Strategy/Wikimedia movement/2017/Track D/Process

Research objectives & activities

We have five main objectives with Track D:

Understand and outline

Understand and outline key global trends that will impact the future of the Wikimedia movement to inform strategic direction and movement conversations

• Potential research areas:
• Shifting media consumption habits: Where and how are people getting information and news now, and how is this predicted to change?
• The future of reading: What transformations are experts projecting in users’ relationship to the written word?
• Emerging media platforms: How might current and forthcoming innovations such as virtual and augmented reality, AI, and voice-activated digital assistants change the way people produce and consume information?
• Open internet and communications policy: Will threats to the open internet and the rise of proprietary platforms threaten the mission of the Wikimedia Foundation to provide information access to all?
• Censorship: How are governments, corporations, and motivated individuals stifling or distorting online information?
• Misinformation, propaganda and "fake news": How are directed efforts to shape the truth affecting public trust in crowdsourced information?
• The reference field and how it is evolving: Where do people go now to find high-quality information, and what are predictions about how this will change?
• Access to knowledge: How will access to knowledge, and factors like affordability, internet access, literacy, and education, impact future access to knowledge?
• Collate and compare publicly available demographic data to understand current and future population trends and how they will impact global knowledge needs
• Research will be shared iteratively with broader strategy process and in final report (see “collect and disseminate insights to inform broader strategy discussions” below)

Note: we determined with Track C that this desk research should be global in scope (covering trends in both higher and lower awareness regions) to reflect global trends that will impact our movement.

Leverage existing awareness, perception, and usage research

Leverage existing awareness, perception, and usage of Wikipedia within key lower awareness regions to understand gaps and opportunities for supporting our mission

• Goal: further analyze and leverage research data collected through phone surveys in Mexico, Nigeria, India, Egypt and Brazil. We plan to establish global comparisons with the planned research of Track C.
  • Lines of inquiry of phone surveys:
    • Use of internet
      • Do people use the internet?
        • How? Do they pay for a home or cellular connection? If not, do they primarily use connection from a friend or family?
      • If they do, what do they use it for the most?
      • If they don’t, why not?
      • How often do people find content in the language they want?
      • How does the cost of data affect their internet usage?
    • Awareness of Wikipedia
      • Have people ever heard of Wikipedia? Do they know what it is?
      • How did they first learn about it?
      • What other websites do people use to look up something / learn about a topic?
      • What is their awareness of Google, Facebook, and Whatsapp? (used for reference to Wikipedia awareness)
    • Attitudes toward Wikipedia
      • How do they perceive it?
      • How interested are they in using Wikipedia?
      • What values do they associate with Wikipedia?
      • Which values are most important to them?
    • Use of Wikipedia
      • Do people know that anyone can edit Wikipedia?
      • Have people tried editing? What was the experience like?
      • What do people like/dislike about Wikipedia’s design, features, content?
      • How do people find/get to Wikipedia?
      • What do people use Wikipedia for the most?
      • How often do people use Wikipedia?
      • What are the barriers to using it more often?
      • Why do people use Wikipedia (use cases, utility)?
    • Smartphone / Desktop use
      • Do people have a smartphone?
      • Do people use the smartphone for the internet?
      • Do people use Wifi, Cellular, or both with their phone?
      • Do people use an App store and get apps?
      • How fast is the smartphone connection?
      • Do people have a computer?
      • Do they have a home internet connection? What kind?
    • Demographics
      • Age range
      • Gender
      • Urban / Rural (self classification)
      • General area of country (5-10 regions)
      • Income / other demographics

Understand current and potential readers in lower awareness regions

Understand how our current and potential readers in lower awareness regions are seeking information and knowledge, what barriers they face and whether they know/use Wikipedia.

• Goal: conduct generative/ethnographic research with potential and existing readers in Indonesia, Egypt and Brazil. This is based on what we have learned from the New Readers design research in Mexico, Nigeria and India.
• Research process: we are looking for hire local researchers in these 3 countries - Indonesia, Egypt and Brazil through the publicly available on this Request for Proposal. Upcoming results of this process will be further shared here.
• Current research areas (most of these themes were used in the Nigeria and India research projects and are being integrated in this research effort to reflect common research architecture):
  • • General information seeking and learning;
    • Internet usage, web and mobile;
    • Online information behaviours;
    • Awareness of Wikipedia;
    • Use of Wikipedia.
• Share country reports with findings as available on-wiki and with other tracks

Engage experts

Engage experts as we learn and synthesize best practices and trends in movements, technology, and knowledge. Learn how Wikimedia can stay relevant and impactful.

• Consult and convene with a wide variety of stakeholders, including subject-specific experts, influencers, current and potential funders.
• Build and reinforce an ecosystem of allies and potential partners.

The consult and convene program includes two main parts:

• Consult: conduct one-on-one interviews with key influencers and experts in relevant fields of media, philanthropy, culture, digital futures, education, technology, policy, and movement-building.
  • Conduct templated interviews with experts on key themes.
  • Transcribe responses, synthesize, and share back into strategy process.
  • Partner with local experts and affiliates when possible.
  • Consult with staff and community members to build expert list.
• Convenings: Bring together movement leaders experts and influencers from around the world mainly focusing on Mexico, Nigeria, India, Egypt, Brazil and Indonesia to have structured discussions about the future of free knowledge and Wikipedia.
  • Hold events in lower awareness regions (target countries: Mexico, Nigeria and India) by organizing workshops where stakeholders and relevant experts can have structured conversations.
  • Partner with local affiliates and community members when possible to host events and invite local experts.
  • Use best practices in facilitation and discussion structure.
  • Process insights and input iteratively into strategy process.

Conversation guides and expert lists are still being developed. We are working on a way for community members to suggest experts we may not have thought of. Participation methods will be posted here when ready.

Collect and disseminate insights

Collect and disseminate insights to inform broader strategy discussions

• Produce regular research briefs based on desk research. These briefs will be shared on-wiki and in strategy facilitation materials to inform broader movement discussions.
• Share synthesized insights from convenings and 1x1 interviews regularly on-wiki.
• Present aggregate research findings during Wikimania 2017 and collect input from community members and staff; publish final report in September 2017
• Facilitate mutual information sharing with other tracks