Hi everyone,
*tl;dr: We'll be stripping all content contained inside brackets from the
first sentence of articles in the Wikipedia app.*
The Mobile Apps Team is focussed on making the app a beautiful and engaging
reader experience, and trying to support use cases like wanting to look
something up quickly to find what it is. Unfortunately, there are several
aspects of Wikipedia at present that are actively detrimental to that goal.
One example of this are the lead sentences.
As mentioned in the other thread on this matter
<https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/mobile-l/2015-March/008715.html>,
lead sentences are poorly formatted and contain information that is
detrimental to quickly looking up a topic. The team did a quick audit
<https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/spreadsheets/d/1BJ7uDgzO8IJT0M3UM2q…>
of
the information available inside brackets in the first sentences, and
typically it is pronunciation information which is probably better placed
in the infobox rather than breaking up the first sentence. The other
problem is that this information was typically inserted and previewed on a
platform where space is not at a premium, and that calculation is different
on mobile devices.
In order to better serve the quick lookup use case, the team has reached
the decision to strip anything inside brackets in the first sentence of
articles in the Wikipedia app.
Stripping content is not a decision to be made lightly. People took the
time to write it, and that should be respected. We realise this is
controversial. That said, it's the opinion of the team that the problem is
pretty clear: this content is not optimised for users quickly looking
things up on mobile devices at all, and will take a long time to solve
through alternative means. A quicker solution is required.
The screenshots below are mockups of the before and after of the change.
These are not final, I just put them together quickly to illustrate what
I'm talking about.
- Before: http://i.imgur.com/VwKerbv.jpg
- After: http://i.imgur.com/2A5PLmy.jpg
If you have any questions, let me know.
Thanks,
Dan
--
Dan Garry
Associate Product Manager, Mobile Apps
Wikimedia Foundation
Hello all,
As mentioned previously, the current version of the Android app contains an
A/B test where it presents "read more" suggestions to the user, based on
(a) the standard "morelike" query, or (b) the new "opening_text" query.
Here are the results from the last ~10 days of the test[0]:
- The clickthrough rate using the default morelike query is (and has been)
around 15%.
- With the new opening_text query, the clickthrough rate decreases to about
12%:
[image: Inline image 1]
Therefore, it seems that the new query has a nontrivial negative effect on
CTR :(
We'll plan on removing this test in the next release of the app, but we'll
be happy to plug in a different or updated query, if it will be of further
use to Discovery.
[0]
https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/spreadsheets/d/1BFsrAcPgexQyNVemmJ3…
(queries embedded as comments in the headers)
--
Dmitry Brant
Senior Software Engineer / Product Owner (Android)
Wikimedia Foundation
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_mobile_engineering
Cross-post in case you don't follow wikitech-l closely.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Adam Baso <abaso(a)wikimedia.org>
Date: Thu, Feb 23, 2017 at 7:05 AM
Subject: CREDIT showcase Wednesday 1-March-2017
To: Wikimedia developers <wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Hi!
I'd like to welcome you to join us at the CREDIT showcase next week,
Wednesday, 1-March-2017 at 1900 UTC / 1100 Pacific Time. We'd like to see
your demos, whether they're rough works in progress or polished production
material, or even just a telling of something you've been studying
recently. For more information on the upcoming event, as well as recordings
of previous events, please visit the following page:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/CREDIT_showcase
And if you'd like to share the news about the upcoming CREDIT showcase,
here's some suggested verbiage. Thanks! -Adam
*Hi <FNAME>*
*I hope all is well with you! I wanted to let you know about CREDIT, a
monthly demo series that we’re running to showcase open source tech
projects from Wikimedia’s Community, Reading, Editing, Discovery,
Infrastructure and Technology teams. *
*CREDIT is open to the public, and we welcome questions and discussion. The
next CREDIT will be held on March 1st at 11am PT / 2pm ET / 19:00 UTC. *
*There’s more info on MediaWiki
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/CREDIT_showcase>, and on Etherpad
<https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/CREDIT>, which is where we take notes and
ask questions. You can also ask questions on IRC in the Freenode chatroom
#wikimedia-office (web-based access here
<https://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=%23wikimedia-office>). Links to
video will become available at these locations shortly before the event.*
*Please feel free to pass this information along to any interested folks.
Our projects tend to focus on areas that might be of interest to folks
working across the open source tech community: language detection,
numerical sort, large data visualizations, maps, and all sorts of other
things.*
*If you have any questions, please let me know! Thanks, and I hope to see
you at CREDIT.*
*YOURNAME*
Forwarding.
Pine
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Samantha Lien <slien(a)wikimedia.org>
Date: Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 3:28 AM
Subject: [Wikimedia Announcements] [PRESS RELEASE] Wikimedia community in
Iraq partners with Asiacell to bring Wikipedia to nearly 12 million
subscribers free of mobile data charges
To: press-release(a)lists.wikimedia.org
This press release is also available online here:
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/
Wikimedia_community_in_Iraq_partners_with_Asiacell_to_
bring_Wikipedia_to_nearly_12_million_subscribers_free_of_mobile_data_charges
*Wikimedia community in Iraq partners with Asiacell to bring Wikipedia to
nearly 12 million subscribers free of mobile data charges*
*Mobile data fees waived for Asiacell customers in Iraq to access
Wikipedia, a free collection of knowledge available in nearly 300 languages*
(Barcelona, Spain) February 28th, 2017 -- Today, Wikimedia community
members in Iraq, the Wikimedia Foundation, and Asiacell, one of Iraq’s
largest mobile operators, announced a new partnership to provide access to
Wikipedia free of mobile data charges to Asiacell’s nearly 12 million
subscribers in Iraq. The partnership was announced today at a press event
hosted by Ooredoo during Mobile World Congress 2017.
The partnership, developed in large part by Iraqi volunteer editor and
Asiacell employee, Sarmad Saeed Yaseen, marks the first Wikipedia Zero
program in Iraq. The program, overseen by the nonprofit Wikimedia
Foundation, addresses one of the greatest barriers to internet access
globally: affordability. In a recent phone survey in Iraq led by the
Wikimedia Foundation, roughly 80% of surveyed participants reported that
mobile data costs limited their use of the internet. About 33% of
participants also reported rarely or never being able to find online
content in their preferred language.
Through the Wikipedia Zero
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Zero> program, mobile data
fees are waived for subscribers of participating mobile operators so that
they may read and edit Wikipedia without using any of their mobile data.
Sarmad, who is part of a community of local volunteer Wikipedia editors in
Iraq, started the partnership to extend access to knowledge in his home
country of Iraq. Together, he and his wife, Ravan Jaafar Altaie, have been
active editors (or Wikipedians) since 2008.
“I've always believed that it is better to light a candle than curse the
darkness, so I decided to volunteer in Wikipedia to provide knowledge for
free to my people in their own language,” said Sarmad Saeed Yaseen. “When I
was first introduced to Wikipedia Zero, I felt right away that this could
be the best thing ever to share free knowledge in my country and encourage
the people of Iraq to contribute knowledge and share this with the world on
Wikipedia.”
Wikipedia is an online collection of knowledge written by volunteer editors
from every corner of the globe. Available in nearly 300 languages,
Wikipedia is a place to learn about virtually any topic -- from ancient
history to science to the arts -- in your local language, for free, and
without advertising. Wikipedia editors use reliable sources to support
information that is included in Wikipedia articles, so readers can explore
the sources that verify the facts. Wikipedia is completely non-profit,
independent, and maintained by everyday people around the world.
Wikipedia in Iraq is supported by a local community of volunteer editors in
almost every major city of the country. In 2015, Sarmad and Ravan organized
the first series of workshops in Erbil to teach Iraqi people how to edit
Wikipedia. The workshops led to 600 new articles and more than 12,000 edits
primarily to Arabic and Kurdish Wikipedia. In October 2015, this community
launched the first formalized Wikimedia group from Iraq, the Iraqi
Wikimedians user group <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Wikimedians>
(a formalized Wikimedia affiliate group that has been recognized by the
global Wikimedia community of editors). Today, the majority of unique
device visits to Wikipedia in Iraq come from mobile devices.
Worldwide, Wikipedia is recognized as an important learning resource, but
it also offers a platform to share knowledge with the world. Edits from any
country contribute to the world’s common knowledge repository, seen by
hundreds of millions of people every month. This allows many to learn from
what just a few people might otherwise know. As more voices contribute to
Wikipedia, it becomes a better representation of the diverse cultures,
history, people, viewpoints, and perspectives of our world.
“Asiacell believes that sharing knowledge is a way to enforce the
interaction among human beings. We strongly believe in contributing in the
global project of Wikipedia. Beside all the modern technologies that we
offer, this partnership with the Wikimedia Foundation is one of the
achievements that we are proud of. We will enable our 12 million subscriber
base to have free access to Wikipedia, this will enable them to widen the
scale of their knowledge and thus direct them towards a brighter future for
themselves and for humanity,” said Zring Faruk, Chief Commercial Officer at
Asiacell.
With this partnership, Asiacell customers will be able to edit Wikipedia
without mobile data charges -- adding to and improving articles in their
preferred language and sharing knowledge of Iraq’s rich cultural history,
heritage, and its people with the rest of the world.
“Wikipedia is guided by a powerful vision: that every single person should
be able to share in all of the world’s knowledge, for free and without
restriction,” said Katherine Maher, Executive Director of the Wikimedia
Foundation. “Sarmad, Ravan, and the Iraqi Wikimedians User Group have been
passionate advocates of this vision in Iraq. They've nurtured the growth of
Arabic and Kurdish Wikipedia for nearly a decade, and have built a vibrant
community committed to sharing knowledge of Iraq and its heritage, people,
and culture with the world. We are thrilled to have Asiacell join us as a
partner in this journey.”
The Wikipedia Zero program is overseen by the Wikimedia Foundation, the
nonprofit that supports Wikipedia and a number of other Wikimedia free
knowledge websites. Since the program first began in 2012, Wikipedia Zero
partnerships have taken place with 68 mobile operators in 52 countries.
*# # #*
*About Asiacell*
Asiacell is a leading provider of quality mobile telecommunications and
data services in Iraq with a subscriber base of nearly 12 million customers
as of December 1st 2016. Asiacell was the first mobile telecommunications
provider in Iraq to achieve nationwide coverage, offering its services
across all of Iraq’s 19 governorates including the national capital Baghdad
and all other major Iraqi cities. Asiacell’s network covers 99.06% of the
Iraqi population which makes its national coverage the widest among the
mobile operators in Iraq.
*About Wikipedia*
Wikipedia is the world’s free knowledge resource. It is a collaborative
creation that has been added to and edited by millions of people from
around the globe since it was created in 2001: anyone can edit it, at any
time. Wikipedia is offered in hundreds of languages containing more than 40
million articles. Wikipedia and its sister projects are collectively
visited by more than a billion unique devices each month.
*About the Wikimedia Foundation*
The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that supports and
operates Wikipedia and its sister projects. More than a billion unique
devices access the Wikimedia sites each month. Roughly 70,000 people edit
Wikipedia and its sister projects every month, collectively creating and
improving its more than 40 million articles across hundreds of languages –
this all makes Wikipedia one of the most popular web properties in the
world. Based in San Francisco, California, the Wikimedia Foundation is a
501(c)(3) charity that is funded primarily through donations and grants.
*Press contact*
*Asiacell*
public.relations(a)asiacell.com
*Wikimedia Foundation*
Juliet Barbara
press(a)wikimedia.org
--
*Samantha Lien*
Communications Manager
Wikimedia Foundation
149 New Montgomery Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
(To be unsubscribed from this press release distribution list, please reply
to communications(a)wikimedia.org with 'UNSUBSCRIBE' in the subject line)
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Please take this as a final opportunity to do review/suggest
changes/etc. to the Amendments section of the draft Code of Conduct.
This text has been up for a while, but I recently put in a small
proposed change to make it harder for the Committee to veto amendments.
This is the last section. After it's approved, the Code of Conduct will
become policy, and the Amendments section will specify how future
changes to the policy work.
* Current text:
https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Code_of_Conduct/Draft&oldid=238…
(under "Page: Code of Conduct/Amendments")
* Discussion:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk:Code_of_Conduct/Draft#New_proposal_for_…
The approval discussion hasn't started yet. It will be next and I will
send out a separate email.
Thanks,
Matt Flaschen
P.S. You can still participate in deciding whether to approve "Creation
and renewal of the Committee" at
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk:Code_of_Conduct/Draft#Finalize_.22Creat…
.
