First workshop on Wikipedia research

Abstract

Wikimedia Foundation's wikis - first of all the Wikipedia project to create a free encyclopaedia - play an important role in wiki's success. Wikipedia is currently the 17th most visited website worldwide so it's of general public interest to find out more about its structure and processes. Research on Wikipedia is supported by making its data publically available. Wikipedians reflect a lot on their project and there is a small but growing number of scientific papers in Wikipedia research. Most of the large wikis use the same MediaWiki-engine like Wikipedia so general wiki research can also profit from Wikipedia research. However it is difficult to analyze Wikipedia without basic knowledge of its particularities and some involvement in the community. This workshop wants to bring together people interested in further wikipedia research. A short overview of current Wikipedia research will be given as well as some practical guidelines on methods how to analyze data and where to get in contact with the community. Together we want to talk about differences and commonalities of Wikipedia and other wikis and hot topics in Wikipedia research.