[Wikipedia-l] Language versions' popularity vs. number of articles (vs. number of speakers)

[Erik Moeller]

On 3/29/06, Mark Williamson <node.ue at gmail.com> wrote:
> How can this be fixed? Perhaps a site notice inviting people to write
> quality pages or register, or a drive to recruit new Wikipedians from
> the academic community.

The site notice can indeed be a useful instrument, especially when
used for specific campaigns, I think. On the English Wikinews I
proposed the idea of a community-approved site notice of the week (in
this case, it would only be shown to registered users):
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews:Site_notice_of_the_week

Make sure there are enough entry points. The hard distinction between
"community" and "content" is not as important for a young project -- I
think it's fine to have red links on a frontpage of a Wikipedia that
is still in the growth stage, for example. Also stuff like
"collaboration of the week". Stub notices might also help, though some
people hate them.

What also makes a huge difference is press coverage. People who only
discover Wikipedia through their regular Internet searches may never
understand how it works. The German Wikipedia has had _gigantic_ media
coverage in the last few years -- more hype than even the English one,
in my opinion. Even events like Wikimania were covered in national
newspapers. Arguably, in the case of de, it was even a little too much
for the community to deal with.

The new Communications Committee might be able to help with raising
Wikipedia-awareness in specific countries:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Communications_committee

By now, a general "Wikipedia is great, everyone can edit it" story
doesn't work so well anymore. ;-) But finding an interesting regional
hook should make things interesting -- if there's one thing media
everywhere seem to have in common, it's that they will happily accept
any excuse to write about Wikipedia. One story angle many media are
choosing now is the "Meet the Wikipedians" type, with lots of
individual portraits (kudos to Wired for pioneering this form). The
community can help in obvious ways in laying the groundwork for such
stories.

But, importantly, don't worry too much about these issues. The key
factor are likely cultural reasons which we cannot change. Wikimedia
is like a forest, and some trees just grow faster than others -- but
they all grow. Worry more about the issue of access (both because of
censorship and lack of technology). Wikimedia can do a lot more in
this area.

Erik