Research:A Longitudinal Analysis of Engagement and Strategy Work at Wikimedia
This page documents a research project in progress.
Information may be incomplete and change as the project progresses.
Please contact the project lead before formally citing or reusing results from this page.
Since its foundation in 2001, Wikimedia has engaged community members and organizations globally to join two large participatory strategy processes. One started in 2009 (public archive) and one in 2017 (Wikimedia 2030), where a response to the strategic direction of “becoming the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge by 2030” was developed. Three rounds of movement strategizing have occurred in the past 7 years, bringing together hundreds of participants and stakeholders to discuss the future of the Wikimedia movement through online and in-person events. While Wikimedia is a pioneer in open strategy work, it is essential to develop a further understanding of the dynamics of these processes. This study aims to delve into the operations and practices of the strategic processes, particularly, to understand how Wikimedia deals with bias and diversity. It is proposed to enhance understanding in two areas of research:
A. Participation and open strategy work: How has Wikimedia carried out its open strategy work? How has it engaged different stakeholders in strategy-making, creating multi-stakeholder, collaborative, and crowd-based solutions to challenges and issues? How have diverse roles and subject positions of different stakeholders changed in this process?
B. Knowledge production and epistemic communities: How does Wikimedia, one of the most important ecosystems in contemporary knowledge production, deal with diversity and bias? How does it work to reduce or prevent the reproduction of bias?
Methods
editThe researchers intend to conduct a longitudinal analysis to trace the evolution of strategy work in Wikimedia. This project is an inductive, process-based study based on documentaries, interviews, and other material. To complement existing data, we will conduct new interviews with participants engaged in the recent movement strategy and non-participants/drop-outs of the process. We aim to capture a broad and diverse range of perspectives and achieve a comprehensive representation of both actors involved in the strategizing process and those who decided not to participate or drop out of the process.
We propose to start with pilot in-person interviews with individuals recruited at the Wikimania conference in August 2024, including staff from the strategy core team, members of the working groups, community members who participated in the movement strategy, and non-participants. This will help us better understand the involvement of different stakeholders and their own experiences. We value the diverse voices and perspectives of the Wikimedia movement.
Therefore, if you are interested in engaging in conversation with the research team, please fill out the survey form here.
Expected Outcomes
editA comprehensive analysis with feedback and recommendations to Wikimedia and academics, researchers and organizations interested in open strategy work.
Results
editThe research team aims to post their initial findings and recommendations in Winter 2024 for comments and feedback. A second-round revision will be available for further discussion in spring 2025. A final report will be published at the end of 2025.