[Foundation-l] New Reports from November 2008 Survey Released

[emijrp]

Hi all;

I have been reading the recent report about the 2008 survey.[1] It is
divided into some parts, but the most interesting (for me) is that about
non-contributors.

We know about the Wikimedia Usability Initiative, which wants to measurably
increase the usability of Wikipedia for new contributors (new toolbar, new
upload form, new skin, ...). But I want to share with you two paragraphs
about the survey:[2]

[...]The primary reason non-contributors would consider contributing is if
they “knew there were
specific topic areas that needed [their] help” (34-41%). Almost as important
an incentive, (31-37%)
for all groups, is a clear indication “that other people would benefit from
[their] efforts”.[...]

...and...

[...]We can expect contribution to increase if explanations of the technical
aspects of contributing were
made more readily accessible to readers; if it was made more explicitly
clear that readers'
contributions are welcome, and that people can contribute in many ways
including those that don't
require domain expertise, such as, for instance, correcting language or
obvious errors. The single
biggest incentive to increase contribution is probably making more clear
what topics and what
articles need editing. Wikipedia already has notices on pages which do not
meet quality standards,
need clean-up, etc. However, these notices are perhaps not explicit enough
in addressing and
engaging readers who are not yet part of the Wikipedia contributor
community. Clearer, explicit
identification of topics where readers might contribute, perhaps through
notices and requests not
limited to single articles, are likely to increase contribution: e.g., if a
reader is looking at several
articles on psychology, he or she could be presented with a request to
contribute to other articles on
psychology.[...]

As you can read, non-contributors want to know where they can help, so, a
new toolbar or a new upload form only would be used if they know what to
write and what image is needed to upload.

Also, non-contributors choice "I would be much likelier to contribute if...
the technology was easier to use" with a very low percent (compared to the
other answers).

Perhaps, we need a Wikipedia Edit Campaign (similar to the famous annual
Wikipedia Donation Campaign) with a sitenotice asking people to edit where
they might contribute, using their navigation preferences or
geolocalisation.

Best wishes,
emijrp

[1]
http://blog.wikimedia.org/2010/04/02/new-reports-from-november-2008-survey-released/
[2]
http://wikipediasurvey.org/docs/Wikipedia_NonContributors_15March2010-FINAL.pdf