Hello everyone,
As many of you know Wikimedia SOuth Africa has been conducting a survey
over the past few months of South African based editors. So if you were on
Wikipedia recently and saw a banner asking you to participate in a survey,
this is it. I have spent much of the day today going over some of the
results of the survey and have summarised some of the more interesting
results into a draft infographic (it is still very rough). I am planning
to display it at this year's Wikimania which will be happening in less than
3 weeks time.
Please let me know what you think of it and please let me know if you spot
any errors. I am pretty terrable at copy editing, especially spelling. It
is meant to be printed out on an A0 sized poster -so please excuse its
rather large size- as well as what ever I can fit on a smaller flyer.
Cheers,
Douglas
--
Douglas Ian Scott
司道格
Skype: douglas0scott
South African mobile number: +27 (0)79 515 8727
Interesting, thanks for sharing!
On Sun, Jun 28, 2015 at 4:35 PM, <wikimediaza-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: Draft infographic of the Wikimedia ZA survey results
> (Ian Gilfillan)
> 2. Re: Draft infographic of the Wikimedia ZA survey results
> (Mapaseka Vryman)
> 3. June 2015 African language Wikipedia update (Ian Gilfillan)
> 4. Re: Draft infographic of the Wikimedia ZA survey results
> (Douglas Scott)
> 5. Re: Draft infographic of the Wikimedia ZA survey results
> (bobby shabangu)
> 6. Re: June 2015 African language Wikipedia update (Asaf Bartov)
> 7. Re: Draft infographic of the Wikimedia ZA survey results
> (David Richfield)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 28 Jun 2015 15:34:05 +0200
> From: Ian Gilfillan <wikimediaza(a)greenman.co.za>
> To: wikimediaza(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia ZA] Draft infographic of the Wikimedia ZA
> survey results
> Message-ID: <558FF7CD.80904(a)greenman.co.za>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
>
> Thanks for putting this together Douglas.
>
> An idea for the next survey are some questions on editing Wikipedias in
> languages besides English. Something like:
>
> - Are you aware that Wikipedia exists in (list languages here)
> - If yes, have you ever edited one of them? Which?
> - If no (the question above), why not?
>
> And then linking these results with the respondent's first language. It
> would be interesting to see what percentage of respondents that speak a
> language as a first-language edit that wikipedia vs English, what
> percentage of non-first language speakers, etc.
>
> ian
>
> On 27/06/2015 15:07, Douglas Scott wrote:
> > Hi Frank,
> >
> > That is a good question and I suspect it might have made a small
> difference
> > if the survey was done in other languages however I doubt it would have
> > made much of a difference to people answering the question or even the
> > results. Largely because English is the default lingua franca of South
> > Africa which a great many people in South Africa can understand and
> > converse in.
> >
> > The other reason I doubt it is because apart from Afrikaans Wikipedia all
> > the other African language Wikipedias (isiXhosa, isiZulu, and so on) have
> > go so few articles and editors on them that they are basically dead. I
> > hope that this will change in the future as it would be fantastic to have
> > vibrant Wikipedia's in all of South Africa's languages. This is another
> > indicator that there just arent likely to be very many people who speak
> > those languages at a first language level out there editing Wikipedia.
> But
> > that is just a theory.
> >
> > Ultimately the only way to truly know for sure would be to do the next
> > survey in as many different languages as possible and need to budget for
> > the extra cost and time of organising its translation (which should not
> in
> > any way be an excuse not to translate).
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Douglas.
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 28 Jun 2015 15:41:58 +0200
> From: Mapaseka Vryman <mapaseka.vryman(a)gmail.com>
> To: Ian Gilfillan <wikimediaza(a)greenman.co.za>
> Cc: "wikimediaza(a)lists.wikimedia.org"
> <wikimediaza(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia ZA] Draft infographic of the Wikimedia ZA
> survey results
> Message-ID:
> <
> CAOP5ok6dbzVu3hoXMVSqnJN-pFdttjE_dWTnKEED7j1rRwyuug(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> Thanks Ian,
> Was not aware Wikipedia is available local African languages. Would love to
> get involved in those.
>
> On Sunday, June 28, 2015, Ian Gilfillan <wikimediaza(a)greenman.co.za>
> wrote:
>
> > Thanks for putting this together Douglas.
> >
> > An idea for the next survey are some questions on editing Wikipedias in
> > languages besides English. Something like:
> >
> > - Are you aware that Wikipedia exists in (list languages here)
> > - If yes, have you ever edited one of them? Which?
> > - If no (the question above), why not?
> >
> > And then linking these results with the respondent's first language. It
> > would be interesting to see what percentage of respondents that speak a
> > language as a first-language edit that wikipedia vs English, what
> > percentage of non-first language speakers, etc.
> >
> > ian
> >
> > On 27/06/2015 15:07, Douglas Scott wrote:
> >
> >> Hi Frank,
> >>
> >> That is a good question and I suspect it might have made a small
> >> difference
> >> if the survey was done in other languages however I doubt it would have
> >> made much of a difference to people answering the question or even the
> >> results. Largely because English is the default lingua franca of South
> >> Africa which a great many people in South Africa can understand and
> >> converse in.
> >>
> >> The other reason I doubt it is because apart from Afrikaans Wikipedia
> all
> >> the other African language Wikipedias (isiXhosa, isiZulu, and so on)
> have
> >> go so few articles and editors on them that they are basically dead. I
> >> hope that this will change in the future as it would be fantastic to
> have
> >> vibrant Wikipedia's in all of South Africa's languages. This is another
> >> indicator that there just arent likely to be very many people who speak
> >> those languages at a first language level out there editing Wikipedia.
> >> But
> >> that is just a theory.
> >>
> >> Ultimately the only way to truly know for sure would be to do the next
> >> survey in as many different languages as possible and need to budget for
> >> the extra cost and time of organising its translation (which should not
> in
> >> any way be an excuse not to translate).
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >>
> >> Douglas.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > WikimediaZA mailing list
> > WikimediaZA(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaza
> >
>
>
> --
> Regards,
> Mapaseka
> Sent from my iPad
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sun, 28 Jun 2015 15:46:52 +0200
> From: Ian Gilfillan <wikimediaza(a)greenman.co.za>
> To: "wikimediaza(a)lists.wikimedia.org"
> <wikimediaza(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: [Wikimedia ZA] June 2015 African language Wikipedia update
> Message-ID: <558FFACC.7050109(a)greenman.co.za>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
>
> Hi
>
> Here's another update on the state of the African language Wikipedias.
> http://www.greenman.co.za/blog/?p=1772
>
> ian
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Sun, 28 Jun 2015 15:47:34 +0200
> From: Douglas Scott <douglas.i.scott(a)gmail.com>
> To: Ian Gilfillan <wikimediaza(a)greenman.co.za>
> Cc: wikimediaza <wikimediaza(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia ZA] Draft infographic of the Wikimedia ZA
> survey results
> Message-ID:
> <
> CAJ6y08FfFNH4Esxnm4nkbNZs1OzBt2ea+S+CH05W60366_gONw(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> Hi Ian,
>
> That is a very good suggestion and a couple of very good questions for the
> next survey. I would also be interested to see the results of that.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Douglas.
>
> On 28 June 2015 at 15:34, Ian Gilfillan <wikimediaza(a)greenman.co.za>
> wrote:
>
> > Thanks for putting this together Douglas.
> >
> > An idea for the next survey are some questions on editing Wikipedias in
> > languages besides English. Something like:
> >
> > - Are you aware that Wikipedia exists in (list languages here)
> > - If yes, have you ever edited one of them? Which?
> > - If no (the question above), why not?
> >
> > And then linking these results with the respondent's first language. It
> > would be interesting to see what percentage of respondents that speak a
> > language as a first-language edit that wikipedia vs English, what
> > percentage of non-first language speakers, etc.
> >
> > ian
> >
> > On 27/06/2015 15:07, Douglas Scott wrote:
> >
> >> Hi Frank,
> >>
> >> That is a good question and I suspect it might have made a small
> >> difference
> >> if the survey was done in other languages however I doubt it would have
> >> made much of a difference to people answering the question or even the
> >> results. Largely because English is the default lingua franca of South
> >> Africa which a great many people in South Africa can understand and
> >> converse in.
> >>
> >> The other reason I doubt it is because apart from Afrikaans Wikipedia
> all
> >> the other African language Wikipedias (isiXhosa, isiZulu, and so on)
> have
> >> go so few articles and editors on them that they are basically dead. I
> >> hope that this will change in the future as it would be fantastic to
> have
> >> vibrant Wikipedia's in all of South Africa's languages. This is another
> >> indicator that there just arent likely to be very many people who speak
> >> those languages at a first language level out there editing Wikipedia.
> >> But
> >> that is just a theory.
> >>
> >> Ultimately the only way to truly know for sure would be to do the next
> >> survey in as many different languages as possible and need to budget for
> >> the extra cost and time of organising its translation (which should not
> in
> >> any way be an excuse not to translate).
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >>
> >> Douglas.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > WikimediaZA mailing list
> > WikimediaZA(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaza
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Douglas Ian Scott
> 司道格
> Skype: douglas0scott
> South African mobile number: +27 (0)79 515 8727
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Sun, 28 Jun 2015 15:57:44 +0200
> From: bobby shabangu <bobbyshabangu(a)gmail.com>
> To: Douglas Scott <douglas.i.scott(a)gmail.com>
> Cc: wikimediaza <wikimediaza(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia ZA] Draft infographic of the Wikimedia ZA
> survey results
> Message-ID:
> <
> CAFC6Omf5G03ZBrTWEbtcEQvQnGuGfqDjQc698wkaKj2nFozF6g(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> I'm here to help you Mapaseka.
>
> On Sun, Jun 28, 2015 at 3:47 PM, Douglas Scott <douglas.i.scott(a)gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Hi Ian,
> >
> > That is a very good suggestion and a couple of very good questions for
> the
> > next survey. I would also be interested to see the results of that.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Douglas.
> >
> > On 28 June 2015 at 15:34, Ian Gilfillan <wikimediaza(a)greenman.co.za>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Thanks for putting this together Douglas.
> > >
> > > An idea for the next survey are some questions on editing Wikipedias in
> > > languages besides English. Something like:
> > >
> > > - Are you aware that Wikipedia exists in (list languages here)
> > > - If yes, have you ever edited one of them? Which?
> > > - If no (the question above), why not?
> > >
> > > And then linking these results with the respondent's first language. It
> > > would be interesting to see what percentage of respondents that speak a
> > > language as a first-language edit that wikipedia vs English, what
> > > percentage of non-first language speakers, etc.
> > >
> > > ian
> > >
> > > On 27/06/2015 15:07, Douglas Scott wrote:
> > >
> > >> Hi Frank,
> > >>
> > >> That is a good question and I suspect it might have made a small
> > >> difference
> > >> if the survey was done in other languages however I doubt it would
> have
> > >> made much of a difference to people answering the question or even the
> > >> results. Largely because English is the default lingua franca of
> South
> > >> Africa which a great many people in South Africa can understand and
> > >> converse in.
> > >>
> > >> The other reason I doubt it is because apart from Afrikaans Wikipedia
> > all
> > >> the other African language Wikipedias (isiXhosa, isiZulu, and so on)
> > have
> > >> go so few articles and editors on them that they are basically dead.
> I
> > >> hope that this will change in the future as it would be fantastic to
> > have
> > >> vibrant Wikipedia's in all of South Africa's languages. This is
> another
> > >> indicator that there just arent likely to be very many people who
> speak
> > >> those languages at a first language level out there editing Wikipedia.
> > >> But
> > >> that is just a theory.
> > >>
> > >> Ultimately the only way to truly know for sure would be to do the next
> > >> survey in as many different languages as possible and need to budget
> for
> > >> the extra cost and time of organising its translation (which should
> not
> > in
> > >> any way be an excuse not to translate).
> > >>
> > >> Cheers,
> > >>
> > >> Douglas.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > WikimediaZA mailing list
> > > WikimediaZA(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaza
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Douglas Ian Scott
> > 司道格
> > Skype: douglas0scott
> > South African mobile number: +27 (0)79 515 8727
> > _______________________________________________
> > WikimediaZA mailing list
> > WikimediaZA(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaza
> >
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Sun, 28 Jun 2015 07:02:41 -0700
> From: Asaf Bartov <abartov(a)wikimedia.org>
> To: Ian Gilfillan <wikimediaza(a)greenman.co.za>
> Cc: "wikimediaza(a)lists.wikimedia.org"
> <wikimediaza(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia ZA] June 2015 African language Wikipedia
> update
> Message-ID:
> <
> CAAmrcwc0v4+6kVFVFRBy1f6snnDeTFBuwzu88kwUGT9-8buoEg(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> Thank you for putting this together, Ian.
>
> A.
>
> On Sun, Jun 28, 2015 at 6:46 AM, Ian Gilfillan <wikimediaza(a)greenman.co.za
> >
> wrote:
>
> > Hi
> >
> > Here's another update on the state of the African language Wikipedias.
> > http://www.greenman.co.za/blog/?p=1772
> >
> > ian
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > WikimediaZA mailing list
> > WikimediaZA(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaza
> >
>
>
>
> --
> 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
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 7
> Date: Sun, 28 Jun 2015 16:35:43 +0200
> From: David Richfield <davidrichfield(a)gmail.com>
> To: Douglas Scott <douglas.i.scott(a)gmail.com>
> Cc: Wikimedia South Africa Mailing List
> <wikimediaza(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia ZA] Draft infographic of the Wikimedia ZA
> survey results
> Message-ID:
> <
> CAE_D4n4qo1EXSf9gqa5A3iujHdDPaFF8yTLh2SxsnGj0HRP_Mw(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> Good questions and comments from the other participants.
>
> All I would like to add is that I found the infographic clear and readable,
> with good style.
>
> I would have preferred the "human" character to have curves instead of
> sharp corners, and by the minor nature of that quibble you can gauge my
> level of satisfaction!
> On 28 Jun 2015 01:16, "Douglas Scott" <douglas.i.scott(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hello everyone,
> >
> > Thanks for the feedback. Jacques I have included your suggestions into
> the
> > latest version which you can find at the link I previously sent out (see
> > link provided again below). William I have increased the size of the
> map,
> > has that made it any easier to read that section? Also in answer to your
> > question about updates, I have been told that the survey ended around
> last
> > week so it should not need updating, however if it is still going on
> then I
> > will update it as soon as I am back from Mexico which should be around
> the
> > end of July.
> >
> >
> >
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Infographic-WMZA_survey_results_201…
> >
> > I have also just added the age of our 'average' (admittedly a term I am
> > using very broadly here) South African Wikipedian.
> >
> > Cheers and thanks for the feedback,
> >
> > Douglas.
> >
> > On 27 June 2015 at 22:38, Jacques Avril du Toit <dtoitj(a)gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > > Dear Douglas
> > >
> > >
> > > Congratulations on a job well-done! I have browsed through your
> findings
> > > and I don’t have much to add. Here are a few suggestions, but these are
> > not
> > > compulsory to integrate though:
> > >
> > > · Instead of survey, indicate it was an *online *survey. This
> will
> > > indicate that you have taken into account the online research ethics
> > > involved in approaching and dealing with your respondents.
> > >
> > > · “The majority of editors are based in only two provinces.”
> > >
> > > I agree with your response relating to the ‘first language’ issue. I
> > think
> > > this question is a problem in many “[research] contexts” of South
> Africa.
> > > I mean: Should participants indicate their ‘home language’ (spoken at
> > > home), of their school attended, or the languages used in the workplace
> > > (‘language of wider communication’)? To be fair, think if 40% of your
> > > population indicated that they speak English as a L1, just integrate it
> > as
> > > that.
> > >
> > >
> > > Otherwise, good job! All the best!
> > >
> > >
> > > Regards
> > >
> > >
> > > JdT
> > >
> > > On Sat, Jun 27, 2015 at 8:02 PM, William Stucke <William(a)stucke.co.za>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > >> Thank you for doing this, Douglas. Very impressive. I presume that you
> > >> will update the results with the figures obtained at the end of the
> > month?
> > >>
> > >> I didn't spot any obvious typos, but the image with the numbers on
> the
> > >> map isn't all that easy to read. Other than that, I think that it's
> > great.
> > >>
> > >> Kind regards,
> > >>
> > >> William Stucke
> > >> 079-501-0850
> > >> William(a)stucke.co.za
> > >>
> > >> -----Original Message-----
> > >> From: wikimediaza-bounces(a)lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:
> > >> wikimediaza-bounces(a)lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Douglas Scott
> > >> Sent: 27 June 2015 08:46 AM
> > >> To: wikimediaza
> > >> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia ZA] Draft infographic of the Wikimedia ZA
> survey
> > >> results
> > >>
> > >> Hi Everyone,
> > >>
> > >> I am getting some feedback that my last email come through with
> nothing
> > >> attached. I think the file was large enought (3MB) that the mailing
> > list
> > >> dropped it. So I have uploaded it to commons and you can see it there
> > at
> > >> the link here:
> > >>
> > >>
> >
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Infographic-WMZA_survey_results_201…
> > >>
> > >> Cheers,
> > >>
> > >> Douglas.
> > >>
> > >> On 26 June 2015 at 00:59, Douglas Scott <douglas.i.scott(a)gmail.com>
> > >> wrote:
> > >>
> > >> > Hello everyone,
> > >> >
> > >> > As many of you know Wikimedia SOuth Africa has been conducting a
> > >> > survey over the past few months of South African based editors. So
> if
> > >> > you were on Wikipedia recently and saw a banner asking you to
> > >> > participate in a survey, this is it. I have spent much of the day
> > >> > today going over some of the results of the survey and have
> summarised
> > >> > some of the more interesting results into a draft infographic (it is
> > >> > still very rough). I am planning to display it at this year's
> > >> > Wikimania which will be happening in less than
> > >> > 3 weeks time.
> > >> >
> > >> > Please let me know what you think of it and please let me know if
> you
> > >> > spot any errors. I am pretty terrable at copy editing, especially
> > >> > spelling. It is meant to be printed out on an A0 sized poster -so
> > >> > please excuse its rather large size- as well as what ever I can fit
> on
> > >> a smaller flyer.
> > >> >
> > >> > Cheers,
> > >> >
> > >> > Douglas
> > >> >
> > >> > --
> > >> > Douglas Ian Scott
> > >> > 司道格
> > >> > Skype: douglas0scott
> > >> > South African mobile number: +27 (0)79 515 8727
> > >> >
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >> Douglas Ian Scott
> > >> 司道格
> > >> Skype: douglas0scott
> > >> South African mobile number: +27 (0)79 515 8727
> > >> _______________________________________________
> > >> WikimediaZA mailing list
> > >> WikimediaZA(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaza
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> _______________________________________________
> > >> WikimediaZA mailing list
> > >> WikimediaZA(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaza
> > >>
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Douglas Ian Scott
> > 司道格
> > Skype: douglas0scott
> > South African mobile number: +27 (0)79 515 8727
> > _______________________________________________
> > WikimediaZA mailing list
> > WikimediaZA(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaza
> >
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> WikimediaZA mailing list
> WikimediaZA(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaza
>
>
> End of WikimediaZA Digest, Vol 57, Issue 5
> ******************************************
>
--
*Dr Grant McNulty*
*Cell: *076 419 8587
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