[Foundation-l] Surveys

Tue Oct 2 13:40:33 UTC 2007

The reason behind this, i suspect, is that most people complaining are
not seen as 'in the project'. There was a large discussion sometime
ago about how at some point, early 2005 or so, the influx of new users
got so great that we stopped being able to enculturate them to the
mindset and goals of the project. There are simply quite a few people
here who just never got it as a result of that. You can see it in the
responses to certain situations on wiki and on the mailing list. It
would be nice to begin to show new users the point and culture of the
wiki again, but numbers just don, allow it, and the longer users are
doing a fine job of shepherding the community as a whole in the
correct direction that holds true to our original goals.

On 10/2/07, Marc Riddell <michaeldavid86 at comcast.net> wrote:
> on 10/1/07 4:34 PM, Debbie Garside at debbie at ictmarketing.co.uk wrote:
>
> > OK... Forget the question :-)  I just realised there were another 30
> emails
> > above the one I responded to ;-)
> >
> Thank you for responding, Debbie. What I am interested in, generally, is the
> state of online collaboration and community building; and I am particularly
> wanting to study interpersonal dynamics, conflict resolution and identity
> within the Foundation's projects. In other words, I would like to take a
> Project's emotional temperature.
>
> In the English Wikipedia, for example, there are those on the Mailing List
> who say, we're fine, the culture's fine - don't mess with it.
>
> However, there are also enough posts from persons who say they are feeling
> abused, ignored, and not being treated fairly in the Project. And, when
> these persons do post, they are usually portrayed as whiners, malcontents,
> and as persons who "need to get with the program".
>
> In short, people simply don't seem to know how to talk with each other
> without being extremely defensive, or grossly offensive. This severely
> inhibits and degrades the quality of collaboration.
>
> I have some ideas on how to improve some of this, but first I would like to
> conduct an honest, objective survey to see if this is simply my imagination,
> or is actually a true picture of the state of things.
>
> My field is Clinical Psychology. I could assist in analyzing such a survey,
> but I am not schooled or experienced in actually creating one.
>
> My thoughts are to present the findings to the Foundation itself. There is
> plenty of time to work within here. I would like to do this right. I welcome
> your input.
>
> Marc Riddell
>
>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: foundation-l-bounces at lists.wikimedia.org
> >> [mailto:foundation-l-bounces at lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf
> >> Of Debbie Garside
> >> Sent: 01 October 2007 19:34
> >> To: 'Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List'
> >> Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Surveys
> >>
> >> Hi
> >>
> >> By survey can you clarify what you mean please?  I do have
> >> quite a lot of experience in both designing, implementing and
> >> analysing survey data - most recently conducting an online
> >> survey for an ISO TC.
> >>
> >> Best regards
> >>
> >> Debbie
> >>
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>> From: foundation-l-bounces at lists.wikimedia.org
> >>> [mailto:foundation-l-bounces at lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf
> >> Of Casey
> >>> Brown
> >>> Sent: 29 September 2007 13:59
> >>> To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List
> >>> Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Surveys
> >>>
> >>> I believe there are currently some attempts at creating surveys by
> >>> individual community members, but I don't think anything on a large
> >>> scale has been done yet.  This is definitely something that a few
> >>> (most?) people would like to see done, to just get a better idea of
> >>> who uses or edits the site.
> >>>
> >>> On 9/29/07, Marc Riddell <michaeldavid86 at comcast.net> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> Folks,
> >>>>
> >>>> Has any type of survey of individual Community Members ever
> >>> been taken
> >>>> on any online Foundation project?
> >>>>
> >>>> If there has, what were the mechanics involved in taking
> >>> it? If not,
> >>>> would conducting such a survey be possible?
> >>>>
> >>>> I am somewhat computer-challenged, so please be gentle :-).
> >>>>
> >>>> Marc Riddell
>
>
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-- 
-Brock