Hello wikimedia-l!
Back in February of 2015, the fundraising team engaged Lake Research
Partners (LRP) to conduct a detailed survey of English language Wikimedia
readers
<https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/c/c2/Wikimedia_Survey_2014_English_Fundraiser.pdf>.
As
we look to continue to improve our efforts fundraising in non-EN languages
we decided to conduct a similar fact finding exercise in one of our larger
fundraising countries. Japan, being an affluent country with a large
population and where our projects have had a large reach, has in some ways
under-performed and seemed ripe to deliver the greatest impact for such
efforts.
With that in mind we again partnered with Lake Research Partners to run two
focus groups consisting of readers and donors, and an online survey of 1000
Wikipedia readers and I am pleased to provide the findings of these
<https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/e/ef/Report.WikimediaJapan.f.071916.pdf>
.
We found the results show mostly favorable attitudes toward Wikipedia, with
positive ratings on quality, look and feel, and readability, while accuracy
is rated lower and mentioned as a concern among focus groups participants.
We found a more urgent, direct translation was perceived as better than a
more natural translation. This may be because Japanese readers are less
likely to donate spontaneously than some of our Western audiences; donors
are generally motivated by significant events like natural disasters. We
will have to balance an urgent tone with frank politeness when crafting our
appeals, and are still working to find the right balance of direct and
natural translation. Soon there will be a follow up survey of
the Japanese Wikimedia community to help further our understanding and one
of several means by which we are improving and strengthening the community
involvement in movement fundraising.
Regards
--
Seddon
Advancement Associate (Community Engagement)
Wikimedia Foundation