[Foundation-l] Surveys

[Marc Riddell]

> Marc Riddell wrote:
>> on 10/1/07 4:34 PM, Debbie Garside at debbie at ictmarketing.co.uk wrote:
>> 
>> 
>>> OK... Forget the question :-)  I just realised there were another 30 emails
>>> above the one I responded to ;-)
>>> 
>>> 
>> Thank you for responding, Debbie. What I am interested in, generally, is the
>> state of online collaboration and community building; and I am particularly
>> wanting to study interpersonal dynamics, conflict resolution and identity
>> within the Foundation's projects. In other words, I would like to take a
>> Project's emotional temperature.
>> 
>> In the English Wikipedia, for example, there are those on the Mailing List
>> who say, we're fine, the culture's fine - don't mess with it.
>> 
>> However, there are also enough posts from persons who say they are feeling
>> abused, ignored, and not being treated fairly in the Project. And, when
>> these persons do post, they are usually portrayed as whiners, malcontents,
>> and as persons who "need to get with the program".
>> 
>> In short, people simply don't seem to know how to talk with each other
>> without being extremely defensive, or grossly offensive. This severely
>> inhibits and degrades the quality of collaboration.
>> 
>> I have some ideas on how to improve some of this, but first I would like to
>> conduct an honest, objective survey to see if this is simply my imagination,
>> or is actually a true picture of the state of things.
>> 
>> My field is Clinical Psychology. I could assist in analyzing such a survey,
>> but I am not schooled or experienced in actually creating one.
>> 
>> My thoughts are to present the findings to the Foundation itself. There is
>> plenty of time to work within here. I would like to do this right. I welcome
>> your input.
>> 
>> Marc Riddell
>> 
>> on 10/2/07 9:58 AM, Sue Gardner at sgardner at wikimedia.org wrote:
> 
> Mark, I would just like to add my strong support of this notion. I am
> very interested in seeing a survey done of both of the contributors and
> the readers.  I don't think we have the internal capacity at the office
> to start really thinking about this until (I am guessing) the spring.
> But setting aside capacity issues, I completely agree that your premise
> is worth exploring.
> 
> If you manage to make any progress, I would be very pleased to see the
> results. And if I make progress first, I will get you involved :-)
> 
Great, Sue, thank you for your support. I will most certainly keep you
informed of the progress. It should be an enlightening adventure.

Marc