A HH4901 11

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I've spent some time this week trying to find reliable demographic and other descriptive information on Wikipedia contributors. I've done this in the spirit of trying to figure out the characteristics of people likely to contribute to a Wiki-based environment. The relevance to StudyPlace should be obvious.

It seems to me that there is little reliable empirical data on Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia encourages a culture of anonymity, and as a result collects virtually no descriptive data on its contributors. There are some surveys, including some that take up the question of motivation (e.g. — http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/Nov_Wikipedia_motivations_opensource.mit.edu.pdf) but in general these have low response rates or small sample sizes.

For me this raises some questions:

  • What are the characteristics of people likely to contribute to a Wiki?
  • Which of these general characteristics lend themselves to a Wiki specifically devoted to the academic study of education?
  • What is the most efficient way of locating such contributors?
  • Would answering these sorts of questions generate a targeted participation on StudyPlace?

nee2102 14:47, 5 April 2007 (EDT)

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