Wolfram Community:
The Story So Far

Vitaliy Kaurov, WTC, 2013

“Great things are not done by impulse, 
but by a series of small things brought together.”
—Vincent Van Gogh

“We must all hang together, or assuredly, 
we shall all hang separately.”
—Benjamin Franklin

Communities: all shapes and sizes

Created by users

LinkedIn Mathematica Users Group, > 3184 members, 2008 - 2013

Mathematica Stackexchange, 8400 members, 11000 questions, 2012 - 2013

Stackoverflow, > 2600 questions

Math.Stackexchange, > 200 questions

Stackexchange: Stats, Physics,

Reddit, > 2000 members

Quora, > 7000 + 500 + 500 + ... Followers

Yahoo Answers

Blogs, social media

Other...

Created by Wolfram Research

MathGroup, > 130,000 messages, 1989 - 2013

Student Support Forum, > 25500 posts, 1996 - 2013

Faculty Program Forum

Wolfram|Alpha Community Forum

NKS forum

Facebook

Twitter

Wolfram Community: unique voice

Culture, atmosphere

Experts

Resources

Connections

Real name professional network (-E-)

Diversity

Overcoming fragmentation (-G-)

Overcoming constraints (-I-)

Technology

Building tailored communication environment

Wolfram Cloud, CDF, Demonstrations, ...

Wolfram ID based

Relaxed way to communicate officially

Community helps us to understand our users better

“...the feeling of belonging”

Medium & culture: the two meanings of “community”

Content and people: “your” technical diary

Friends & habits: returning to a familiar place

Security & comfort: proactive moderation

...after 1st year

2500 members
700 discussions
3000 posts
600 bios
75000 visits 
by 36000 people 
from 150 countries

Members growth

Internal versus external

p1=;
data1=Cases[p1,Line[x_]->x,Infinity];
DateListPlot[data1,AspectRatio->1/3,Joined->True,Filling->0,PlotStyle->Thick,PlotRange->All,PlotLegends->Placed[{"Internal","External","Total"},{Left,Center}]]

Event explanations

Content growth

Discussions versus comments

p2=;
data2=Cases[p2,Line[x_]->x,Infinity];
DateListPlot[data2,AspectRatio->1/3,Joined->True,Filling->0,PlotStyle->Thick,PlotRange->All,PlotLegends->Placed[{"Discussions","Comments","Total"},{Left,Center}]]

Groups

Engagement

90% of engaged discussions

p3=;
data3=Cases[p3,Line[x_]->x,Infinity];
DateListPlot[data3,AspectRatio->1/3,Joined->True,Filling->0,PlotStyle->Thick,PlotRange->All,InterpolationOrder->2]

Replies per Thread

First Reply

Who is who...

Top 500 bios word frequency analysis

600 bios by length

Interesting conversations

Traffic & events

Demographics of visists

A snapshot of a moment...

Viral Event:               …core events                         …echo events

Network of participation

Network of participation

Why & what of posting

Socialize

Introduce...

Brainstorm

Optimal lighting...

Educate & edify

Fan...

Share your science

Doodling...

Express your philosophy

Development of massively...

Share you developments

Examples

Compulsive coding: set your record straight

Blending color...

Peaks...

WireWorld...

Tell some cool news

Ulam spiral...

Journalism

The Sierpinski...

Get your friends engaged

Dancing with friends...

Major community components

The Three Pillars  Community

People - Profiles

Content - Posts, files

Structure - Groups

Question - Help

Idea - Sharing, Creativity

How to reach the team

Flag

Feedback button

“Rome wasn’t built in a day”
— French proverb