World Affairs Council, Wikipedia as global collaboration Feb 2010
1. Wikipedia
A new model for global collaboration
February 2010
Jay Walsh, Head of Communications
Wikimedia Foundation.org
2.
3. “Imagine a world in which every single
human being can freely share in the
sum of all knowledge . . .
That’s what we’re doing.”
Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia CCBYSA3.0
by Nicolas Goldberg
4. La enciclopedia libre
Die freie Enzyklopädie
L'encyclopédie libre Свободная энциклопедия
Wikipedia is the largest encyclopedia in history
2 billion+ words L’enciclopedia libera
ﺍﳌﻮﺳﻮﻋﺔ ﺍﳊﺮﺓ
14 million+ articles
维基百科 5.7 million+ images
De vrije encyclopedie
he Free Encyclo
Roughly 4,500 new articles a day
250+ languages, independently authored
Approaching 1,000,000,000 edits (all projects)
フリー百科事典 Wolna encyklopedia
5. 5th most popular website world-wide
364 million unique visitors monthly
Source: comScore, Media Metrix, Jan 2010
9. What is the Wikimedia
Foundation?
A not-for-profit charity based in San Francisco, California
A global, mission-focused organization:
“Spread free knowledge throughout the world.”
Reach
Participation
Quality
Facilitators, not editors. No one at the Foundation
actively edits Wikipedia or other projects as staff.
24. Foundation structure
Board of Trustees
Fundraising Advisory Board
Programs / Outreach
Administration
Technology
Usability
25. Foundation structure
Board of Trustees
Fundraising Advisory Board
Programs / Outreach
International
Administration volunteer chapters
Technology
Usability
26. Foundation structure
Board of Trustees
Fundraising Advisory Board
Programs / Outreach
International
Administration volunteer chapters
Technology
Over 100,000
Usability active volunteers
28. People
Wikimedia considers any person who supports our
mission or edits on our projects to be a volunteer.
On our projects we consider an active editor to be
anyone who has edited at least five times in a month.
In December 2009 over 95,849 people edited a
Wikimedia project at least five times. 11,764 of those
made 100+ edits in the same month
Since the creation of Wikipedia nearly 1,000,000,000
individual edits have been made to Wikimedia projects.
30. People
Wikimedia volunteers created Wikipedia without any
payment or compensation.
Beyond editing, they give time in other ways.
•Public outreach and communications
31. People
Wikimedia volunteers created Wikipedia without any
payment or compensation.
Beyond editing, they give time in other ways.
•Public outreach and communications
•Software development and systems administration
32. People
Wikimedia volunteers created Wikipedia without any
payment or compensation.
Beyond editing, they give time in other ways.
•Public outreach and communications
•Software development and systems administration
•Taking photos, making maps, creating video and audio
33. People
Wikimedia volunteers created Wikipedia without any
payment or compensation.
Beyond editing, they give time in other ways.
•Public outreach and communications
•Software development and systems administration
•Taking photos, making maps, creating video and audio
•Organizing meet-ups
34. People
Wikimedia volunteers created Wikipedia without any
payment or compensation.
Beyond editing, they give time in other ways.
•Public outreach and communications
•Software development and systems administration
•Taking photos, making maps, creating video and audio
•Organizing meet-ups
•Building relationships with cultural institutions
35. People
Wikimedia volunteers created Wikipedia without any
payment or compensation.
Beyond editing, they give time in other ways.
•Public outreach and communications
•Software development and systems administration
•Taking photos, making maps, creating video and audio
•Organizing meet-ups
•Building relationships with cultural institutions
•Fundraising
38. Who edits?
Editors come from virtually every part of the world
Typically male, early to late 20’s, single
39. Who edits?
Editors come from virtually every part of the world
Typically male, early to late 20’s, single
Academics, “smart geeks,” technologically inclined
40. Who edits?
Editors come from virtually every part of the world
Typically male, early to late 20’s, single
Academics, “smart geeks,” technologically inclined
Often multi-lingual
41. Who edits?
Editors come from virtually every part of the world
Typically male, early to late 20’s, single
Academics, “smart geeks,” technologically inclined
Often multi-lingual
Anecdotal evidence suggests this is true world-wide
42. Who edits?
Editors come from virtually every part of the world
Typically male, early to late 20’s, single
Academics, “smart geeks,” technologically inclined
Often multi-lingual
Anecdotal evidence suggests this is true world-wide
Driven by Wikipedia’s core values:
43. Who edits?
Editors come from virtually every part of the world
Typically male, early to late 20’s, single
Academics, “smart geeks,” technologically inclined
Often multi-lingual
Anecdotal evidence suggests this is true world-wide
Driven by Wikipedia’s core values:
Neutral point of view
Verifiability
Notability
Proven facts/research only
Wikipedia is free
44. Open platforms let the world in.
Passion for fact is universal.
Sometimes you must meet.
Free is a powerful motivator.
Language borders, not geopolitical borders.
45.
46. •Over 43,000 words
•142 references
•34 language versions
•Over 4,500 edits
Created 60 mins after
the attacks, updated Feb
19, 2010
Hundreds of editors
from around the world.
47. Open platforms let the world in.
Passion for fact is universal.
Sometimes you must meet.
Free is a powerful motivator.
Language borders, not geopolitical borders.
48.
49.
50. Open platforms let the world in.
Passion for fact is universal.
Sometimes you must meet.
Free is a powerful motivator.
Language borders, not geopolitical borders.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56. Open platforms let the world in.
Passion for fact is universal.
Sometimes you must meet.
Free is a powerful motivator.
Language borders, not geopolitical borders.
57. All content on the Wikimedia projects is available under a
creative commons license.
All the works can be freely reused, even for
commercial purposes, as long as they continue to remain
free under the same license.
58. Open platforms let the world in.
Passion for fact is universal.
Sometimes you must meet.
Free is a powerful motivator.
Transcending borders; growing language.
59.
60. Classic cultural bias is less common
Borders/distance don’t impede growth of a language
But national cultures persist (part of fact/knowledge)
61. Observations
Open platforms let the world in.
Passion for fact is universal.
Sometimes you must meet.
Free is a powerful motivator.
Language borders, not geopolitical borders.
62. Observations
Open platforms let the world in.
Passion for fact is universal.
Sometimes you must meet.
Free is a powerful motivator.
Language borders, not geopolitical borders.
Trust is universal
63. Observations
Open platforms let the world in.
Passion for fact is universal.
Sometimes you must meet.
Free is a powerful motivator.
Language borders, not geopolitical borders.
Trust is universal
Boldness is universal
64. Our next steps
Five-year business plan
Global contributors for open strategy planning
Priorities
65. Our next steps
Five-year business plan
Global contributors for open strategy planning
Priorities
•Build the platform
66. Our next steps
Five-year business plan
Global contributors for open strategy planning
Priorities
•Build the platform
•Strengthen the editing community
67. Our next steps
Five-year business plan
Global contributors for open strategy planning
Priorities
•Build the platform
•Strengthen the editing community
•Invest in key geographic areas, mobile development, and
innovation
71. Geographic priorities are determined by opportunities for
mission impact: projected mobile and internet growth rates, size
and growth of relevant Wikipedia language projects, number of
current editors.
Key geographic priorities we’re considering:
72. Geographic priorities are determined by opportunities for
mission impact: projected mobile and internet growth rates, size
and growth of relevant Wikipedia language projects, number of
current editors.
Key geographic priorities we’re considering:
• India
73. Geographic priorities are determined by opportunities for
mission impact: projected mobile and internet growth rates, size
and growth of relevant Wikipedia language projects, number of
current editors.
Key geographic priorities we’re considering:
• India
• Russia
74. Geographic priorities are determined by opportunities for
mission impact: projected mobile and internet growth rates, size
and growth of relevant Wikipedia language projects, number of
current editors.
Key geographic priorities we’re considering:
• India
• Russia
• Turkey
75. Geographic priorities are determined by opportunities for
mission impact: projected mobile and internet growth rates, size
and growth of relevant Wikipedia language projects, number of
current editors.
Key geographic priorities we’re considering:
• India
• Russia
• Turkey
• Middle East and North Africa
76. Geographic priorities are determined by opportunities for
mission impact: projected mobile and internet growth rates, size
and growth of relevant Wikipedia language projects, number of
current editors.
Key geographic priorities we’re considering:
• India
• Russia
• Turkey
• Middle East and North Africa
• Indonesia
77. Geographic priorities are determined by opportunities for
mission impact: projected mobile and internet growth rates, size
and growth of relevant Wikipedia language projects, number of
current editors.
Key geographic priorities we’re considering:
• India
• Russia
• Turkey
• Middle East and North Africa
• Indonesia
• Brazil
Greetings and thanks
Pleasure and honor to be visiting Tokyo this week, especially to talk about something I care a great deal about.
This is perhaps only the second time that a representative from the Foundation has been able to attend, and it’s a great opportunity to share our work and to hear what Wikimedians and enthusiasts of our projects are doing in Japan.
A great opportunity to start a dialog and for the Foundation to gain some perspective.
This is the reason I’m here today. This is probably the reason you are here today as well.
This is an emblem of a brand, but it means much more than a brand.
This represents an endless bounty of knowledge. It represents trust, or for others no trust.
It is about a special space to protect.
This symbol is about collaboration, neutrality, tough and complex topics, as well as simple topics.
The puzzle globe is not done, it’s imperfect, but it’s also a human creation – it’s something that we’ve built.
This is Wikipedia – it’s more than a website, but I’m excited to know that a symbol like this is so powerful.
Wikipedia started with Jimmy Wales.
He made this declaration at some point in his life – wanting to carry out the idea of bringing all knowledge to all people in all relevant languages.
Jimmy was thinking about Wikipedia before the technology even existed. He was thinking about his idea in his time as a day-trader in Chicago.
He was an early internet adopter – active on mailing lists, and drifted towards the very early ideas of the internet.
He pondered whether these early technologies could lead to something like an on-line encyclopedia.
A truly global project:
• 9 languages at 500k+ • 27 languages at 100k+ • 90 languages at 10k+ • 177 languages at 1k+
Grew from an idea to this scope and size.
This is data from the internet measurement company comScore. Comscore uses an audience sampling system to average out traffic levels for web properties.
In fact our own server data reports significantly higher traffic levels, in excess of 100K requests on our servers per second, but this system for measurement is different.
Wikimedia Foundation sites includes all of our projects in all of its languages.
We’d like to recognize comScore for generously providing this data to us.
This chart also uses comScore data, and although it only observes english news sites, it does provide some specific context about the difference between how similar news and information sites perform on a global scale.
Wikipedia is the blue line, with almost exponential growth in traffic and almost no other sites in the same competitive area.
This slide shows what kinds of article categories people are looking at across language wikipedias. In Japan there is a predmoniance of viewing pop culture information – more than any other site. This is preliminary data, but it is a powerful way to present the incredible differences in how cultures consume information from Wikipedia.
Note that this is –not- a reflection of the content in each wikipedia, rather what is being viewed.
The Foundation was founded in St. Petersburg Florida, which is where our data center remains, but we moved to San Francisco to take advantage of the intellectual capital and resources in the bay area.
The Wikimedia Foundation’s mission is not specifically built around supporting Wikipedia. The Foundation was created to build and grow all of its projects, including Wikipedia, with the ultimate mission to spread free knowledge globally.
The open-ness of this mission means that we can leverage other opportunities, including off-line systems, to spread the works of the Foundation more broadly.
In 2008 the Foundation refined its focused work areas to include reach, participation, and quality. Reach refers to bringing the knowledge to more people. Participation refers to involving more people – particularly underrepresented or specially skilled people into the projects. Quality refers the work the Foundation is doing to improve the Wikipedia software, and to the overall support provided to our volunteer community to support high quality content.
We’re a group that focusses intensely on the people behind our projects – our volunteers. There would be no projects without them. The volunteers were there before there was a Foundation.
This visual represents how the small number of our staff compares to the vast number of volunteers (over 100K)
This visual represents how the small number of our staff compares to the vast number of volunteers (over 100K)
This visual represents how the small number of our staff compares to the vast number of volunteers (over 100K)
This visual represents how the small number of our staff compares to the vast number of volunteers (over 100K)
This is our office – one floor in downtown San Francisco. There is no campus, no cafeteria, no luxurious space. We have about 10,000 square feet that holds the majority of our staff.
Wikimedia chapters are approved organizations that carry out the Foundation’s work and support our mission independently in specific countries.
You can see that northern Europe is slightly over-represented, and North America, the middle east, asia, and Africa are virtually unrepresented. Chapter growth is complicated by the need to navigate local legislation and to mobilize Wikipedians in some countries where geography or politics prevent easy connection.
Argentina: Wikimedia Argentina
Wikimedia Argentina, founded on 1 September 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is the Argentinian Chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation and a non-profit association run upon the Civil Code of Argentina. Official website: www.wikimedia.org.ar
Australia: Wikimedia Australia
Wikimedia Australia is a non-profit incorporated body incorporated in the state of Victoria in August 2008. It was approved by the Wikimedia Foundation on 1 March 2008. Official website: www.wikimedia.org.au
Austria: Wikimedia Österreich
Wikimedia Österreich was founded in February 2008. Official website: www.wikimedia.at
Brazil: Wikimedia Brasil
Instituto Wikimedia Brasil has been approved as the future Brasilian Chapter approved by the Wikimedia Foundation in October 2008. It will officially become a Wikimedia chapter after incorporation. Official website: www.wikimedia.org.br or page on Meta-Wiki
Czech Republic: Wikimedia Česká republika
Wikimedia Česká republika was founded in March 2008. Official website: www.wikimedia.cz.
Denmark: Wikimedia Danmark
Wikimedia Danmark is the Danish chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation. It was formed on 14 March 2009, and approved on 3 July 2009. Official website: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Danmark
Finland: Wikimedia Suomi
Wikimedia Suomi (Wikimedia Finland) was founded in June 2009. Official website: wikimedia.fi.
France: Wikimédia France
Wikimédia France, founded on 23 October 2004, in Paris, is a non-profit association run upon the French law of July 1901. Official website: www.wikimedia.fr
Germany: Wikimedia Deutschland
Wikimedia Deutschland – Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V. (Wikimedia Germany - society for the promotion of free knowledge) was founded on 13 June 2004 in Berlin as Wikimedia's first local chapter. At the end of 2006 the membership association counted more than 300 members. Among other activities Wikimedia Deutschland initiated several important partnerships, for example with Directmedia Publishing, the publisher of the German Wikipedia-DVD, and the Deutsche Bibliothek (German national library). Donations to Wikimedia Deutschland are tax-deductible in Germany. More information on the official website: www.wikimedia.de
Hong Kong: 香港維基媒體協會
Wikimedia Hong Kong Limited (Chinese: 香港維基媒體協會有限公司) is the local chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It was founded on 14 July 2007 in Hong Kong, and was officially registered on 18 September 2007. It was recognized by the Foundation on 1 March 2008. More information on the official website in English and Traditional Chinese: www.wikimedia.hk.
Hungary: Wikimédia Magyarország
Wikimédia Magyarország Egyesület was founded in September 2008, and it was officially registered and recognized by the Foundation in November 2008 with the aim of pursuing the mission of the Wikimedia Foundation as an association of public benefit. Official website: wiki.media.hu
Indonesia: Wikimedia Indonesia
Wikimedia Indonesia is a non-profit association incorporated on 5 September 2008 in Jakarta, Indonesia, and approved as Wikimedia chapter on 7 October 2008. Official website: www.wikimedia.or.id
Israel: Wikimedia Israel
Wikimedia Israel (Hebrew: ויקימדיה-ישראל, Arabic: ويكيمديا إسرائيل) is the Israeli chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation. It was officially registered on 26 June 2007, after an organizing process that began on 15 December 2006, when the idea was brought before the local Wikimedian community in one of its conferences. Official website in Hebrew, Arabic and English: www.wikimedia.org.il
Italy: Wikimedia Italia
Wikimedia Italia - Associazione per la diffusione della conoscenza libera is the Italian Chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation, formed on 17 June 2005, in Canino. Official website: www.wikimedia.it
Macedonia: Викимедија Македонија
"Викимедија Македонија" (Wikimedia Macedonia) is a Citizens' Association run upon the law for the citizen associations and foundations, founded on 13 March 2009 in Skopje, Macedonia. It was approved by the Wikimedia Foundation on 21 September 2009. Official website: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Macedonia.
Netherlands: Wikimedia Nederland
Vereniging Wikimedia Nederland is the Dutch chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation. It was founded on 27 March 2006 in Eindhoven. Official website: nl.wikmedia.org
Norway: Wikimedia Norge/Noreg/Norga
Wikimedia Norge (Bokmål; Nynorsk Wikimedia Noreg, Northern Sami Wikimedia Norga) is the Norwegian Wikimedia chapter. It was founded on 23 June 2007, and registered in September 2008. Official website: no.wikimedia.org
Poland: Wikimedia Polska
Stowarzyszenie Wikimedia Polska (Wikimedia Polska Association) is the Polish Chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation. It was formed on 14 August 2005, and registered three months later, on 18 November. Official website: pl.wikimedia.org
Portugal: Wikimedia Portugal
Associação Wikimedia Portugal (WMP) is the Portuguese Chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation. It was approved by the WMF on 4 July 2009, and was registered as an official organization under Portuguese law on September 21, 2009. Official website: wikimedia.pt
Russia: Викимедиа РУ
Викимедиа РУ (Wikimedia RU) was approved in May 2008. Official website: www.wikimedia.ru
Serbia: Wikimedia Србије
Wikimedia Србије is the Serbian Chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation. It was formed on 3 December 2005, and it was registered almost two months later. Official website: rs.wikimedia.org
Sweden: Wikimedia Sverige
Wikimedia Sverige is the Swedish chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation. It was formed on 20 October 2007, and approved on 11 December 2007. Official website: se.wikimedia.org
Switzerland: Wikimedia CH
Wikimedia CH - Verein zur Förderung Freien Wissens is the Swiss Chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation. It was established in Olten on 14 May 2006. Official website: www.wikimedia.ch
Taiwan: 中華民國維基媒體協會
Wikimedia Taiwan (Chinese: 中華民國維基媒體協會) is the Taiwan Chapter of Wikimedia Foundation. It was officially registered on 11 Feburary 2007 in Taipei, Taiwan, after an organization process that began in 19 Feburary 2006. It was approved by the Wikimedia Foundation as a Wikimedia Chapter on 4 July 2007. The official website is http://www.wikimedia.tw/wiki and will be available in both Chinese and English.
Ukraine: Вікімедіа Україна
Wikimedia Ukraine Community Association (Ukrainian: громадська організація «Вікімедіа Україна») was founded on the First Annual Meeting on May 31, 2009. On July 3, 2009 organization was approved by WMF as its regional chapter. On July 13, 2009 Wikimedia Ukraine was registered by Ministry of Justice. Official website: ua.wikimedia.org
United Kingdom: Wikimedia UK
Wiki UK Ltd, d/b/a Wikimedia UK, is the United Kingdom Chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation. It was founded in November 2008 and formally recognised by the Foundation in January 2009. Official website: www.wikimedia.org.uk
United States, New York City: Wikimedia New York City
Wikimedia New York City is a Wikimedia sub-national chapter in the United States, recognized by the Foundation on 12 January 2009. Official website: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_New_York_City
Retrieved from "http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Local_chapters"
Beyond our small staff group we have the thousands and thousands of volunteers who support our mission and our projects.
Itzik
Nina
Takeda-san
This slide shows that although we are seeing universal increase in number of new articles and growth of users looking at articles, we are seeing that the number of contributors making 5 or more edits a month is gradually decreasing. Japan, for example, is experiencing a decline.
This isn’t a dire situation, but it presents something very important to study and consider for the Foundation.
This slide is part of our recent exploration of our status and data as it relates to our strategy project.
On the left is a slide that demonstrates how much more significant our traffic levels are for non-english Wikipedias. Our major growth is happening in Japanese and european languages, almost to the point that almost ¾ of our traffic is not related to the United States.
On the right you see the growth in the creation of new articles. English is the highest and still the most steep, but dozens of other language Wikipedias are growing at similar speeds.