There is a concern about a decline in the number of editors in major languages like English, German where fewer contributors are staying on after one year.
There is a concern about a decline in the number of editors in major Wikipedia languages like English and German where fewer contributors are staying on after one year.
Though the decline is slow, the downward trend has been quite consistent in the last few years, said Barry Newstead, chief global development officer of Wikimedia Foundation, the trust that operates the free online encyclopedia.
Speaking at the keynote address on the third and last day of WikiConference India at the convocation hall of the University of Mumbai, Newstead said that, earlier, a third of its editors stuck around for more than a year.
"In the last few years, it has changed substantially: only one in ten are sticking around. This has created immense pressure on existing editors. While this is a concern for English and German (Wikipedias), it is more concerning for Tamil, Hindi or Bengali because they have so few editors (to start with)," said Newstead and added, "We need to welcome and support newcomers; we cannot push them off when they make mistakes."
"We need to figure out how to engage students as readers and contributors. Let us get Wikipedia into the hands of students and teachers," he said.
Newstead suggested technical solutions like making Wikipedia more easily accessible on the mobile phone for people without access to computers. He also said that ignoring rules or making the rules simpler will bring more readers and contributors.
Later, speaking to DNA, Newstead said that one of the reasons for the decline in the number of editors, especially in larger Wikipedia languages like English and German, is the maturing of content. He said that since the standards (of articles) have gone up, there may not be much work for editors. "We do not have a problem of not having enough experienced editors; we are just not getting new editors," he said.
One way to attract new contributors and editors, Newstead said, is to make it simpler to contribute to and edit Wikipedia articles. "Jimmy (Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia) said it is easier to delete a Facebook entry, but it is much more difficult to do so in Wikipedia. You have to go to the underbelly of Wikipedia for that.
So, we need to make it easier to do the right thing and difficult to do the wrong thing," he said.
Newstead added that experts and academicians from various fields were contributing their knowledge to make Wikipedia entries more accurate and less biased. "I wish this was the case with entries on Indian history," he said.
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