Editor Growth and Contribution Program/Concept


The Editor Growth and Contribution Program is a new program being launched in the Global Development Department at the Wikimedia Foundation. This program focuses on small-to-medium sized Wikimedia projects and on designing, testing, and implementing online programs to attract and retain new editors in these language communities. The program aims to increase the number of active editors on Wikimedia projects by working with the community to understand the online needs of each project, and taking a data-driven approach to implement solutions based on these needs. The pilots and programs on-wiki that Editor Growth and Contribution will use in order to encourage new editors are intended to serve as a compliment to off-wiki outreach activities already underway.


Keywords

  • Smaller Wikimedia projects : focus on improving small-to-medium sized Wikimedia projects
  • Innovation : designing, testing and implementing new solutions
  • Community driven : work with the local communities to prepare plans for programs
  • Data driven : run data analysis to understand growth and evaluate outcomes
  • Multilingual : focus on languages other than English.
  • Technical : provide technical solutions for supporting contribution growth
4 steps loop of the Editor Growth and Contribution Program.
4 steps loop of the Editor Growth and Contribution Program.

Steps

  1. Research : Learn about the underlying factors, reasons and motivations which drive new and potential users to contribute to various Wikimedia projects, as well as understanding the needs of the current editing communities
  2. Planning : Work with the local communities to prepare plans for programs to support community growth
  3. Action : Design, test, and implement programs based on the research findings
  4. Evaluation  : Evaluate the outcome of programs based on criteria defined in the planning stage for measuring success, improve the programs as needed, and support the community to expand programs that demonstrate success