[Foundation-l] Surveys

Tue Oct 2 23:02:44 UTC 2007

on 10/2/07 6:39 PM, Brock Weller at brock.weller at gmail.com wrote:

> To clarify, i don't believe they are seen as part of the community.
> The REASON they are not is what i have no knowledge of, and instead
> relying on others reasoning :)

This attitude on some peoples' part would also be something interesting to
investigate.

Marc

> 
> On 10/2/07, Brock Weller <brock.weller at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I rather expressly said they weren't my thoughts per se. They were the
>> results of a rather long discussion among a couple dozen people,
>> mostly old timers, on the irc channel this summer.
>> 
>> On 10/2/07, Marc Riddell <michaeldavid86 at comcast.net> wrote:
>>> on 10/2/07 9:40 AM, Brock Weller at brock.weller at gmail.com wrote:
>>> 
>>>> The reason behind this, i suspect, is that most people complaining are
>>>> not seen as 'in the project'. There was a large discussion sometime
>>>> ago about how at some point, early 2005 or so, the influx of new users
>>>> got so great that we stopped being able to enculturate them to the
>>>> mindset and goals of the project. There are simply quite a few people
>>>> here who just never got it as a result of that. You can see it in the
>>>> responses to certain situations on wiki and on the mailing list. It
>>>> would be nice to begin to show new users the point and culture of the
>>>> wiki again, but numbers just don, allow it, and the longer users are
>>>> doing a fine job of shepherding the community as a whole in the
>>>> correct direction that holds true to our original goals.
>>> 
>>> I question some of your thoughts and reasoning here, Brock; but that would
>>> be for another thread. Right now I think it a good idea to get a sense of
>>> where we are as a collaborative project - from the perspective of its
>>> people.
>>> 
>>> Marc
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On 10/2/07, Marc Riddell <michaeldavid86 at comcast.net> 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
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>>> From: foundation-l-bounces at lists.wikimedia.org
>>>>>>> [mailto:foundation-l-bounces at lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf
>>>>>>> Of Debbie Garside
>>>>>>> Sent: 01 October 2007 19:34
>>>>>>> To: 'Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List'
>>>>>>> Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Surveys
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Hi
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> By survey can you clarify what you mean please?  I do have
>>>>>>> quite a lot of experience in both designing, implementing and
>>>>>>> analysing survey data - most recently conducting an online
>>>>>>> survey for an ISO TC.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Best regards
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Debbie
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>>>> From: foundation-l-bounces at lists.wikimedia.org
>>>>>>>> [mailto:foundation-l-bounces at lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf
>>>>>>> Of Casey
>>>>>>>> Brown
>>>>>>>> Sent: 29 September 2007 13:59
>>>>>>>> To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List
>>>>>>>> Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Surveys
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> I believe there are currently some attempts at creating surveys by
>>>>>>>> individual community members, but I don't think anything on a large
>>>>>>>> scale has been done yet.  This is definitely something that a few
>>>>>>>> (most?) people would like to see done, to just get a better idea of
>>>>>>>> who uses or edits the site.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> On 9/29/07, Marc Riddell <michaeldavid86 at comcast.net> wrote:
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> Folks,
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> Has any type of survey of individual Community Members ever
>>>>>>>> been taken
>>>>>>>>> on any online Foundation project?
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> If there has, what were the mechanics involved in taking
>>>>>>>> it? If not,
>>>>>>>>> would conducting such a survey be possible?
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> I am somewhat computer-challenged, so please be gentle :-).
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> Marc Riddell
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
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>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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>> 
>> 
>> --
>> -Brock
>> 
> 