First of all, my compliments on this initiative, the quality of the research and the relevance of the opportunities mentioned! I wholeheartedly support the conclusions. If I can contribute in some small way, please let me know. The reported experience of new editors matches mine (a newby of 2 months). I would be delighted if some headway could be made in leveraging these opportunities. I also see some links to the Strategic Direction 2017. I'd like to add 3 suggestions:
- In the report, it would IMHO be worthwhile adding 'education level (or equivalent)' to the demographics of the survey group. The reason is that - based on a couple of my random samples - the 'readability' (and therefore the 'editability') of at least some Wikipedia articles are at a level consistent with a college education (US grade 13-15). Perhaps this is what we want, perhaps not.
- Good to read in the conclusion that there are other types of 'editor' roles in which people can contribute and collaborate other than in the general 'editor' role. As part of this, I suggest a possible opportunity in improving the way a) interests and skill sets (at the discretion of contributors) can be standardized (as are language skills now) and b) the way in which contributors can request collaborations based on interests and skills.
- Findings 5 (complexity) and 8 (conceptual challenges) focus on editing content “the Wikipedia way.” I fully agree with these findings and opportunities. From my personal experience the complexity of - and conceptual challenges to - understanding and contributing to policies, strategies, processes/guidelines, the organization of projects (large, small, inter-) etc. is just as challenging and perhaps even more so. This point is addressed throughout the report. Perhaps it is worth capturing a 'synthesized opportunity' in improving the way in which newcomers can participate in non-content related discussions.
Kind Regards,
Mike ~~~~