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A collection of experiments and research to learn about what makes an Alaveteli grow
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Using Wikipedia more to highlight responses/info on Alaveteli sites #99

Open Gemmamysoc opened 7 years ago

Gemmamysoc commented 7 years ago

Q: How can Wikipedia be used more to highlight interesting info on Alaveteli sites?

Around 3% of all of AsktheEU's traffic since it started has come from Wikipedia. Responses to requests have been used as references on topic-specific Wikipedia entries.

Do other sites experience similar traffic from Wikipedia? If not, is there a way to encourage that traffic by using Wikipedia more?

garethrees commented 7 years ago

This looks like a dup of https://github.com/mysociety/alaveteli-experiments/issues/44.

Gemmamysoc commented 7 years ago

Just for info/background, Wikipedia brings the following % of traffic (aka Sessions) to these Alaveteli sites:

RightToKnow: 0.69% (based on 85.41% of sessions) WhatDoTheyKnow: 0.83% (only based on 0.84% of sessions) Dostup Pravda: 0.02% (based on 38.56% of sessions) KiMiTud: 0.01% IPZ (Croatia): 0.00% AskYourGov: 0.00%

Could we work to increase these percentages?!

andreaspavlou commented 7 years ago

This could maybe be done with these guys who have been actively adding links to wikipedia pages (links of FOIA requests could work too!) : http://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Areas/Serbia/Wiki4MediaFreedom-in-10-points-175569

Gemmamysoc commented 7 years ago

Ooh, great! Are you in touch with the organisers of this?

andreaspavlou commented 7 years ago

Can do, will email now.

This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

henare commented 7 years ago

For comparison: On https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/ an amazing volunteer came along one day and put links on MP Wikipedia pages back to their profile on They Vote For You. In the last month 153 sessions out of 3,052 were from Wikipedia (5%).

Just for info/background, Wikipedia brings the following % of traffic (aka Sessions) to these Alaveteli sites:

RightToKnow: 0.69% (based on 85.41% of sessions)

@Gemmamysoc I don't really understand these statistics. What time period do we mean? Is this 0.69% of all traffic? Is it based on 85.41% of referral sessions?

Gemmamysoc commented 7 years ago

Hey @henare. I looked at Referral traffic on RightToKnow's Google Analytics from 1st October 2012 until now. It only displayed 84.41% sessions to me yesterday, but I'm looking again now and it seems to be saying 0.25% of traffic has come from Wikipedia and is basing that on 100% of sessions. Google Analytics can be so confusing sometimes, grr!

henare commented 7 years ago

Google Analytics can be so confusing sometimes, grr!

Sure can! It's show as 0.07% for that period for me:

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In any case, less than 1% has definite room for improvement. Especially since we see 5% on another one of our projects.

Of course the important thing is to not be spammy. The They Vote For You links are clearly helpful so I think that's why they're still there and also bringing in visitors.

Gemmamysoc commented 7 years ago

Yes, very important not to be spammy. Links to request should only be added if they truly are relevant. Wikipedia will soon notice if the links aren't relevant anyway!

Gemmamysoc commented 7 years ago

After speaking with OBC Transeuropa, they suggested that people running Alaveteli sites should contact their local Wikimedia chapters, to inform them of the resources/responses available on their site. Wikimedia could then let their Wikipedians know about this source of material that they could use when editing Wikipedia. Getting involved in the Wikipedian in Residence programme might be another avenue.

OBC Transeuropa might run a Wiki edit-a-thon on Access to Information in London next year, which could use Alaveteli site content as source material.