Create

6000
5000
Unique visitors
Number visits
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08
Figure.5. Innopedia website visits from 01/2009 to 08/2010
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of interest to the visitor from the point of
information gathering while there seems to be
insufficient incentive for a visitor to bring an
idea to the site.
There may be several explanations for this:
1. It is too difficult for a visitor
to become a member.
Based on reactions from and problems
experienced by new members, the
membership application to Innopedia is easy
as compared to other application systems.
2. A visitor has no ideas to bring
to Innopedia.
Wikipedia does not contain an extensive
amount of information on aeronautics,
while its content strongly depends on the
knowledge and willingness of individuals
to upload existing knowledge. The crowd
using Wikipedia is vast while the group
of actual contributors is just a fraction of
this. However, this fraction (few percent) is,
worldwide, large enough to give Wikipedia
its content. The law of economies of scale
applies here.
The aeronautics community is a relatively
small group. Hence, when only a small
fraction of this group contributes to
Innopedia this will be a relatively small
number of people. The number of people
with new ideas will be even less. The law
of economies of scale may not apply to the
aeronautics sector.
3. A visitor does not want to bring
his idea to Innopedia.
This may be a serious issue as any good
idea can be easily lost to somebody else for
exploitation. Innopedia within the CREATE
project has no system for protecting any
IPR. It may be argued that new ideas
(with a very low TRL level) may not yet
incorporate any intellectual property.
However, an idea holder may believe
that his idea has a certain value. He may
change his mind if/when he is rewarded for
bringing his idea to Innopedia.
4. It takes too much effort to put an idea on
Innopedia.
It obviously takes some effort to put an
idea on Innopedia. Whether the effort is
too big depends on the individual and his
motivation. Several users have indicated
that the site is not difficult from a user's
point of view. Experience shows that when
an idea has been described in e.g. Word
that it is very easy to upload it to Innopedia.
5. Innovative ideas are difficult to generate.
Innovative ideas either already exist or pop
up rather arbitrarily when discussing or
thinking over a subject with others.
6.4.4. Lessons learned
The test of Innopedia demonstrated that
establishing a wiki that is used by a significant
population is much more difficult than merely
setting up the site. The publicity needed
among the target audience is critically
important to the success of the venture.