Research:About

The Wikimedia Research Index is the main research hub for wiki researchers and the Wikimedia community. It's run by the Wikimedia Research Committee and is collaboratively maintained by its participants. The goal of this project is to simplify the access for researchers to resources they need and to facilitate the communication between the research community, the Wikimedia editor community and the Wikimedia Foundation. Although the Wikimedia Research Index is primarily focused on research about Wikimedia projects and communities, it also includes general resources for research on wikis. For non Wikimedia-specific wiki research WikiSym provides an outlet.

The landing page of the Wikimedia Research Index as of its official launch

If you are new to this wiki, here's a few key pointers to get you started.

• We maintain on this wiki a directory of research projects to keep track of ongoing research on different aspects of our projects. The directory includes projects initiated or sponsored by the Foundation, by members of the Wikimedia community or by external researchers. It is also used to keep track of projects the Wikimedia foundation is currently supporting. If you are planning to run research on Wikimedia projects you can create a new project page using the form on that page.
• You can find on this wiki a list of people and resources of relevance to Wikimedia research.
• If you are looking for support for your research from the Wikimedia Foundation you should check out the Research:FAQ.
• For all Wikimedia-related research, there is a dedicated newsletter and a discussion list, wiki-research-l. If you conduct Wikimedia-related research, you should follow these mailing lists. Being part of wiki-research-l in particular will help you find valuable feedback on your research, discuss research projects, identify collaborators, keep informed on the state of the art.
• For technology-related discussion on the engine running Wikimedia projects (MediaWiki), there is the general development mailing list, wikitech-l, and the MediaWiki.org wiki.
• The Research Committee (RCom) is a Wikimedia Foundation body which helps to organize policies, guidelines and priorities around Wikimedia-related research, and, more generally, to fill the gap between research and the Wikimedia community.
• The Strategy wiki was used during Wikimedia's five-year planning process in 2009-2010, it hosts a large fact base related to Wikimedia projects, and continues to be used for community consultation and self-organization around strategic questions.