[Foundation-l] Re: Personal research grant collaboration request

Fri Jul 30 01:40:03 UTC 2004

Hello Chitu,

Just in case... do you by any chance speak french ?

Otherwise, I noted your proposition. Jimbo, Angela and I will answer you 
as soon as possible. Meanwhile, I hope that some editors will comment on 
your proposition :-)

anthere

Chitu Okoli wrote:
> Dear Wikimedia Foundation,
> 
> My name is Chitu Okoli. I am a professor in information systems (MIS) at
> Concordia University in Montréal, and I've been very interested in Wikipedia
> for a while. (I am also a light Wikipedian, User:cokoli, since March this
> year. In addtion, I've been listening in on foundation-l for a little while
> now.)
> 
> I am currently working on a couple of research projects involving Wikipedia.
> Two specific projects involve:
> 1. Obtaining a scholarly evaluation of the quality of its articles by
> comparing Wikipedia articles with those of other encyclopedias; and
> 2. Mapping the sociological networks of Wikipedians among each other in
> their wiki activities, and the effects of these networks on their individual
> and group performance in Wikipedia.
> 
> I want to apply for grant funding to support my research, and I would love
> to arrange this in a way that would translate into free computer equipment
> for Wikipedia. For this, I would only need the Wikimedia Foundation's
> organizational support and some technical cooperation. I hope it could be a
> win-win situation where I could receive assistance for my research (and the
> satisfaction of contributing tangibly to what I believe is a worthy cause),
> and the Foundation could hopefully get some valuable resources.
> 
> I'd like to work together with you to see what options could work best for
> mutual benefit. Specifically, let me quote my faculty's grant coordinator,
> as he explains quite well the boundaries of what mind be possible:
> 
> <<
> Also, with regards to buying and sending equipment to Wikipedia, you
> should be okay doing that.  However, the university may request that the
> equipment be returned to the university at the end of the research project
> i.e. 3 years from the starting date.  So, Wikipedia could use the server
> for 3 years, which would obviously help them by saving them the money in
> the short term to purchase the equipment and in 3 years from now you may
> request from the university that the equipment be donated, sold at a
> discount, returned, etc.  This would have to be negotiated between
> yourself and the Associate Dean and Dean of the business school. 
> I would suggest first that you contact Wikipedia to ask them to give you a
> list of the server equipment that they need to buy, but tell them that the
> value cannot exceed say $6000 CDN for example.  I say $6,000 because you
> may get a maximum of $15,000/yr for 3 years, which you would need to hire
> RAs, buy yourself a laptop to travel with, etc.  In return, they would
> have to send you a letter of support indicating that they will be helping
> you to collect the data you need via surveys, etc.
> 
> 
> 
> How I would like the Wikimedia foundation to assist me is in two main ways:
> 
> 1. If my research program seems interesting to you, and/or if you believe
> the Foundation could benefit from the equipment that the grant(s) could
> provide, please write me an official letter of support indicating that you
> are willing to offer me necessary assistance in carrying out my research. I
> am certainly NOT asking for financial assistance--rather, I'm trying to help
> provide some. (Besides, after listening in on the fundraising banner
> discussion, Wikimedia Foundation is the last place I'd go asking for money
> :-) Such a letter of support in and of itself would be a great act of
> "support" for me--it would be very helpful in helping me obtain a research
> grant to continue my research.
> 
> 2. As far as what actual "support" I would need, for much of my research, I
> don't need anyone from the Wikipedia Foundation to actually do anything for
> me--I am already working off the Wikipedia database dumps, and the
> Wikitech-l provides pretty good technical support. (Thanks Timwi and Brion
> Vibber for helping my research assistant, Claudio.) 
> 
> However, some of the further research I might need to do could need
> substantial help from the Wikimedia Foundation. One particular idea I have
> in mind would be to conduct a survey of Wikipedians to figure out who they
> are, and why they do what they do. I have in mind something very much along
> the lines of the "Hacker Survey" that Boston Consulting Group conducted on
> SourceForge developers, through the support of the Open Source Developers
> Network. (The results are available in PDF at
> http://www.bcg.com/opensource/BCGHACKERSURVEY.pdf.) I think the Foundation
> could benefit from a similar survey, to better understand who Wikipedians
> are. However, if I were to help conduct this survey (I am a social scientist
> with special training in conducting accurate surveys), I would need special
> access to Wikipedians beyond what a database dump could provide. This is
> just an example to show the kind of "support" I would need that could be
> mutually beneficial. And of course, I'm trying to get funds from outside to
> sponsor this (e.g. I apply for a grant to pay the Foundation for developer
> time to help create the surveys).
> 
> 
> To be explicit, what I hope to offer the Wikimedia Foundation (subject to
> grant award) would be:
> 1. Free hardware for about three years or so (depending on the grant terms).
> 2. Consulting/developer fees for specific projects that might require more
> time by board members and developers.
> 
> 
> Please post your thoughts and comments on this. I'd like you to help make
> this a proposal that could help both me and the Wikimedia Foundation.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Chitu Okoli, PhD
> Assistant Professor in Management Information Systems
> John Molson School of Business
> Concordia University, Montréal, Canada
> 
> Phone: +1 (514) 848-2424 x2967
> cokoli at jmsb.concordia.ca
> http://chitu.okoli.org/mis