[Wikimediaindia-l] mobile editing & reading of Wikipedia

[Mani Pande]

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to introduce myself and also use this listserv for recruiting for a study that I am doing to understand the user experience of reading the Wikipedia on the mobile phone and understand the possibilities/feasibilities of using the mobile phone as a platform for editing the Wikipedia. 

I am Mani Pande, and I recently joined the Global Development team at Wikipedia to do research that will help Wikipedia grow in the global south. I work closely with other folks in the global development team (Barry, Kul etc) who many of you probably know. I have worked as a researcher for the last 6 years, and have a PhD in Sociology. Before joining Wikipedia, I worked for Institute for the Future, a forecasting research company, based in Palo Alto, CA.

I would like to recruit both Wikipedia readers and editors in India. I am looking to speak with folks who either read the Wikipedia on the phone (at least once a week) or have made some edits (two or more) on the phone in the last six months. I would like to conduct an interview over Skype. The interview would be about an hour.  It would touch on the questions listed below. 

If you are interested in participating in the study, please email me at mpande at wikimedia.org. Or if you believe someone else will be a great fit for this study then please feel forward this email.

Thanks in advance
Mani



Interview Objectives

Find out whether mobile phone can be used as a platform for reading, editing & contributing, to the Wikipedia (English & other Indian regional languages like Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Punjabi, Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam etc.)

Research questions: 

How is mobile phone being used as a platform for contributing to Wikipedia? What kinds of contributions are users making to the Wikipedia on the mobile phone currently? Editing already existing content, contributing new content, uploading pictures etc. What are the benefits? What are the pain-points? What are the drivers?
How will the role of mobile phone as a platform for contributing content change in the next one year? What will be different about mobile devices and networks in India?
How will the role of mobile phone as a platform for contributing content change in the next five years? What will be different about mobile devices and networks in India?
How is mobile phone being used for reading Wikipedia content? What kind of content is accessed on the phone? What are the benefits? What are the pain-points? What are the drivers?
How will the role of mobile phone as a platform for reading content change in the next one year? What will be different about mobile devices and networks in India?
How will the role of mobile phone as a platform for reading content change in the next five years? What will be different about mobile devices and networks in India?
How do outside trends/shifts in society, technology. Economy, environment and politics (STEEP) affect the emergence of mobile phone for reading and editing Wikipedia?  How do they affect user behaviors? 

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