UK Wikimeet survey 2015
Wikimeets are informal, in-person social meetings of Wikimedians. They have been held in a number of different UK locations since 2004. In September-October 2015, a survey was run that aimed to:
- find out what could be improved to make wikimeets more accessible, open and appealing, particularly to editors that haven't been to a meetup before (whether new or established editors)
- identify better ways to notify/invite/advertise to potential attendees about upcoming wikimeets
- identify better meetup venues and times
This page reports the outcome of that survey.
The draft survey questions were posted on a user subpage on the English Wikipedia in March-April 2015, and they were revised following feedback from community members. The survey link was circulated through a watchlist notice on the English Wikipedia that was geolocated to the UK, by email to the wikimediauk-l mailing list, through the WMUK newsletter, and by sending talk-page messages to a number of attendees of previous wikimeets. The survey ran from 20 September to 9 October 2015, with 151 people filling in the survey. Unless otherwise stated, participants were restricted to selecting one option in response to the questions, or entering a free text response. All questions were optional.
Survey respondees were biased towards older males located in the London, South East, and North West regions of England. Half of the respondees have never attended a wikimeet.
Key results from this survey that should affect future wikimeets are:
- Organising wikimeets in South East England should be a priority (We are assuming that when people selected this, they meant official South East England region, which does not include London, since that was a separate option)
- There should be more local wikimeets: ideally they should be no more than about 30 minutes away from a number of Wikimedians, who should only have to pay £5-£10 to get to the wikimeet by public transportation.
- The best times for a wikimeet are on Saturday or Sunday afternoons, preferably in a museum/cultural institute or a cafe rather than a pub.
- Better notifications should be sent around about upcoming wikimeets, ideally through email, user talk pages and watchlists, on a regional or UK-wide basis about a month in advance of the wikimeet.
- There are a number of people who would potentially be willing to organise a local wikimeet, but most need more information about this, and others need assistance. WMUK should follow up with those that are willing to organise wikimeets to offer them any support/assistance that they need.
It may make sense to re-run this survey in two years time. There are a number of improvements that could be made to the way this survey was laid out (e.g., moving "About you" to the end, removing duplication of questions).
The survey was run by Mike Peel, with the support of Richard Nevell from Wikimedia UK, User:Yaris678, the many people who helped formulate the questions, and everyone that filled it in!
About you
[edit]Q1. Which gender do you identify as?
[edit]- Male: 115 (76%)
- Female: 18 (12%)
- Other: 3 (2%)
- No answer: 15 (10%)
These results are in line with other Wikimedia surveys, which have generally found that around 13% of Wikimedians are female. This possibly indicates that we're reasonably sampling the Wikimedia community, but doesn't indicate that wikimeets appeal more to one gender than another.
Q2. How old are you?
[edit]- Under 18: 2 (1%)
- 18-25: 10 (7%)
- 26-35: 27 (18%)
- 36-45: 23 (15%)
- 46-55: 23 (15%)
- 56-65: 37 (25%)
- Over 66: 17 (11%)
- No answer: 12 (8%)
Survey respondees are typically of working age, with a bias towards older people. Young people (25 or younger) are under-represented compared with older/retired people, which is a concern for the long-term future of Wikimeets, and the Wikimedia projects more generally. This distribution is quite different from the age distribution of the UK population and is slightly different from the age distribution of the typical volunteer.
Q3. Where are you based?
[edit]- England: North-East: 3 (2%)
- England: North-West: 19 (13%)
- England: Yorkshire and the Humber: 8 (5%)
- England: East Midlands: 5 (3%)
- England: West Midlands: 8 (5%)
- England: East: 8 (5%)
- England: South West: 8 (5%)
- England: South East: 27 (18%)
- England: London: 36 (24%)
- Wales: North: 1 (1%)
- Wales: South: 4 (3%)
- Scotland: Eastern: 5 (3%)
- Scotland: Southwestern: 2 (1%)
- Scotland: North Eastern: 1 (1%)
- Scotland: Highlands and Islands: 1 (1%)
- Northern Ireland: 0 (0%)
- Other: 10 (7%)
Answers - Between NW and SE
- Central Scotland
- Jersey
- Scotland - Central Belt.
- South Warwickshire - between West Midlands and South West
- Switzerland
- Thailand
- Ukraine
- US
- West Cornwall
- No answer: 5 (3%)
There is a strong bias towards Wikimedians based in London, the South East of England, and the North West of England. London and the North West are unsurprising, as there have been regular wikimeets in these locations. It is surprising how many respondees are in South East England, though, as there are not currently regular wikimeets in this area - this should be a high-priority area for new wikimeets.
Most people that haven't been to a wikimeet (according to their response to the next question) are located in London (17), the South East (13), the South West (7) and the North-West (6) respectively, which is surprising given that regular wikimeets have taken place in London for over a decade now (those in London preferred weekday evenings, weekday mornings, or Saturday afternoons, with equal responses to Q14 for discussions and workshops, followed by training).
Q4. Have you ever been to a wikimeet?
[edit]- Yes: 67 (44%)
- No: 76 (50%)
- No answer: 8 (5%)
Just over 50% of respondees have never been to a wikimeet. This was unexpected, given that the advertising of the survey was biased towards people that have been to wikimeets. However, this is excellent in terms of understanding the reasons why people haven’t attended past wikimeets.
Q5. how many wikimeets have you been to?
[edit]- None: 68 (45%)
- Some: 42 (28%)
- Many: 16 (10%)
- Lots: 13 (9%)
- No answer: 12 (8%)
Most people that have been to a wikimeet have only been to 'some', but there are also a good sample of those that have been to 'many' or 'lots' (i.e., count themselves as regular attendees).
Q6. What has prevented you from attending or put you off?
[edit]| Answers |
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115 people answered this question, with 36 skipping it. The most frequently used words here include "Distance", "Far", "Location", "Travel", "Clash", as well as "Unaware", "Never Knew" and "Not Heard".
Many different reasons have been presented here. A key one is distance, followed by not knowing about the wikimeets; these can be resolved by having more wikimeets around the country, and notifying people better about wikimeets. Another main reason is one of timing, and other personal commitments. Some people also commented that they felt too new to the movement to attend a wikimeet.
Q7. If you have only been to a few wikimeets, what has prevented you from attending or put you off?
[edit]| Answers |
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39 people answered this question, with 112 skipping it, most likely because of its similarity to the previous question. The most frequently used words here include "Distance" and "Far", as well as "People Attending" and "Commitments". Most of these responses are along the same lines as those to the previous question, showing that the main reasons for not attending are not that different between those that haven't been to any wikimeets and those that have only been to a few.
Q8. Have you ever organised a wikimeet?
[edit]- Yes: 17 (11%)
- No: 122 (74%)
- No answer: 12 (8%)
The proportion who had organised a wikimeet (11%) was a quarter of the proportion that had been to one (44%, Q4). That it is less is unsurprising, since we would expect all (or almost all) of people who had organised a wikimeet to attend one. See also Q21.
Getting to a wikimeet
[edit]Q9. How far (in terms of distance/price/time) would you be willing to travel to attend a wikimeet?
[edit]Miles GBP(£) Minutes - 0 (3 responses)
- 2 (1 response)
- 3 (1 response)
- 5 (10 responses)
- 7 (1 response)
- 10 (18 responses)
- 15 (8 responses)
- 20 (8 responses)
- 25 (5 responses)
- 30 (6 responses)
- 40 (2 responses)
- 40-50 (1 response)
- 50 (11 responses)
- 50-100 (1 response)
- 60 (5 responses)
- 70 (1 response)
- 80 (1 response)
- 85 (1 response)
- 100 (5 responses)
- 120 (3 responses)
- 130 (1 response)
- 150 (1 response)
- 200 (1 response)
- Forty to seventy maximum.
- I have been to London but it's a long way.
- It would depend on the location and the ease of public transport to get there.
- only london
- To nearest large city (London or Manchester)
- Within the London area
- York to places in York; Leeds; York to Manchester
- - (2 responses)
- 0 (7 responses)
- 5 (12 responses)
- 6 (1 response)
- 7 (1 response)
- 10 (16 responses)
- 12 (2 responses)
- 12.6 (1 response)
- 13.50 each way (1 response)
- 15 (3 responses)
- 20 (15 responses)
- 25 (4 responses)
- 30 (3 responses)
- 40 (2 responses)
- 50 (3 responses)
- 100 (1 response)
- 200 (1 response)
- ? Hard to say, but money is an issue sometimes
- can produce cash if required
- Difficult to put a limit.
- up to about £35-40 train fare
- 0 (3 responses)
- 15 (1 response)
- 30 (22 responses)
- 40 (5 responses)
- 45 (8 responses)
- 60 (29 responses)
- 66 (1 response)
- 75 (1 response)
- 80 (1 response)
- 90 (8 responses)
- 110 (1 response)
- 120 (9 responses)
- 150 (1 response)
- 180 (4 responses)
- 300 (1 response)
- 60-90
- 15 minutes to walk to York walls, 25 minutes by train to Leeds, +1 hour to Manchester
- would depend if there was someone I particularly wanted to meet, probably about 60
- ~3 hours from London
128 people answered this question, while 23 skipped it. 102 people responded about distance, 79 about price, and 100 about time. The distributions are rather trimodal: in terms of miles, respondees are most willing to travel 5, 10 or 50 miles; with cost, £5, £10 or £20. The travel times are more bimodal than trimodal, though, with peaks at 30 and 60 minutes.
The indication here is that wikimeets will be most successful if they are at most 30 minutes away from the locations of Wikimedians, with travel costs between £5 and £10.
Q10. How would you prefer to travel to a wikimeet?
[edit]- By car: 43 (28%)
- By train: 80 (53%)
- By bus: 48 (32%)
- By other public transport: 37 (24%)
- On foot: 42 (28%)
- Other: 24 (16%)
- Any of the above
- By bicycle (20 responses, 13%)
- by unicorn
- By wheelchair adapted vehicle
- Free travel
- Skipped: 15 (10%)
Bicycle was an obvious omission from the answer set. However, trains and buses are clearly the favoured options, followed by travel by car and then by foot. So accessibility by public transportation should be an important factor in determining the location of a wikimeet, but car parking should also be considered.
Dates, locations and activities
[edit]Q11. When would you prefer to attend a wikimeet?
[edit]Day Morning Lunch Afternoon Evening Weekday 18 (12%) 25 (17%) 36 (24%) 41 (27%) Saturday 21 (14%) 50 (33%) 71 (47%) 22 (15%) Sunday 19 (13%) 48 (32%) 62 (41%) 17 (11%)
125 people answered this question, 26 (17%) skipped it. It was possible to select all, some, or none of these responses. The preferred option is Saturday afternoons, with Sunday afternoons closely behind. This does not significantly change for those that prefer to travel by public transport or by car. A significant number of people prefer weekday afternoon/evening meetings, though, so this may be something worth investigating.
Q12. Where would you prefer to meet?
[edit]- In a pub: 72 (48%)
- In a cafe: 77 (51%)
- In a park/public space: 27 (18%)
- In a museum/cultural institute: 90 (60%)
- Other: 13 (9%)
Answers - All are possible- Friends Meeting Houses, librarys - its horses for courses
- Any of above
- Any of these would be perfectly OK, but my slight preference is for a pub.
- Any other venue free to you.
- Anywhere suitable
- Dedicated meeting space
- Library or similar with good wifi !
- meeting space / office
- On a boat
- Out of the rain!
- Pub is #1 choice, others are equal #2.
- Soho
- Somewhere quiet, so pub or cafe needs to be chosen with care
- Skipped: 20 (13%)
It was possible to select all, some, or none of these responses, and also to simultaneously leave an "Other" response. The clear favourite option here is to hold wikimeets in museums / cultural institutions, followed by cafes, then pubs. This is notable as most wikimeets to date have taken place in a pub, so a change here might make a big impact. While meetings in parks/public spaces have been tried in the U.S. (Wikiniks), this option doesn't look likely to succeed in the UK, most likely because of the traditional British weather (i.e., rain).
Those that said that they would prefer to meet in a museum/cultural institute are located most in London (23), followed by the South-East (18), the North West (8), and the South West or Yorkshire and Humber (both 6). Those that said they would prefer to meet in a cafe are located most in London (19), followed by the South-East (15), the North West (14), and the West Midlands or East (both 5).
Q13. What requirements should a meetup venue meet?
[edit]- Car parking: 42 (28%)
- Accessible by public transport: 90 (60%)
- Child friendly venue: 10 (6.6%)
- Wireless internet access: 76 (50%)
- Quiet venue: 70 (46%)
- Food available: 54 (36%)
- Vegetarian food available: 15 (10%)
- Real ale available: 18 (12%)
- Alcohol-free: 8 (5%)
- Other: 21 (14%)
Answers - A space near a socket (for an adaptor), accessible by wheelchairs
- affordable
- alcohol & food nice-to-have, not essential
- All are possible- the value is the social contact- and the ability to get home safely.
- Depending on the size of the group, "relatively deserted" can be important. "Other things to do nearby" is a consideration too in case people get there early, or have a long wait for a train.
- Depends on location. If going by train, then near a station ... Good beer helps!
- Disability facilities
- Disabled access
- Easy way of finding group in venue, possibly something else of interest in the area so something to do if public transport times are poor for the meeting.
- Friendly environment.
- NB: I dont mind if others drink (I dont happen to drink...), but this British obsession with alcohol is a bit offput for a lot of people: almost everything is in pubs! (or otherwise copious amounts of wine must be available or people simply wont turn up) :-0
- prefer drinking wine
- Real ale is a bonus but not essential. Beverages other than tea and coffee are essential.
- seating so you can move round to talk with others
- seriously 'real ale available'? way to perpetuate a stereotype
- Sex shops
- Somewhere where the organisers are easily visible (e.g. not a crowded space)
- Tea & coffee available
- Tea/coffee and cakes etc - not necessariy full meals
- Veg food & real ale are definite pluses, but optional. The two I have checked above are important.
- Wheelchair accessible
- Skipped: 22 (15%)
It was possible to select all, some, or none of these responses, and also to simultaneously leave an "Other" response. Accessibility by public transport is a must (reinforcing the conclusion reached from Q10), as is wireless internet access. Quietness, and the availability of food, are also important.
Q14. What activities would you like to experience at a wikimeet?
[edit]- Discussion with fellow wikimedians: 116 (77%)
- Special guests: 51 (34%)
- Meeting new editors: 73 (48%)
- Debates: 38 (25%)
- Workshops/tutorials on specific topics: 73 (48%)
- Wikipedia training sessions: 54 (36%)
- Help sessions: 42 (28%)
- Visits to nearby visitor attractions: 35 (23%)
- Tours of nearby visitor attractions: 34 (23%)
- Tours of the city: 22 (15%)
- Other: 14 (9%)
Answers - All are possible- lets not confuse them with editathons though
- Avoiding Wikipedians.
- Discussion with fellow wikimedians are by far the most important, but other activities might be welcome too.
- Find out what it's all about
- focused debate radiation effects
- last four OK by me if I'm interested in particular attractions
- Not sure what wikimedians or new editors are. No idea who would be a special guest.
- Sharing of skills.
- Social
- Somehow combining pub quizzes with Wikimeets!
- Special access to usually inaccessible locations
- Training sessions on sister projects (Wikidata, Wikisource, etc)
- Wikidata events
- Wikimeets are informal. Associating them with "sessions", debates and spekers is fine, or including them if they become large enough.
- Skipped: 22 (15%)
It was possible to select all, some, or none of these responses, and also to simultaneously leave an "Other" response.
Discussion should continue to be the main activity at wikimeets. Meeting new editors and workshops were the second most highly ranked, followed by training events. It would be interesting to see whether running a training event or workshop at a wikimeet would work out in practice.
Tours/visits to nearby places were less highly ranked. These have been tried before, but haven't had much success, so they should be less of a priority for future wikimeets.
It's worth noting that there are high correlations (φ=0.63-0.76) between the selection of the trio "Visits to nearby visitor attractions", "Tours of nearby visitor attractions" and "Tours of the city". There are significant correlations (φ=0.37-0.49) between the trio "Workshops/tutorials on specific topics", "Wikipedia training sessions" and "Help sessions". There are also significant correlations between "Discussion with fellow wikimedians" and "Meeting new editors" (φ=0.46) and "Special guests" and "Workshops/tutorials on specific topics" (φ=0.40).
Notifications about wikimeets
[edit]Q15. How would you prefer to be notified about future wikimeets?
[edit]Method Prefer Would see Would not see A message on my user talk page 39 (26%) 47 (31%) 20 (13%) A central list of meetups 26 (17%) 25 (17%) 42 (28%) A central notice 22 (15%) 25 (17%) 40 (26%) A notice on my watchlist 37 (25%) 33 (22%) 30 (20%) A notice on the Main Page 9 (6%) 28 (19%) 52 (34%) An entry on Wikimedia UK's event list 11 (7%) 18 (12%) 61 (40%) By email 54 (36%) 46 (30%) 6 (4%) By Twitter 7 (5%) 11 (7%) 62 (41%) By Facebook 6 (4%) 27 (18%) 49 (32%)
- Other
- all of these presupose the false assumption that I want to be notified; as I don't want to attend, I don't want to be notified
- At previous meetups, and by relevant mailing list
- Every email from the charity to members should include the list of upcoming wikimeets as a footer.
- meetup.com
- meetup.com
- Sometimes I see the watchlist notice, sometimes I miss it.
- Text message
- Text message
- Skipped: 24 (16%)
For each option, it was possible to mark it as 'Prefer', 'Would see' or 'Would not see', without having to indicate a preference for each option. An optional 'Other' response could also be entered. Top preferences are for notifications by email, messages on user talk pages, and notices on watchlists, which should be implemented more routinely in future. Most people would not see notifications posted on Twitter, the WMUK wiki events list, the Main Page, and Facebook, so these probably aren't worth pursuing.
Q16. Would you prefer to be notified about wikimeets
[edit]- in my nearest city: 84 (56%)
- in my county: 48 (32%)
- in my region: 53 (35%)
- in my country: 15 (10%)
- UK-wide: 26 (17%)
- Skipped: 28 (19%)
It was possible to select all, some, or none of these responses. It's not clear what the best approach is here: most people prefer to be notified about wikimeets in their city, which is fairly obvious, but a significant fraction also want notifications about wikimeets further away. Probably the emphasis should be on notifying more people rather than less, so notifications should probably be sent out more widely wherever possible.
Q17. How far in advance would you prefer to be notified about a future wikimeet?
[edit]- 1 day: 2 (1%)
- 3 days: 4 (3%)
- 1 week: 18 (12%)
- A fortnight: 51 (34%)
- A month: 70 (46%)
- Two months: 24 (16%)
- Other: 4 (3%)
- As far ahead as possible for travel and budgeting reasons.
- As long as possible. I travel a lot for work, and if I know there's a WMF event nearby will try to allow time to attend it, but they usually aren't announced long enough in advance.
- never
- These are the ideal notification times for me, but all the others are good too.
- Skipped: 24 (16%)
It was possible to select all, some, or none of these responses, and also to simultaneously leave an "Other" response.
Wikimeets should be organised at least a fortnight, and preferably about a month, in advance of them taking place.
Q18. Would you prefer to receive notifications about wikimeets
[edit]- When a wikimeet is announced: 83 (55%)
- Every week: 13 (9%)
- Every month: 47 (31%)
- Other: 6 (4%)
- A specific time before they are held
- An email reminder to any I've signed up to would be nice, and when they are announced on the mailing list, and a watchlist notice a fortnight in advance
- I think a regular email for only this would get lost. It should be embedded in charity comms.
- never
- See 17
- subject related
- Skipped: 27 (18%)
It was possible to select all, some, or none of these responses, and also to simultaneously leave an "Other" response.
Most people would prefer to be notified when a wikimeet is announced; the second most popular option is every month: both of these approaches are worth adopting.
Q19. How would you prefer to receive last-minute change notifications about wikimeets?
[edit]- Updates posted on-wiki: 46 (30%)
- By email: 84 (56%)
- By text message: 34 (23%)
- Having a contact telephone number of an organiser: 11 (7%)
- Other: 6 (4%)
- By using a service like Eventbrite
- Informing the venue of any changes made within 48 hours of the event so that they can tell anybody that turns up.
- never
- talk page
- Skipped: 26 (17%)
It was possible to select all, some, or none of these responses, and also to simultaneously leave an "Other" response.
Most people would prefer email notifications for last-minute changes, followed by updates on-wiki, which are probably the best options to pursue. A smaller number would prefer text messages or a contact telephone number, so these probably aren't worth pursuing at the moment.
The last few questions
[edit]Q20. Would you be willing to abide by Wikimedia UK's Friendly space policy?
[edit]- Yes: 107 (71%)
- No: 4 (3%)
- no answer: 40 (26%)
- Comments
Answers - "... if they seek to participate for reasons other than the advancement of our charitable objectives, then the Chief Executive should recommend to the Board that that individual be excluded from all Wikimedia UK activities." is unacceptable to me. I want to be able to meet for a variety of reasons.
- ...except I don't have access to wikimedia UK. I lost the account when you split from the other wiki servers and, despite emailing, it's not been resolved. No idea who the "Chief Executive" is.
- Absolutely
- Anyone who doesn't can get out
- Can't access link, phone claims it is unsafe.
- I am reluctant to endorse anything that includes the phrase "This includes (but is not limited to):" [taking that out now!] Nor am I comfortable with signing up to "Any action taken should be promptly reported to the Chief Executive." Thirdly Wikimeets are not organised by WMUK, under the aegis of WMUK or on WMUK premises. It is therefore not possible, and unduly onerous, to require of meet organisers what the FSP dictates.
- I don't see any reason why not, though I must note that most meetups are not organised by Wikimedia UK and so are not under Wikimedia UK's jurisdiction. It will be down to the owner/manger of the venue to set such policies.
- I had no idea this policy existed.
- I would expect to meet serious grown-up people who can socialise in public places without the need for silly rules
- I would have to state that I do not relish the company of spiritists or that type of occult and may distance myself from such.
- It seems odd that there should be such a policy.
- Obviously
- Obviously I'd abide by the spirit but I'm not comfortable with it as a formal policy. As I read it this means no-one can ever do or say anything which might upset anyone, which rules out discussing many Wikipedia pages as well as discussing politics, current events etc.
- Of course.
- That page has a security certificate error, which will put off many people from reading it.
- The page is blocked by my firewall
- The policy places the power of enforcing the policy in the hands of the board. That's not how anything at Wikipedia should be done; even if I had confidence in this board or any other, decisions need to be made in public by the community.
- Though it does appear to make a wikimeet much more formal, and the line can be difficult to draw.
- What's the point of this question?
- What? A certain low growl that Wikimedia has more policies than the united nations..................
- While the policy might benefit from a few tweaks, it is basically a very good idea.
- Yes. But I worry that asking people in advance to adhear to the policy could put them off. Most people don't enjoy reading policies but would want to agree to something they didn't know much about. Perhaps a better approach would be to make "regulars" aware of the policy and ask them to help enforce it by, for example, intervening if they suspect someone is feeling harassed.
In addition to selecting one of the responses, additional comments could also be left to this question.
The overwhelming majority (71%) of people said that they would be willing to abide by the friendly space policy. Some emphatically disagreed with the policy. However, several comments pointed out particular phrases within the policy that they disagreed with, which WMUK should look at addressing by rewording and amending the policy.
Q21. Would you potentially be willing to organise a wikimeet in your city? If yes, would you need any assistance setting it up?
[edit]- Yes, would need assistance: 12 (8%)
- Yes, would not need assistance: 10 (7%)
- Maybe, would need more information: 26 (17%)
- No: 64 (42%)
- no answer: 39 (26%)
There are a surprisingly large number of people that would be willing to organise wikimeets, compared with the number that currently do. WMUK should follow up with those that are willing to organise wikimeets to offer them any support/assistance that they need.
Q22. Are there any other suggestions or comments you'd like to make?
[edit]| Answers |
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A wide variety of final comments were left, which can be read above. One topic that was mentioned several times was that wikimeet should have 'themes' / agendas, which is worth trying out.