Question of the week/Archives/2009-11-14

From Strategic Planning

Previous questions:
Question of the day 2009-11-14

Scenario

Suppose you have $100 to put into any of the following scenarios. You may distribute the money any way you please. How would you divide it up? (Note, these scenarios are hypothetical.)

Build a partnership with Baidu or Hudong

Expand Wikimedia's presence in China through building relationships with Baidu or Hudong.

  1. $10 -- If their users are lifting Wikipedia content, they should at least let Wikipedia add links back to Wikipedia. Also, could give them API to allow them to distribute Wikipedia content on Baidu Search or Baidu Baike as long as they have properly attribute sources. -- JoshW 07:44, 20 November 2009 (UTC)
  2. $2.50 -- Both have high market shares in the China, and since China has over 1/5th of the world population it is almost impossible to ignore. Though it should be noted that a very large portion of the Chinese population lives without internet access, or even electricity. The people who do have access to the internet tend to be on dial-up and/or at internet cafes. Rural china also has a low literacy rate making written content of limited use. --Nn123645 12:45, 21 November 2009 (UTC)
  3. $0 - Baidu works with the Chinese regime to censor the Internet. Partnering with them to expand into the Chinese market would be making a pact with the devil. -- JovanCormac 09:00, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

Build a highly localized web site in China

Expand Wikimedia's presence in China though building highly localized website hosted on local servers, and self-censor content.

  1. $15 - 208.201.229.136 08:17, 15 November 2009 (UTC)
  2. $0 - We should not self-censor for China, nor for Muslims and their "problems" with images of Mohammed, not for anyone. --Brian McNeil 10:52, 15 November 2009 (UTC)
  3. $25 --Dafer45 11:59, 16 November 2009 (UTC)
  4. $35 -- Great Firewall of China makes hosting outside China troublesome. -- Me 07:39, 20 November 2009 (UTC)
  5. $3 -- Google and Microsoft have gone this way and while Wikipedia (or any project) should not be censored it's their country and to have access we must play by their rules. One possible solution is doing something similar to what google did offering both censored and uncensored versions with google.com and google.cn as well as providing notices on any censored content (e.g. "This content is unavailable due to censorship"). The responsibility for demanding an uncensored internet ultimately falls on Chinese nationals, not Wikimedia. Until Chinese citizens demand an uncensored internet and get the government to change its stance both citizens and organizations will have to deal with censorship. The best way to approach this would be to work with the Chinese government to provide a censor the existing content, developing a censored fork of the content (e.g. Having a [[china:]] wiki) should be avoided. --Nn123645 12:45, 21 November 2009 (UTC)
  6. $0 - of course! Self-censor content??? Why is this even up for consideration? -- JovanCormac 09:01, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

Invest in an India-based team to focus on outreach

Expand Wikimedia's presence in India by investing in a country-based team to focus on outreach and building local partnerships.

  1. $25 -- Philippe 21:50, 14 November 2009 (UTC)
  2. $10 - 208.201.229.136 08:17, 15 November 2009 (UTC)
  3. $25 --Dafer45 11:59, 16 November 2009 (UTC)
  4. $15--James Owen
  5. $80 --- 203.91.207.30 10:12, 17 November 2009 (UTC)
  6. $50 Steven Walling 23:19, 17 November 2009 (UTC)
  7. $25 Randomran 15:31, 20 November 2009 (UTC)
  8. $4.50 -- India is another 1/5th of the world's population. If we are to achieve the Wikimedia vision statement this country has to be a priority. Nn123645 12:45, 21 November 2009 (UTC)
  9. $20 - Good idea. Another idea would be to outsource MediaWiki development to India, where the Foundation can get a lot more, from equally qualified experts, for their money. -- JovanCormac 09:03, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

Build new tools to facilitate access and participation

Support broad-based reach by building new Internet, mobile or offline tools to facilitate access or participation.

  1. $75 -- Philippe 21:50, 14 November 2009 (UTC)
  2. $60 - 208.201.229.136 08:17, 15 November 2009 (UTC)
  3. $80 - Building tools and integrating with social networking and such would extend reach and deal with a lot of 'censorship'/access issues. --Brian McNeil 10:49, 15 November 2009 (UTC)
  4. $40 --Dafer45 11:59, 16 November 2009 (UTC)
  5. $100 - Better Tools and access to Wikipedia is Probably the most important aspect, localized Indian or Chinese versions would also benefit from developing better tools and becoming more accessible. Theo10011 12:27, 16 November 2009 (UTC)
  6. $70--James Owen
  7. $80 -- 203.91.207.30 10:19, 17 November 2009 (UTC)
  8. $50 Steven Walling 23:19, 17 November 2009 (UTC)
  9. $78 -- This is the core, we are a web based project and this will have a global reach and improve all our content. Without content there is nothing to localize. Mobile access is important in third world countries as people usually get phones long before they get computers. --Nn123645 12:45, 21 November 2009 (UTC)
  10. $80 - Clearly the most important field. -- JovanCormac 09:04, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

Other

Other, OR the Wikimedia Foundation should do none of the above.

  1. $15 - $5 for Latin America, $5 for Africa, $5 for coordination 208.201.229.136 08:17, 15 November 2009 (UTC)
  2. $20 - More sophisticated interconnects for social networking and offline access will need more technical resources (geeks and boxen). --Brian McNeil 10:51, 15 November 2009 (UTC)
  3. $100 - to build a Wikiversity assistant teacher program laboratory school in Africa (gave them to SOS Children's Villages instead — and the proposal). --Fasten 11:12, 15 November 2009 (UTC)
    1. $10 --Dafer45 11:59, 16 November 2009 (UTC)
  4. $15--James Owen $5 toward Latin America, and $10 toward Africa
  5. $100 - to develop opt-in ad system for registered users. Then use the ad money to pay more developers to fix the 4000+ bugs listed in the Bugzilla Weekly Reports. Please fix the edit toolbar too. I can't find the signature icon. - Timeshifter.
  6. $50 - Set up a merit-based scholarship programmes/sabbaticals for the wikimedia editors to enable them to take off from work and spend a stipulated period of time in a University/place of their choice to improve content based on their speciality. Prashanthns 12:23, 18 November 2009 (UTC)
  7. $ 50 - Set up a Wikimedia chair in Universities to facilitate content contributions as well as research on open access collaboration and knowledge. Prashanthns 12:23, 18 November 2009 (UTC)
  8. $25 in outreach to Brazil, $25 in outreach to South Africa, $25 in outreach to Turkey. Get a foothold in different regions through countries with strengthening economies and civil rights. Randomran 16:03, 20 November 2009 (UTC)
    • ... with at least another $100 into improving the Wikipedia experience in existing countries. Converting more readers to editors, tapping resources in academia, and making technical and social improvements that make the community more effective at improving content. Randomran 19:54, 20 November 2009 (UTC)
  9. $12 - $3.50 Academic/Professional Outreach , $1 Africa Localization, $3 community events aimed at improving Wikimedia and Mediawiki (i.e. Wikimania) and getting existing readers to contribute (i.e. Workshops at libraries/other public places), $1 for dial-up optimization (for third world countries), $2.50 for mobile optimization, $1 South/Central America localization. Nn123645 12:45, 21 November 2009 (UTC)