Wikipedia is famous for its philosophy that ordinary people, not just scholars, have expertise to offer the public. But when it comes to evaluating the online encyclopedia itself, Wikipedia officials have apparently concluded that academe is best suited for the task.
The Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia, announced today that it will work with a research center — UNU-Merit — run by the United Nations University and the Netherlands’ Maastricht University to conduct its first Wikepedia survey. It will collect data over the next several months on who Wikipedia’s readers and contributors are, why they visit the site, and what they do there. The results are expected to be released this year at the Wikimania conference in Alexandria, Egypt.
“This will help us figure out how to persuade new people to start contributing, and how to keep contributors engaged,” Sue Gardner, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, said in a written statement.
Luc L. Soete, director of the research center, said the project fit well with his organization’s mission. He said Wikipedia helped people in developing countries gain access to knowledge. UNU-Merit, based in Tokyo, examines the social and political environments surrounding technological change. —Andrea L. Foster
