Wikimedia Foundation in India (a SWOT analysis, 2011)
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Wikimedia India - SWOT Analysis Strengths Community potential – big population, growing internet penetration Diversity Passion for languages More bang for the buck Governments’ sway over the system – a signature can move things Low hanging fruits – under promoted untapped space, Greenfield venture Media proliferation Absence of competing user-generated content (UGC) websites Weaknesses Low brand awareness Geographic expanse Bureaucracy Commons philosophy for creative content is new Online volunteering new Challenges 1 Technology issues Wiki philosophy needs to be imparted Freedom of Expression enforcement inadequate Opportunities Literary tradition implies huge corpora Potential to make a difference – in most Indic languages, Wiki projects are the only websites Donor potential (large and small) Mediawiki Development – internationalisation built-in rather than localisation later Economic growth can drive more support, contribution, and readership indirectly Driver for other South Asian and potentially South East Asian demographics (Bangladesh, Indonesia etc. have huge potential) Threats Newbie attrition, exodus, and even forking due to cultural issues Substitutes like FaceBook etc. – India has deviated from the rest of the world trends in this matter (eg. isolated success story for Orkut) Unexpected government intervention similar to the Blackberry case Unexpected economic slowdown Conflict of roles – chapter vs office 1 Some of these are applicable to Wikipedias in Indian languages, but excluding English, though WMF in India has a mandate to develop participation in and deriving value out of English Wikipedia and sister projects.
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Transcript of Wikimedia Foundation in India (a SWOT analysis, 2011)
Wikimedia India - SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Community potential – big population,
growing internet penetration
Diversity
Passion for languages
More bang for the buck
Governments’ sway over the system – a
signature can move things
Low hanging fruits – under promoted
untapped space, Greenfield venture
Media proliferation
Absence of competing user-generated content
(UGC) websites
Weaknesses
Low brand awareness
Geographic expanse
Bureaucracy
Commons philosophy for creative content is
new
Online volunteering new
Challenges1
Technology issues
Wiki philosophy needs to be imparted
Freedom of Expression enforcement
inadequate
Opportunities
Literary tradition implies huge corpora
Potential to make a difference – in most Indic
languages, Wiki projects are the only websites
Donor potential (large and small)
Mediawiki Development –
internationalisation built-in rather than
localisation later
Economic growth can drive more support,
contribution, and readership indirectly
Driver for other South Asian and potentially
South East Asian demographics (Bangladesh,
Indonesia etc. have huge potential)
Threats
Newbie attrition, exodus, and even forking
due to cultural issues
Substitutes like FaceBook etc. – India has
deviated from the rest of the world trends in
this matter (eg. isolated success story for
Orkut)
Unexpected government intervention similar
to the Blackberry case
Unexpected economic slowdown
Conflict of roles – chapter vs office
1 Some of these are applicable to Wikipedias in Indian languages, but excluding English, though WMF in India has a mandate to develop participation in and deriving value out of English Wikipedia and sister projects.
