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Strategy/Wikimedia movement/2017/Track C/Process

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Objectives & activities

We have four main objectives with Track C:

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 D 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.

Measure current awareness, perception, and usage

Measure current awareness, perception, and usage of Wikimedia within key higher awareness regions to establish benchmarks and understand gaps and opportunities for supporting our mission

  • Conduct online surveys in 3 key areas: (1) awareness (2) perception (3) usage in six higher awareness regions.
  • Where possible, the goal will be to mirror research frameworks conducted in emerging communities (for example past telephone surveys and New Readers research) to establish global comparisons and complement planned research in Track D.
  • Potential lines of inquiry (note: these are not the exact questions we will ask, but rather general topic areas):
    • Awareness of Wikipedia
      • Are people aware of Wikipedia/Wikimedia? (Note: Due to Wikipedia being the best known website, most default questions will focus on Wikipedia, but we will ask about other projects. If other projects are known or used by a respondent, we can ask further questions about those projects.)
      • How did they first learn about it?
      • What other websites compare to Wikipedia?
    • Attitudes toward Wikipedia
      • How do they perceive it?
      • What values do they associate with Wikipedia?
      • Which values are most important to them?
    • Use of Wikipedia
      • Do people know how Wikipedia works and have they tried editing?
      • What do people like/dislike about Wikipedia’s design, features, content?
      • How do people find/get to Wikipedia?
      • What other Wikimedia projects do people use? (If other projects are named, we will ask further questions about those specifically/)
      • How do people use Wikipedia? How often?
      • What are the barriers to using it more often?
      • Why do people use Wikipedia (use cases, utility)?
  • 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:

  • Convenings: Bring together experts and influencers from around the world to have structured discussions about the future of free knowledge and Wikipedia.
    • Hold events in higher awareness regions, either through online discussions, dinners, casual gatherings, or conference sessions.
    • Combine events with existing conferences or movement events whenever possible.
    • 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.
  • One-on-one interviews: Interview up to 100 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.

Potential expert participants:

  • Technologists in areas relevant to Wikimedia, for example Mozilla, OpenStreetMap, Khan Academy, Creative Commons
  • Policymakers who are influential in the issues most important to the future of the Wikimedia movement and projects
  • Movement-builders who can share insights about how to sustain growing or evolving movements, for example leaders from the open-source, MOOC, environmental or civil rights movements
  • Cultural institutions that partner or could partner with the Wikimedia movement to expand free knowledge, including galleries, libraries, archives, museums
  • Educators, academics, and researchers who study and shape the future of education and free knowledge
  • Journalists and media professionals who think about the future of free information, reliability, and informed societies
  • Philanthropists who support free knowledge and education, including institutional groups, family foundations, and individual donors and potential donors

Conversation guides and expert lists are still being developed. We are determining how best to release names of organizations and individuals on-wiki while respecting privacy when it is requested by participants.

Collect and disseminate insights

Collect and disseminate insights to inform broader strategy discussions

  • Produce regular research briefs based on desk research and survey research 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


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