Research:Community health

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This page serves to collect initial thoughts and references about how to define, and possibly measure and improve, community health on Wikimedia wikis.

Problem statement

The Wikimedia community has been concerned for a while about Community health, notably following the 2007 decline in active contributors on the English Wikipedia. During the 2009−2010 Strategy process, a Community health task force was created to think through this topic and propose solutions.

Since then, there have been initiatives to address specific issues (e.g. improving the newcomer experience, identifying and curbing harassment) but there hasn't been a lot of follow-up on the overarching topic of community health.

Without a shared understanding of what a healthy community looks like, and how to recognize a healthy community from one under stress, it's difficult to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of more targeted efforts.

People to reach out to

Members of the Community health task force from the 2009−2010 strategy process
Patrick about his work on the 2015 harassment survey and follow-up efforts. Probably also Maggie to discuss community more generally.
Dario and Tilman about their wealth of academic and industry knowledge, notably as editors on the Research newsletter.
Aaron and Jonathan about the rise and decline, editor retention, the Teahouse, and related research.
Arthur and Kristen, who've offered to discuss how to adapt the Team Practices Group's Team health checks.
Ellery about his work on identifying and measuring toxic language with the folks at Jigsaw.
Edward about Wikimedia surveys.
Probably everyone on research-internal.
James F. as lead PM for Editing.
Neil about his work on using Aaron's productivity measures more widely.
Philippe about how reddit approaches the topic of community health.
People from other online communities (who?).

2015 research project by Haitham Shammaa

Extended content

Description

Our communities are the main drive of our contents, fund, movement, and the rest of our work. Community Health is a research topic that aims to understand what makes our communities grow and thrive, and what makes them shrink and decay, as this is a key drive to our programs, actions, decision and long term commitments.

This project is outlined in two phases:

Research and Community Engagement to define behaviors, potential metrics and assumptions for defining interventions.
Identification of potential healthy community prescriptions and investment to improve the health and growth of Wikimedia Communities.

Goals

We have a collective enterprise definition of Wikimedia community health and its elements.
Establish a community health diagnostic system based on our findings
The research findings are well communicated internally and externally, identifying not only indicators of our healthy community in a self-assessment tool, but identification of potential prescriptions to be reviewed for priority investment.
The Foundation and local communities quote the work, and reference it in defining their goals, investments and measures of impact
Better awareness among communities about their health issues

Community management, Buzzing Communities

Richard Millington wrote "Buzzing Communities" in 2012. Richard raises a range of questions in his book and provides methods to answer those. Questions raised are i.a.:

How is your community doing?
Is your community doing better than last month?
Is your community healthier?
Are members more engaged?
Are members happier? Has your community grown?
Do members feel a stronger sense of community?

Millington provides his view on community management, for example how to deal with vocal minorities. Community management activities include:

1. Strategy.

Establishing and executing the strategy for developing the community. See community strategy.

2. Growth.

Increase membership of the community and convert newcomers into regulars.

3. Content.

Create, edit, facilitate, and solicit content for the community.

4. Moderation.

Remove obstacles to participation and encourage members to make contributions. See moderation.

5. Events and activities.

Create and facilitate events to keep members engaged. See events and activities.

6. Relationship and influence.

Build relationships with key members and gain influence within the community. See relationship and influence.

7. User experience.

Improve the community platform and participation experience for members. See user experience.

Literature

Millington, Richard (2012-10-18). Buzzing Communities: How to Build Bigger, Better, and More Active Online Communities. FeverBee.ISBN 9780988359901. Free sample (pdf).

References

^[1] ^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5] ^[6] ^[7] ^[8] ^[9] ^[10] ^[11] ^[12] ^[13] ^[14]

↑ Roth, Camille; Taraborelli, Dario; Gilbert, Nigel (2008-01-01). "Measuring Wiki Viability: An Empirical Assessment of the Social Dynamics of a Large Sample of Wikis". Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Wikis. WikiSym '08 (New York, NY, USA: ACM): 27:1–27:5. ISBN 9781605581286. doi:10.1145/1822258.1822294.
↑ Roth, Camille (2007-01-01). "Viable Wikis: Struggle for Life in the Wikisphere". Proceedings of the 2007 International Symposium on Wikis. WikiSym '07 (New York, NY, USA: ACM): 119–124. ISBN 9781595938619. doi:10.1145/1296951.1296964.
↑ Halfaker, Aaron; Geiger, R. Stuart; Morgan, Jonathan T.; Riedl, John (2012-12-28). "The Rise and Decline of an Open Collaboration System: How Wikipedia’s Reaction to Popularity Is Causing Its Decline" (PDF). American Behavioral Scientist 57 (5): 664–688. ISSN 0002-7642. doi:10.1177/0002764212469365.
↑ Suh, Bongwon; Convertino, Gregorio; Chi, Ed H.; Pirolli, Peter (2009-01-01). "The Singularity is Not Near: Slowing Growth of Wikipedia". Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration. WikiSym '09 (New York, NY, USA: ACM): 8:1–8:10. ISBN 9781605587301. doi:10.1145/1641309.1641322.
↑ Morgan, Jonathan T.; Bouterse, Siko; Walls, Heather; Stierch, Sarah (2013-01-01). "Tea and Sympathy: Crafting Positive New User Experiences on Wikipedia". Proceedings of the 2013 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. CSCW '13 (New York, NY, USA: ACM): 839–848. ISBN 9781450313315. doi:10.1145/2441776.2441871.
↑ Faulkner, Ryan; Walling, Steven; Pinchuk, Maryana (2012-01-01). "Etiquette in Wikipedia: Weening New Editors into Productive Ones". Proceedings of the Eighth Annual International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration. WikiSym '12 (New York, NY, USA: ACM): 5:1–5:4. ISBN 9781450316057. doi:10.1145/2462932.2462939.
↑ Choi, Boreum; Alexander, Kira; Kraut, Robert E.; Levine, John M. (2010-01-01). "Socialization Tactics in Wikipedia and Their Effects". Proceedings of the 2010 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. CSCW '10 (New York, NY, USA: ACM): 107–116. ISBN 9781605587950. doi:10.1145/1718918.1718940.
↑ Schneider, Jodi; Gelley, Bluma S.; Halfaker, Aaron (2014-01-01). "Accept, Decline, Postpone: How Newcomer Productivity is Reduced in English Wikipedia by Pre-publication Review". Proceedings of The International Symposium on Open Collaboration. OpenSym '14 (New York, NY, USA: ACM): 26:1–26:10. ISBN 9781450330169. doi:10.1145/2641580.2641614.
↑ Kraut, Robert E.; Resnick, Paul; Kiesler, Sara; Burke, Moira; Chen, Yan; Kittur, Niki; Konstan, Joseph; Ren, Yuqing; Riedl, John (2012-03-23). Building Successful Online Communities: Evidence-Based Social Design. The MIT Press. ISBN 9780262016575.
↑ Halfaker, Aaron; Kittur, Aniket; Riedl, John (2011-01-01). "Don'T Bite the Newbies: How Reverts Affect the Quantity and Quality of Wikipedia Work". Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration. WikiSym '11 (New York, NY, USA: ACM): 163–172. ISBN 9781450309097. doi:10.1145/2038558.2038585.
↑ Halfaker, Aaron; Keegan, Brian; Forte, Andrea; Geiger, R. Stuart; Taraborelli, Dario; Pinchuk, Maryana; Masli, Mikhil (2012-01-01). "What Aren'T We Measuring?: Methods for Quantifying Wiki-work". Proceedings of the Eighth Annual International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration. WikiSym '12 (New York, NY, USA: ACM): 42:1–42:6. ISBN 9781450316057. doi:10.1145/2462932.2462983.
↑ Halfaker, Aaron; Geiger, R. Stuart; Terveen, Loren G. (2014-01-01). "Snuggle: Designing for Efficient Socialization and Ideological Critique" (PDF). Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. CHI '14 (New York, NY, USA: ACM): 311–320. ISBN 978-1-4503-2473-1. doi:10.1145/2556288.2557313.
↑ Millington, Richard (2012-10-18). Buzzing Communities: How to Build Bigger, Better, and More Active Online Communities. FeverBee. ISBN 9780988359901.
↑ Howard, Tharon (2010-03-12). Design to Thrive: Creating Social Networks and Online Communities that Last. Morgan Kaufmann. ISBN 9780123749215.

[1] Roth, Camille; Taraborelli, Dario; Gilbert, Nigel (2008-01-01). "Measuring Wiki Viability: An Empirical Assessment of the Social Dynamics of a Large Sample of Wikis". Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Wikis. WikiSym '08 (New York, NY, USA: ACM): 27:1–27:5. ISBN 9781605581286. doi:10.1145/1822258.1822294.

[2] Roth, Camille (2007-01-01). "Viable Wikis: Struggle for Life in the Wikisphere". Proceedings of the 2007 International Symposium on Wikis. WikiSym '07 (New York, NY, USA: ACM): 119–124. ISBN 9781595938619. doi:10.1145/1296951.1296964.

[3] Halfaker, Aaron; Geiger, R. Stuart; Morgan, Jonathan T.; Riedl, John (2012-12-28). "The Rise and Decline of an Open Collaboration System: How Wikipedia’s Reaction to Popularity Is Causing Its Decline" (PDF). American Behavioral Scientist 57 (5): 664–688. ISSN 0002-7642. doi:10.1177/0002764212469365.

[4] Suh, Bongwon; Convertino, Gregorio; Chi, Ed H.; Pirolli, Peter (2009-01-01). "The Singularity is Not Near: Slowing Growth of Wikipedia". Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration. WikiSym '09 (New York, NY, USA: ACM): 8:1–8:10. ISBN 9781605587301. doi:10.1145/1641309.1641322.

[5] Morgan, Jonathan T.; Bouterse, Siko; Walls, Heather; Stierch, Sarah (2013-01-01). "Tea and Sympathy: Crafting Positive New User Experiences on Wikipedia". Proceedings of the 2013 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. CSCW '13 (New York, NY, USA: ACM): 839–848. ISBN 9781450313315. doi:10.1145/2441776.2441871.

[6] Faulkner, Ryan; Walling, Steven; Pinchuk, Maryana (2012-01-01). "Etiquette in Wikipedia: Weening New Editors into Productive Ones". Proceedings of the Eighth Annual International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration. WikiSym '12 (New York, NY, USA: ACM): 5:1–5:4. ISBN 9781450316057. doi:10.1145/2462932.2462939.

[7] Choi, Boreum; Alexander, Kira; Kraut, Robert E.; Levine, John M. (2010-01-01). "Socialization Tactics in Wikipedia and Their Effects". Proceedings of the 2010 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. CSCW '10 (New York, NY, USA: ACM): 107–116. ISBN 9781605587950. doi:10.1145/1718918.1718940.

[8] Schneider, Jodi; Gelley, Bluma S.; Halfaker, Aaron (2014-01-01). "Accept, Decline, Postpone: How Newcomer Productivity is Reduced in English Wikipedia by Pre-publication Review". Proceedings of The International Symposium on Open Collaboration. OpenSym '14 (New York, NY, USA: ACM): 26:1–26:10. ISBN 9781450330169. doi:10.1145/2641580.2641614.

[9] Kraut, Robert E.; Resnick, Paul; Kiesler, Sara; Burke, Moira; Chen, Yan; Kittur, Niki; Konstan, Joseph; Ren, Yuqing; Riedl, John (2012-03-23). Building Successful Online Communities: Evidence-Based Social Design. The MIT Press. ISBN 9780262016575.

[10] Halfaker, Aaron; Kittur, Aniket; Riedl, John (2011-01-01). "Don'T Bite the Newbies: How Reverts Affect the Quantity and Quality of Wikipedia Work". Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration. WikiSym '11 (New York, NY, USA: ACM): 163–172. ISBN 9781450309097. doi:10.1145/2038558.2038585.

[11] Halfaker, Aaron; Keegan, Brian; Forte, Andrea; Geiger, R. Stuart; Taraborelli, Dario; Pinchuk, Maryana; Masli, Mikhil (2012-01-01). "What Aren'T We Measuring?: Methods for Quantifying Wiki-work". Proceedings of the Eighth Annual International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration. WikiSym '12 (New York, NY, USA: ACM): 42:1–42:6. ISBN 9781450316057. doi:10.1145/2462932.2462983.

[12] Halfaker, Aaron; Geiger, R. Stuart; Terveen, Loren G. (2014-01-01). "Snuggle: Designing for Efficient Socialization and Ideological Critique" (PDF). Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. CHI '14 (New York, NY, USA: ACM): 311–320. ISBN 978-1-4503-2473-1. doi:10.1145/2556288.2557313.

[13] Millington, Richard (2012-10-18). Buzzing Communities: How to Build Bigger, Better, and More Active Online Communities. FeverBee. ISBN 9780988359901.

[14] Howard, Tharon (2010-03-12). Design to Thrive: Creating Social Networks and Online Communities that Last. Morgan Kaufmann. ISBN 9780123749215.

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