Pine, with respect, I think you are
looking at this in terms of “how do we shoehorn these users into our way
of doing things” instead of asking “what should the user experience
be like?”.
In the scenario we are discussing, we have
a new user (or even not-so-new user) sitting in front of a Wikipedia edit
window presumably feeling dazed and confused by some aspect of it (or all of
it). So they click the friendly “get help” button (or whatever it
is) and we take them to IRC-plus-or-minus-Kiwi with which they probably have no
experience. I feel it will just reinforce the sensation of “I don’t
understand any of this” and make it less likely they will seek help and
more likely that they will cease editing. So much of Wikipedia is built for by
developers for developers (or at least designed by experienced users for
experienced users) and this seems to be an entirely unconscious process.
I know WMF employs at least one user
experience person. I think that person should be doing the user studies (or
whatever it is that they do) to find out what might work best. Anyone taking
part in this conversation in this mailing list is presumably an existing editor
of some experience; we are probably not the people to decide how best to
deliver help to the new user. If there is one thing the existing “community”
should not decide, it is the new user experience, or else we condemn ourselves
to a user experience that only works for the kinds of editors we currently have
(a community that has a massive gendergap and a declining active editor base).
Kerry
From:
gendergap-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:gendergap-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org]
On Behalf Of Pine W
Sent: Monday, 11 August 2014 3:18
PM
To: ee@lists.wikimedia.org;
Addressing gender equity and exploring ways to increase theparticipation of
women within Wikimedia projects.; wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: [Gendergap] IRC web
client for Wikipedia help
Hi,
Following
up on a conversation on the gendergap email list, I am discussing with Freenode
the possibility of changing the default web client to one that is friendlier
and has a less technical feel, primarily for the benefit of new users who
access #wikipedia-en-help by clicking on a link. The likely candidate for a new
IRC client is Kiwi. If Freenode wants to maintain their current default web
client we can still use Kiwi if we run it on Wikimedia pages. Would WMF or the
volunteer dev community be willing to implement this? If so, is filing a
Bugzilla bug the best way to get the wheels of progress to turn?
Pine