"[1] rather than "non-success" :) Publication bias[2] and systematic underreporting of non-significant effects are huge problems in all scholarly fields, so it's not like we're unusual in this respect. But we miss out on really great opportunities to advance our institutional learning when we bury our non-successes.. err.. null hypothesis confirmations! Keep em' coming, folks. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null_hypothesis 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publication_bias -- Maryana Pinchuk Associate Product Manager, Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org

Federico Leva (Nemo)

7:34 a.m.

Thanks. The problem of the blog post is IMHO that it's unclear what audience it's directed to. The learnings and suggestions *might* be useful for some en.wiki WikiProjects, but en.wiki is obviously the least suitable wiki for such experiments. There are no learnings for other projects and I see no answer e.g. to questions I had for a similar fr.wiki banner a few weeks later. <https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Meta%3ARequests_for_help_from_a_sysop_or_bureaucrat&diff=5337142&oldid=5337118> It will be for next time then. :) Nemo P.s.: It's not particularly surprising, I see that I had already predicted this failure. <https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:CentralNotice/Calendar&oldid=5337147#Philippines_recruitment_for_two_weeks>

Jon Davies

5 Jul 5 Jul

1:16 p.m.

New subject: Let's report and learn from non-successes (more often)

I am an audience! Thanks and it really makes some broader points. We often start from finding people who have a passion about a subject but don;t edit yet. That at least solves the 'blank sheet of paper' fear. Liked the discussion though. On 4 July 2013 08:34, Federico Leva (Nemo) <nemowiki(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

Thanks. The problem of the blog post is IMHO that it's unclear what audience it's directed to. The learnings and suggestions *might* be useful for some en.wiki WikiProjects, but en.wiki is obviously the least suitable wiki for such experiments. There are no learnings for other projects and I see no answer e.g. to questions I had for a similar fr.wiki banner a few weeks later. <https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/**index.php?title=Meta%** 3ARequests_for_help_from_a_**sysop_or_bureaucrat&diff=** 5337142&oldid=5337118<https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=M…

It will be for next time then. :) Nemo P.s.: It's not particularly surprising, I see that I had already predicted this failure. <https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/**index.php?title=Talk:** CentralNotice/Calendar&oldid=**5337147#Philippines_** recruitment_for_two_weeks<https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=T…

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Asaf Bartov

6:07 p.m.

New subject: Let's report and learn from non-successes (more often)

Hi, Nemo. Certainly, this was an ENWP experiment, and it's not unreasonable that there would be "no learnings for other projects". The post's audience was absolutely anyone in the movement who may care; after all, anyone can replicate this experiment or something like it, in other countries, other languages, etc. We used community tools and no magic. I'm not sure what question you consider unanswered on that link. A. On Thu, Jul 4, 2013 at 12:34 AM, Federico Leva (Nemo) <nemowiki(a)gmail.com>wrote;wrote:

...

Thanks. The problem of the blog post is IMHO that it's unclear what audience it's directed to. The learnings and suggestions *might* be useful for some en.wiki WikiProjects, but en.wiki is obviously the least suitable wiki for such experiments. There are no learnings for other projects and I see no answer e.g. to questions I had for a similar fr.wiki banner a few weeks later. <https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/**index.php?title=Meta%** 3ARequests_for_help_from_a_**sysop_or_bureaucrat&diff=** 5337142&oldid=5337118<https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=M…

Ziko van Dijk

7 Jul 7 Jul

9:17 p.m.

New subject: Let's report and learn from non-successes (more often)

Hello, A great opportunity for this kind of reports is: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WCA/Journal Kind regards Ziko -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ziko van Dijk voorzitter / president Wikimedia Nederland deputy chair Wikimedia Chapters Association Council Vereniging Wikimedia Nederland Postbus 167 3500 AD Utrecht http://wikimedia.nl -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2013/7/5 Asaf Bartov <abartov(a)wikimedia.org>

...

wrote:

for

such experiments. There are no learnings for other projects and I see no answer e.g. to questions I had for a similar fr.wiki banner a few weeks later. <https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/**index.php?title=Meta%** 3ARequests_for_help_from_a_**sysop_or_bureaucrat&diff=** 5337142&oldid=5337118<

https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Meta%3ARequests_for_help_from_…

It will be for next time then. :) Nemo P.s.: It's not particularly surprising, I see that I had already

predicted

this failure. <https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/**index.php?title=Talk:** CentralNotice/Calendar&oldid=**5337147#Philippines_** recruitment_for_two_weeks<

https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:CentralNotice/Calendar&am…

-- Asaf Bartov Wikimedia Foundation <http://www.wikimediafoundation.org> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! https://donate.wikimedia.org _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

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participants (5)

Asaf Bartov
Federico Leva (Nemo)
Jon Davies
Maryana Pinchuk
Ziko van Dijk