Question of the week/Archives/2009-11-23

Every week, this page highlights interesting data in Wikimedia-pedia as a way of focusing the strategic discussion. On Monday of each week, some data and a question will be posted. Please discuss on the talk page, or join the IRC office hours to discuss in real-time. On Wednesday, there will be a number of possible solutions posted based on the discussion, and participants will be asked to prioritize them.

Question of the Week (November 23, 2009)

What ratio of contributors to readers should Wikimedia aim for? What could be done to increase the number of active contributors to the projects?

It appears that the ratio of active contributors to readers in these projects is less than 1:2000 (which means that less than 0.05% of readers are active contributors, as shown in the graph below). What ratio should Wikimedia strive for and why? If you think that it is important to increase the number of active contributors to the projects, what could Wikimedia do to reach this goal?

Please discuss on the talk page.

 
Less than 0.05% of visitors to Wikipedia are active contributors to the encyclopedia. Graph shared with Board of Trustees on 14 November 2009; created by The Bridgespan Group.

For additional information on why readers do not contribute, see Attracting and retaining participants.