Challenge:

• No prior work done to understand mindsets or motivations

• No direct way to determine these via data analytics - 'an invisible layer' 

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Approach: qualitative exploration

We leveraged a rudimentary framework based on contribution frequency and quantity to identify different types of contributors to represent them in this research:

• Those who have been contributing more than the median contributions per month, and consistently for over 6 months

• Those who have been contributing less than the median contributions per month, and consistently so for over 6 months

• Those who have been contributing inconsistently - sometimes more, sometimes less over 6 months 

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We then began interviewing each type spending considerable time understanding their journey: how it all began, the first trigger, their experience so far, barriers encountered / overcome, outlook and perspective towards the community, towards the role of their contributions, the enablers and reinforcers for contributing regularly / irregularly, for contributing more / less. ​

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3 mindsets and motivations were then uncovered, with the research report bringing these alive through pen portraits sprinkled with defining quotes to ensure memorability. The report also highlighted tensions across the 3 kinds of contributors, key inflection points, and how to communicate to each one in a way that resonates with them.

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Impact:

✔️ Debunked hypotheses on role of time at hand / demographics / occupational contexts in influencing manner of contributions

✔️ Community Development team continually referring to these mindset to determine community engagement activities 

✔️ Remains as a go-to artefact for the Subtitling Community team as a reminder of who they are designing for