[WikiEN-l] Re: Question about researching Wikipedia

Thu Feb 10 06:17:06 UTC 2005

I think the way the community works is totally fascinating and I 
understand fully your desire to do a more organised research. I'll be 
glad to see results in the end.

The only comment I would have would be to recommand you to ask people 
their permission if you make reference to their names in your study. Not 
mandatory, but possibly nicer.

Anthere

F L a écrit:
> I'm a graduate student at the University of Michigan
> School of Information (and also an admin at Wikipedia,
> username Ffirehorse). I'm considering a long research
> paper on the dynamics of community at Wikipedia for a
> class on online communities that I'm taking this term.
> 
> 
> My question is about protocol, and the reason I'm
> asking it is because I'm not having much success in
> locating on Wikimedia or Wikipedia any policy or
> guidelines on how to approach the community in terms
> of consent. Would a community-wide announcement be
> sufficient? As someone who is already a member of the
> community, while I'm doing the research, would it be
> advisable to post some sort of note on my user page
> that I'm also conducting research? 
> 
> Or is the sort of activity that I'm proposing (i.e.,
> researching Wikipedia while also contributing as a
> member) generally frowned upon? If so, I will drop the
> idea without hesitation.
> 
> The research I'm considering would be in the form of
> unobtrusive observation of norms, practices, routines,
> and other forms of community-forming activity on
> Wikipedia, and would not likely involve any direct
> interaction with Wikipedia users. I'd be happy to go
> into further detail about the specifics if need be.
> 
> Any guidance/feedback would be appreciated.
> 
> Thank you,
> Frank Lester
> 
> 
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