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
Crossposting!
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Lani Goto <lgoto(a)wikimedia.org>
Date: Thu, Mar 30, 2017 at 5:24 PM
Subject: CREDIT showcase, Wednesday, 5-April-2017
To: wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Hi!
I'd like to welcome you to join us at the CREDIT showcase next week,
Wednesday, 5-April-2017 at 1800 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!
*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 April 5th at 11am PT / 2pm ET / 18:00 UTC. *
*There’s more info on MediaWiki, and on Etherpad, 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). 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*
--
Lani Goto
Project Assistant, Engineering Admin
Hello Wikimedia
I have a question regarding the open source server and android code available from wikimedia, specifically those at the links below:
Server side: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Download
Android: https://github.com/wikimedia/apps-android-wikipedia
I want to host my own wiki using the mediawiki source on a server. I want to ask whether the open source wikipedia app allows connection to mediawiki servers not owned by Wikipedia.
Thanks,
Amit
Hello mobile Wikimedians,
This morning the iOS app team published an update of the Wikipedia app to
the App Store[1].
This update includes:
- Totally rebuilt account management system, including support for
two-factor login, password reset and accessible account creation
- Improved image layout, especially on iPad
- Fixes and small improvements for Share-a-fact
- Improved caching behavior to take up less space on device
- Get directions to any geotagged article from the Share action (opens the
Maps app)
- Better filtering of non-article pages from reading recommendations (no
more recommendations of Main Pages!)
- Lots and lots of small improvements and bug fixes
As always, many thanks to all our volunteer translators, beta testers and
code contributors. I particularly want to recognize user Julien Bodet
(julbod) who submitted several significant patches for this version.
Thanks,
Josh
[1] - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wikipedia/id324715238?mt=8
Cross post in case you don't follow wikitech-l.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Adam Baso <abaso(a)wikimedia.org>
Date: Tue, Mar 21, 2017 at 3:36 PM
Subject: March 2017 CREDIT showcase video and notes posted
To: Wikimedia developers <wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Hello! The CREDIT showcase video and notes from earlier this month have
been posted. Enjoy!
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/CREDIT_showcase/2017-03-01
Here's what was covered:
* Stephen Niedzielski, localized Android app independent of system language
* Gergő Tisza, Developer Wishlist
* Gergő Tisza, PsySH (much of the credit is due to Antoine Musso who could
not participate)
* Jan Drewniak - 'Explore Similar' feature for search results
-Adam
Cross posting to mobile-l.
-Adam
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ellie Young <eyoung(a)wikimedia.org>
Date: Sun, Mar 12, 2017 at 5:49 PM
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Reminder: Wikimania '17 Conference Submission
Deadline March 30th
To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, "Wikimania
general list (open subscription)" <wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
All,
A reminder that the deadline for submissions for Wikimania '17 is in two
weeks - March 30!
Please spread the word!!!!
The Wikimania Montréal Call for Submissions can be found in French here:
https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submissions/fr
and in English here:
https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submissions/en
On behalf of the Wikimania program committee,
Ellie Young
-----
Que vous soyez un membre de la communauté de l’un des projets Wikimédia
(tels que Wikipédia, Wikibooks, Wikidata, Wikisource, Wikinews, Wikimedia
Commons, Wiktionnaire, MediaWiki ou autres), un créateur de contenu libre
ou un consommateur, nous recevrons avec plaisir votre proposition pour une
session lors de Wikimania 2017.
*dates importantes*
Appel aux propositions ouvert : 2 février 2017
Date limite de soumission des présentations (conférence, panneau, table
ronde et atelier) : 30 mars 2017
Date limite de soumission des brefs exposés, affiches et réunions d’oiseaux
de la même plume : 15 mai 2017.
Notification d’acceptation des présentations : 20 avril 2017
Notification d’acceptation des brefs exposés, affiches et réunions
d’oiseaux de la même plume : 10 juin 2017
*Types de soumissions & Comment soumettre: *
https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submissions/fr
*Des questions ?* Merci de contacter le Comité du programme par
wikimania-program(à)wikimedia.org.
----
Whether you are a community member of one of the Wikimedia projects (such
as Wikipedia, Wikibooks, Wikidata, Wikisource, Wikinews, Wikimedia Commons,
Wiktionary, MediaWiki or others), or a fellow open content creator or
consumer, we welcome your proposal for a session at Wikimania 2017.
*Important dates*
Call for proposals opens: February 2, 2017
Deadline for submitting presentation (lecture, panel, roundtable and
workshop) submissions: March 30, 2017
Deadline for submitting lightning talks, poster, and birds of a feather
submissions: May 15, 2017
Notification of acceptance for presentations: April 20, 2017
Notification of acceptance for lightning talks, poster and birds of a
feather submissions: June 10, 2017
*Submission types & how to submit:*
https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submissions/en
*Any questions?* Please contact the Programme Committee at
wikimania-program at wikimedia.org
--
Ellie Young
Events Manager
Wikimedia Foundation
eyoung(a)wikimedia.org
_______________________________________________
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/
wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/
wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
<mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
Hello mobile Wikimedians,
We've just pushed an updated beta of the 5.4.0 version of the Wikipedia app
for iOS. This beta is a release candidate that we hope to publish to the
app store early next week.
This updated beta finishes our work on our new Login system (including two
factor authentication). It also contains a number of bug fixes.
We've also removed the Places feature from this version. We are working on
addressing user research feedback[1] and community concerns[2] with Places,
and in the meantime wanted to get the improvements to log in and other bug
fixes into our users hands without further delay. So, if you liked Places
(as many testers did), it will be back and better than ever, but will not
be included in this version.
If you are not a beta tester and would like to become one, please sign up
here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfW7zFnUDYABvHLWlFclZ7O
JEK82WjVIjs_dSzwIDM0Hnz31A/viewform
Thanks,
Josh
[1] - User research results and suggested changes are here, for the
curious: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T158348
[2] - These concerns center on the appropriateness of using Apple built in
maps service for Places. Please see https://phabricator.
wikimedia.org/T157763 and https://www.mediawiki.org/
wiki/Wikimedia_Apps/Team/iOS/Maps_service for more background/discussion.
Hi
We just have released a new version of Kiwix for iOS.
Here the list of improvements:
* NEW: Library has a new look
* NEW: Support zim files with build in index
* NEW: Performance optimization
* FIX: Download of big content on WIFI
The app is available on iTunes at http://ios.kiwix.org.
Emmanuel
--
Kiwix - Wikipedia Offline & more
* Web: http://www.kiwix.org
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/KiwixOffline
* more: http://www.kiwix.org/wiki/Communication
