Archive for the ‘Wikipedia’ Category

Inspired by Wikipedia, Social Scientists Create a Revolution in Online Surveys

Most of the information on Wikipedia comes from a tiny proportion of users. Now social scientists are collecting data in a similar way, allowing participants to design surveys as they contribute.

Gathering data about human preferences and activities is the bread-and-butter of much research in the social sciences. But just how best to gather this data has long been the subject of fierce debate.

Social scientists essentially have two choices. On the one hand, there are public opinion surveys based on a set of multiple choice questions, a so-called closed approach. On the other, there are open approaches in the form of free ranging interviews in which respondents are free to speak their mind. There are clearly important advantages and disadvantages of each method.

Today, Matthew Salganik at Princeton University in New Jersey and Karen Levy at New York University outline an entirely new way of gathering data inspired by a new generation of information aggregation systems such as Wikipedia. Just as Wikipedia evolves over time based on contributions from participants, we envision an evolving survey driven by contributions from respondents, they say.

They say the new approach can yield insights that would be difficult to obtain with other methods. But it also presents challenges for social scientists, particularly when it comes to analyzing the data collected in this way.

Projects like Wikipedia are the result of user-generated content on a massive scale. The question that Salganik and Levy ask is whether surveys could also be constructed by respondents themselves, at least in part.

To find out, these guys have developed a new type of data collection mechanism that they call a wiki survey. This starts with a set of seed questions but allows respondents to add their own questions as the survey involves.

This wiki survey takes a particular form in which respondents are asked to choose between two options: do they prefer Item A or Item B, for example. But crucially, they can also add a new item that will be presented to future participants. So as time goes on, the number of items to choose from increases as respondents suggest their own ideas.

This kind of pairwise survey has a number of advantages. Salganik and Levy point out that this format allows participants to respond to as many choices as they wish. They call this property greediness.

Read the original here:
Inspired by Wikipedia, Social Scientists Create a Revolution in Online Surveys

Why Im Giving Wikipedia 6 Bucks a Month

I pay Weight Watchers $8 a month, just in case I decide to start dieting again. I havent used it in a year, but cancelling my subscription would mean admitting defeat.

I pay Hulu $7.99 a month for Hulu Plus even though it forces me to watch ads between my favorite shows. I yell at the screen every time, but whatever.

Emily Dreyfuss

Emily Dreyfuss is the online news and opinion editor at Wired. She spends a lot of time exploring Wikipedia rabbit holes.

I pay Netflix $8.99 a month mostly to watch Law and Order episodes I have on a USB stick my brother gave me for Christmas five years ago.

I pay The New York Times $15 a month, because I value the role its top-notch reporting plays in maintaining the checks and balances of our society.

I pay the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, about $35 a month for lazy parking practices that result in tickets. (Hey, the street signs here are ridiculous.)

So why not pay to maintain the greatest trove of human knowledge in the history of our species?

Wikipedia, like public radio, has been begging for money a few times each year since forever. Or so it seems. I remember the first time I saw co-founder Jimmy Wales face staring at me from the top of every. Single. Article. It was 2011. Jesus, I thought. Enough! I get it! You need money! Stop following me to articles about the island of Socotra or the demographics of Idaho! I dont need your hungry eyes glaring at me as Im reading up on 17th century body snatchers!

View post:
Why Im Giving Wikipedia 6 Bucks a Month

Polish town to build statue honouring Wikipedia

A Polish town is to build the worlds first monument to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia designed to provide free information to anyone with a computer.

Costing 9,400, the tribute to the Internet website will be unveiled in a central square in Slubice, a town of 18,000 people near the German border.

The idea of the monument came from Krzysztof Wojciechowski, the director of a local college, who said he was on awe of the service Wikipedia provided and the websites scale.

Since its launch in 2001, the website has proved to be a hit in Poland, with the Polish version now boasting over a million articles, making it the 12th biggest Wikipedia site.

The statue, less than two metres tall and made of a laminated material designed to look like brass, will consist of four figures holding up the Wikipedia symbol. Its designer is Mihran Hakobjan, a 30-year-old Armenian-born artist, who graduated from a Slubice college.

Piotr Luczynski, the towns deputy mayor, said the statue could become a tourist attraction and also reflected the towns ideals and aspirations.

The monument a tribute to an entire community working selflessly for the benefit of others we found interesting and worthy of being in Slubice, he said.

Mr Luczynski added the statue fitted in with the aspirations of the town which despite being small wanted to be unique.

A spokeswoman for Wikipedia in Poland said she hoped the statue would raise awareness of the website and encourage people to contribute

Here is the original post:
Polish town to build statue honouring Wikipedia

AustinBergstrom International Airport. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – Video


AustinBergstrom International Airport. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
AustinBergstrom International Airport or ABIA (IATA: AUS, ICAO: KAUS, FAA LID: AUS, formerly BSM) is a Class C international airport located in Austin, Texas the capital of Texas, and...

By: Al Go

Go here to see the original:
AustinBergstrom International Airport. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Video

Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon: Learn, Lunch & Leave a Footprint with Open Access! – Video


Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon: Learn, Lunch Leave a Footprint with Open Access!
Oct. 21, 2014 (10 a.m. 1 p.m.) @ YRL To create open access aware Wikipedia editors, the UCLA Library is holding a Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon with the hands-on task of assigning a list of open...

By: UCLA Library

Link:
Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon: Learn, Lunch & Leave a Footprint with Open Access! - Video