The on-wiki version of this newsletter can be found here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/Updates/2023-01-25
----
Thank you,
Google.org fellows!
In April, we shared with great happiness that
Google.org were supporting
the development of Abstract Wikipedia and Wikifunctions with a generous
fellowship program. Six fellows joined
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Abstract_Wikipedia/Updates/2022-04-12>
us
in April and May, and three fellows joined
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/Updates/2022-07-20> us
in July. Each fellow stayed with the team for half a year. We thanked the
first round
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/Updates/2022-10-27> of
fellows in October, and this week we are sad to see the last fellow leave.
It is time to thank them and appreciate their achievements.
*Sandy Woodruff* joined the team as a designer during a crucial period. We
just were on-boarding our new designer, Amin al Hazwani, so both Sandy and
Amin collaborated closely on defining and refining the use cases for
Wikifunctions, how Wikifunctions will be used, and how to educate users
about the ability of our new project. Sandy wrote a goodbye letter
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/Updates/2023-01-11>,
describing her work on the project. Thank you Sandy for great contributions
which we are going to use as a reference in the years to come!
When *Dani de Waal* and *Edmund Wright* joined us, our front end was in
major disarray. We just were changing our data model to support Benjamin
arrays
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/Updates/2023-01-11>,
and as the changes propagated through the system, many of our workflows
were broken. Dani and Edmund identified the instability of our project as a
major blocker, and started developing comprehensive front end tests, which
were a major factor leading up to the release of our Beta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/Updates/2022-08-09> in
time for Wikimania 2022. Dani and Edmund continued working on the front end
as well as other parts of the system, and were improving numerous elements
and creating whole new components from scratch. They were both speeding up
the velocity of the front end development, and we are very saddened to see
them go.
It was a pleasure to work with Sandy, Dani, and Edmund. Thank you for your
great work, and we hope that our paths will cross again.
Good bye, Mariya!
*Mariya Shilova* joined us more than a year ago
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/Updates/2021-12-16> as
Senior Technical Program Manager, and her work positively transformed the
Abstract Wikipedia and Wikifunctions team. She accompanied us through
months of turbulent changes, with the on-boarding and changing of team
members, and during the time of the
Google.org fellowship
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/Updates/2022-10-27>.
The whole team is hugely thankful for her support and the improvements in
process she had led. She also was the main organizer of our first (and so
far only) in-person team off-site
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/Updates/2022-05-20> in
May 2022. We are happy that Mariya will continue to work with the Wikimedia
Foundation by supporting other teams. Thank you, Mariya, and expect to be
invited to the (virtual) launch party!
Between the Brackets podcast episode with Ariel Gutman
Yaron Koren <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Yaron_Koren> interviewed
Google.org fellow Ariel Gutman as part of his podcast “*Between the
Brackets* <https://betweenthebrackets.libsyn.com/>” in Episode 130
<https://betweenthebrackets.libsyn.com/episode-130-ariel-gutman>. Ariel
wrote a goodbye letter
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/Updates/2022-12-19> as
his fellowship ended, and was also one of the co-authors of the fellows’
evaluation mentioned in the same update
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/Updates/2022-12-19>.
Yaron and Ariel had an interesting discussion about the feasibility of an
abstract language, the goals of Abstract Wikipedia, and the evaluation. The
episode is 91 minutes long, and follows previous episodes on Abstract
Wikipedia and Wikifunctions. Thanks to Yaron Koren for the continuous
coverage!
The episode can be found here:
https://betweenthebrackets.libsyn.com/episode-130-ariel-gutman
Walidr Pimenta <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Waldyrious> took and
published notes about the episode
<https://workflowy.com/s/between-the-brackets/nIP0OWsPGYPL0aH5>, which can
be found here:
https://workflowy.com/s/between-the-brackets/nIP0OWsPGYPL0aH5
Development update (as of January 20, 2023)
- This week we *closed Goal 4* (Implementing the Function view) of the
current Phase of work. The last tasks that were identified last week have
been implemented and all changes are live on Wikifunctions Beta. Functions
are now considerably easier to view, edit, and create than they have been
before. The results have also been featured with screenshots in last week’s
newsletter
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/Updates/2023-01-19>.
Congratulations to the team!
- The Experience workstream is now working on *Goal 5* (Implementing the
default view), working on the atomic components that will make up the whole
experience (such as strings <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T324243>
and references <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T324244>). We are
also identifying the components that need updates in preparation of the
work for *Goal 9* (Updating the other components once Goal 5 has landed).
- In *Goal 3* (Meta-data), the major patch
<https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/c/mediawiki/extensions/WikiLambda/%2B/819176/>
that
has been in the work for months has landed. This stores the meta-data about
the test runs of the implementations. Having this data available allows
Wikifunctions users to understand the performance characteristics of the
different implementations. The final step for this Goal is to have the
system use this stored meta-data to make a smarter decision
<https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T310199> about which implementation
to use, which will also close this Goal.
- This week, we had the first ever *public meeting of the natural
language generation workstream*. The meeting was well attended, with
eight volunteers and three staff members. We had two presentations, one on
Ninai <https://gitlab.com/mahir256/ninai>/Udiron
<https://gitlab.com/mahir256/udiron>, an NLG system developed by a
volunteer for Abstract Wikipedia, the other on Grammatical Framework
<https://www.grammaticalframework.org/> and the work going into it to
fit with the requirements of Abstract Wikipedia. We also had further
discussions.