Hi all, Thanks to and Sarah for pointing out the success we've seen in the Wikipedia Education Program in the Arab world with female participation. I just wanted to share some numbers and also mention retention, which has some good numbers as well even if that's not the program's main goal.
The current term is winding down in Egypt this week, and we've seen especially high female participation yet again with 88% female and 12% male participants (108 total students). In Jordan this term we've had 70% female participation and 30% male (99 total students) -- significantly more female participants in both cases. The interesting thing to me is that in Egypt our students are mostly part of the foreign language faculty, whereas our Jordan program runs almost exclusively in IT classes and faculties (for now), which may be part of why the numbers vary. While the explicit focus of the WEP has always been content, we have seen some notable retention numbers from the program's alumni in the region. Looking at students from all previous terms and excluding the latest one (spring 2012, fall 2012 and spring 2013, 464 students), 5.8% of these students made at least one edit this month. More notably, 5.2% qualified as active editors and (5+ edits) 1.9% qualified as very active editors (100+ edits) this month so far. This is all the more notable when you look at the monthly stats for the Arabic Wikipedia with 637 active editors and 97 active editors in December (last month available from stats.wikimedia.org). I hope to write a blog about this soon which should give more context to the gender and retention numbers we're seeing in the WEP in the Arab world. Best, Tighe On Wed, Feb 26, 2014 at 2:44 PM, Amanda Menking <amenk...@uw.edu> wrote: > Hi, > > > > Laura has posted about her informal research at > http://wikinewsreporter.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/the-role-of-english-wikipedias-top-content-creators-in-perpetuating-gender-bias/ > . > > > > I'm currently working on a largely qualitative study w/r/t women and > English language Wikipedia, which I'll make available as soon as it's > finished. (See > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Women_and_Wikipedia.) > > > > Lennart--I'd love to read your paper and include it as a source. > > > > Best, > > Amanda > > > > > > *From:* gendergap-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto: > gendergap-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org] *On Behalf Of *Lika Tika > *Sent:* Wednesday, February 26, 2014 11:38 AM > *To:* Increasing female participation in Wikimedia projects > > *Subject:* Re: [Gendergap] Help: Research on whether we have made any > difference? > > > > I'd love to see the final paper. Does Laura Hale have any published > results available? > > On Feb 26, 2014 12:26 PM, "Jane Darnell" <jane...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Lennart, > That is interesting, because I thought there were at least a few > editor surveys to compare results, but apparently not. The only thing > I could find was a page on meta that points to the 2011 survey here: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Editor_Survey > > The Dutch Wikimedia chapter subcontracted a survey last year but those > results can be used against the English Wikipedia one I don't think. > It's too bad that conducting surveys is so expensive, because this > could be a useful tool for all sorts of key performance indicators. > > Good luck, and I am looking forward to whatever you come up with. > Jane > > 2014-02-26 17:11 GMT+01:00, Lennart Guldbrandsson < > l_guldbrands...@hotmail.com>: > > Totally agree, Sarah, with your final point, and thanks for all the other > > tips. > > > > It seems my initial point, which can be stated as "little effect so far" > > stands, but needs to be qualified somewhat. I'll get right on it, and > give > > you guys and gals a link when the whole text is published. > > > > Thanks, everybody for your help. > > > > > > Best wishes, > > > > Lennart Guldbrandsson > > > > 070 - 207 80 05 > > http://www.elementx.se - arbete > > http://www.mrchapel.wordpress.com - personlig blogg > > > > > > Presentation > > @aliasHannibal - på Twitter > > > > "Tänk dig en värld där varje människa på den här planeten får fri > tillgång > > till världens samlade kunskap. Det är vårt mål." > > > > > > Jimmy Wales > > > > Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2014 08:06:16 -0800 > > From: sarah.stie...@gmail.com > > To: gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org > > Subject: Re: [Gendergap] Help: Research on whether we have made > > any difference? > > > > Yes, the Teahouse project has some data to back it up. You can talk to > > Jonathan Morgan, who co-build the space and was the lead in pulling data > if > > you need to: jmor...@wikimedia.org > > > > Laura Hale has been doing some interesting research about the top > > contributors to English Wikipedia and who write about women's subjects. > It's > > rather depressing, of course. la...@fanhistory.com > > > > The research work the Program Evaluation and Design team did about > > edit-a-thons and workshops shows little to no retention, which is no > > surprise, really. But, that was not gender specific. My own personal > > research showed the same, with womencentric events. > > > > But, that doesn't mean a dent hasn't been made. Yes, the Education > program > > happens to have a lot of women who contribute, especially successes in > > Arabic Wikipedia, but, outside of that specific program, the goal isn't > to > > retain, it's to improve content. > > > > I suggest people look at the improvement of "women centric" content > versus > > the retention of women editors. The nut still hasn't been cracked (puns > so > > not intended) on user retention through events, etc. > > > > We did discover that a lot of content gets created via edit-a-thons and > such > > events, versus the amount of people who stay on as editors. > > Don't rule out press and the attention the movement has received on the > > subject. If you look at the partnerships - hell, the UK government > basically > > said "uh hello, we need more women in science on Wikipedia," last week. > > Awareness is just one component of "making a difference." > > > > -Sarah > > > > > > > > > > On Wed, Feb 26, 2014 at 6:00 AM, Lennart Guldbrandsson > > <l_guldbrands...@hotmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > Thank you, Pete, > > > > I will take a look at those also. They seem to concur with other studies > of > > percentage of the sexes studying. > > > > > > > > Best wishes, > > > > Lennart Guldbrandsson > > > > > > 070 - 207 80 05 > > http://www.elementx.se - arbete > > http://www.mrchapel.wordpress.com - personlig blogg > > > > > > > > Presentation > > @aliasHannibal - på Twitter > > > > > > "Tänk dig en värld där varje människa på den här planeten får fri > tillgång > > till världens samlade kunskap. Det är vårt mål." > > > > > > > > Jimmy Wales > > > > Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2014 05:43:02 -0800 > > From: petefors...@gmail.com > > To: gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org > > > > Subject: Re: [Gendergap] Help: Research on whether we have made > > any difference? > > > > Lennart, > > > > You should look at the Education Program, which after the first year > > appeared to have a strong impact (i.e. more participation from women than > > men). > > > > > > It's also been my experience (anecdotal but strong) that the Writing > > Wikipedia Articles course I teach has attracted and retained more women > than > > men. (This would not impact the general numbers in a signiificant way, > but > > might offer insights into what kinds of activity *would* impact the > > numbers.) > > > > > > > > Pete > > [[User:Peteforsyth]] > > www.wikistrategies.net > > > > > > On Wed, Feb 26, 2014 at 5:37 AM, Risker <risker...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > I do not think it will be possible to accurately assess any impact of > > specific actions, for multiple reasons. The most relevant one, however, > is > > the fact that the WMF itself has not done any broad-scale editor surveys > in > > a very long time, nor have individual communities to the best of my > > knowledge. > > > > > > Risker/Anne > > > > On 26 February 2014 05:37, Lennart Guldbrandsson > > <l_guldbrands...@hotmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Hello, > > > > I am writing a short (1500 word) text for the journal of current cultural > > research, Culture Unbound ( > http://www.cultureunbound.ep.liu.se/index.html), > > to be published in April. The topic touches quite heavily on the > gendergap > > issue. I have tried to find any numbers on whether the initiatives - > > editathons, Teahouse, etc - have made any dent in the numbers. Are there > any > > such numbers or have I simply fantasized about it? > > > > > > > > > > Since they want the text soon, please respond soon. Any assistance is > > greatly appreciated. > > > > Best wishes, > > > > Lennart Guldbrandsson > > > > 070 - 207 80 05 > > http://www.elementx.se - arbete > > > > > > > > http://www.mrchapel.wordpress.com - personlig blogg > > > > > > > > > > > > Presentation > > @aliasHannibal - på Twitter > > > > > > > > > > "Tänk dig en värld där varje människa på den här planeten får fri > tillgång > > till världens samlade kunskap. Det är vårt mål." > > > > > > > > > > > > Jimmy Wales > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Gendergap mailing list > > > > Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org > > > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Gendergap mailing list > > > > Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org > > > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Gendergap mailing list > > Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Gendergap mailing list > > > > Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org > > > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Sarah Stierch > > > > ----- > > > > Diverse and engaging consulting for your organization. > > > > www.sarahstierch.com > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Gendergap mailing list > > Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap > > _______________________________________________ > Gendergap mailing list > Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap > > > _______________________________________________ > Gendergap mailing list > Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap > > -- Tighe Flanagan Arab World Education Program Manger Wikimedia Foundation
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