[Foundation-l] Wikimedia Brand Survey Analysis

[Ray Saintonge]

Delirium wrote:

>Anthony wrote:
>  
>
>>On 7/5/07, Brion Vibber <brion at wikimedia.org> wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>Anthony wrote:
>>>      
>>>
>>>>If people are giving you something
>>>>because they want to help Wikipedia, then that something should be
>>>>used toward Wikipedia, not some other project.
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>That might be true if people thought there was a difference between the
>>>various projects we do, or if they thought that we shouldn't ever do
>>>anything other than encyclopedia pages. On the contrary, though, people
>>>often recommend we do additional things.
>>>      
>>>
>>I find it hard to believe that anyone would think there's no
>>difference between the various projects.
>>    
>>
>That's been my experience though---people basically take "Wikipedia" to 
>be the overall brand for "putting free information on the internet 
>created using a Wiki format", and so they find nothing particularly 
>strange about the fact that there's also a dictionary and free media 
>repository and whatnot.  As a practical matter I mostly perpetuate that 
>"mistake" because it's simply easier to communicate: If I tell people 
>they should upload their images to "Wikipedia's free-media repository" 
>or that I'm going to "Wikipedia's annual conference", they know what I'm 
>talking about immediately.  I *could* explain what the names Wikipedia 
>vs. Wikimedia vs. Mediawiki mean, but most people have about as much 
>patience for that as they do for Linux vs. GNU/Linux.
>
If I told people that I'm going to Wikmania, I'd have to explain what 
I'm talking about.  When I tell them that I'm going to Wikipedia's World 
Convention, I only need to confirm that yes Wikipedia does have live 
conferences.  Similarly, those of us who live in suburbs when we are 
responding to the question, "Where are you from?" will often answer with 
the name of our central city.  That saves having to explain our suburb's 
location to somebody for whom that distinction doesn't matter.

Ec