Here is an idea:
Turn the WLM app into a similar app for uploading photos related to Wikipedia articles. This was in fact the original goal of the mobile photo upload project.
One take on this is to use the Nearby search and article search as a way to find articles, then the upload will be given a title related to the article and some metadata can include the article ID.
The WLM app will otherwise run the risk of not being functional past October, due to backend issues.
Just a quick thought. Let the mobile team know if you think this is a good idea.
Phil
Hi Philip,
that sounds like a great idea. Although I wouldn't limit it to articles alone, but 'topics'. We could combine all articles with geo coordinates (set one) with all monuments we already have in the database. Probably it would be good to build in a way to exclude some topics from this functionality (such as articles about huge areas, i.e. 'France').
If that works properly and is maintained well, it would be easy next year to build another app, because you would just copy the app, give it some different colors in the skin and just let it work from the monument database alone, instead of the full geo-tagged set.
I'm not sure what resources it would require and how realistic that is, but I think it might actually motivate quite some people.
Would it be possible to 'disable' the WLM app and explain people where to find the new app which is more general in its approach?
Lodewijk
2012/9/28 Philip Chang pchang@wikimedia.org
Here is an idea:
Turn the WLM app into a similar app for uploading photos related to Wikipedia articles. This was in fact the original goal of the mobile photo upload project.
One take on this is to use the Nearby search and article search as a way to find articles, then the upload will be given a title related to the article and some metadata can include the article ID.
The WLM app will otherwise run the risk of not being functional past October, due to backend issues.
Just a quick thought. Let the mobile team know if you think this is a good idea.
Phil
-- Phil Inje Chang Former Product Manager, Mobile Wikimedia Foundation
Wiki Loves Monuments mailing list WikiLovesMonuments@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikilovesmonuments http://www.wikilovesmonuments.org
Hi Philip, this wouldn't be very related to your question, but I've been recently pointed to the idea of user notifications; e.g. when user passes by a building (for instance a monument) for which we have geocoordinates but no picture, s/he might receive a notification from the app to take a photo.
This was originally thought as a feature for the WLM app, but it might be useful for another purposes, too (for instance, for buildings which are not monuments, etc.).
Great input, thanks Lodewijk and Tomasz.
Your thoughts echo the thinking of the mobile team in terms of a broader vision of mobile contributions. The difficulty is in biting off smaller pieces that can realistically be achieved.
Making articles that are geo-tagged available is a current initiative and requires new infrastructure. We currently use Geonames in the WIkipedia apps, which is an external service and limited in usage volume. We want to add the nearby function to the mobile site (which has much higher traffic than the apps) and that is what is driving this new infrastructure currently.
Then there is the idea of adding geo tags to articles. What a great usage of mobile! Photos are an easy way to do this (killing two birds with one stone), so your thinking is right in line with what we are hoping to do. But there are some issues around submitting geo coordinates, whether automatically or not, that have to be worked through.
Back to Lodewijk's idea of articles and monuments, we unfortunately have an issue with monuments, simply because the database is not maintainable. However, I have wondered about accessing monuments through the Wikipedia pages that list them.
So yes, there are a number of next steps to be pursued. I will have to defer to Howie and Maryana to pick this up, as today is technically my last day. But as I said, I will be available as a volunteer.
Phil
On Fri, Sep 28, 2012 at 8:20 AM, Tomasz W. Kozłowski odder.wiki@gmail.comwrote:
Hi Philip, this wouldn't be very related to your question, but I've been recently pointed to the idea of user notifications; e.g. when user passes by a building (for instance a monument) for which we have geocoordinates but no picture, s/he might receive a notification from the app to take a photo.
This was originally thought as a feature for the WLM app, but it might be useful for another purposes, too (for instance, for buildings which are not monuments, etc.).
-- Tomasz W. Kozłowski a.k.a. [[user:odder]]
Wiki Loves Monuments mailing list WikiLovesMonuments@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikilovesmonuments http://www.wikilovesmonuments.org
Hi Philip,
Maybe I'm wrong here, but as far as I'm aware, the current monument database is actually being scraped each night from the wikipedia lists. So basically it is a mirror of the lists with a lag up to 24 hours (if toolserver works etc). But maybe we're talking about different databases? Probably it would be easiest to just use one way or another the Monument Database we're running, rather than reinventing the wheel.
Lodewijk
2012/9/28 Philip Chang pchang@wikimedia.org
Back to Lodewijk's idea of articles and monuments, we unfortunately have an issue with monuments, simply because the database is not maintainable. However, I have wondered about accessing monuments through the Wikipedia pages that list them.
Yes, and we are updating our DB from the toolserver DB. There seem to be several issues, and Tomasz Finc or Arthur can summarize them.
In brief, we had to do things in a temporary way in order to meet the deadline.
And there were reasons we used our DB instead of the one on toolserver, but once the contest is over, the traffic will be a lot less.
Phil
On Fri, Sep 28, 2012 at 8:45 AM, Lodewijk lodewijk@effeietsanders.orgwrote:
Hi Philip,
Maybe I'm wrong here, but as far as I'm aware, the current monument database is actually being scraped each night from the wikipedia lists. So basically it is a mirror of the lists with a lag up to 24 hours (if toolserver works etc). But maybe we're talking about different databases? Probably it would be easiest to just use one way or another the Monument Database we're running, rather than reinventing the wheel.
Lodewijk
2012/9/28 Philip Chang pchang@wikimedia.org
Back to Lodewijk's idea of articles and monuments, we unfortunately have an issue with monuments, simply because the database is not maintainable. However, I have wondered about accessing monuments through the Wikipedia pages that list them.
Wiki Loves Monuments mailing list WikiLovesMonuments@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikilovesmonuments http://www.wikilovesmonuments.org
I am a bit confused, as the WLM app can be used all year, can't it? Obviously the application is needed for all the "gray monuments" with no picture yet, but it should also be used also for the insides of buildings when we only have the outside, and vice versa.
It would be great to extend the app, but just get rid of all the contest information, and allow the user to *first* browse the photos already on commons for those monuments (assuming the monument has more pics with monument ids). If a monument already has tons of good photos (like the Eiffel tower), maybe the user will pass on that one, but become interested in another less popular monument near by, Jane 2012/9/28 Philip Chang pchang@wikimedia.org
Yes, and we are updating our DB from the toolserver DB. There seem to be several issues, and Tomasz Finc or Arthur can summarize them.
In brief, we had to do things in a temporary way in order to meet the deadline.
And there were reasons we used our DB instead of the one on toolserver, but once the contest is over, the traffic will be a lot less.
Phil
On Fri, Sep 28, 2012 at 8:45 AM, Lodewijk lodewijk@effeietsanders.orgwrote:
Hi Philip,
Maybe I'm wrong here, but as far as I'm aware, the current monument database is actually being scraped each night from the wikipedia lists. So basically it is a mirror of the lists with a lag up to 24 hours (if toolserver works etc). But maybe we're talking about different databases? Probably it would be easiest to just use one way or another the Monument Database we're running, rather than reinventing the wheel.
Lodewijk
2012/9/28 Philip Chang pchang@wikimedia.org
Back to Lodewijk's idea of articles and monuments, we unfortunately have an issue with monuments, simply because the database is not maintainable. However, I have wondered about accessing monuments through the Wikipedia pages that list them.
Wiki Loves Monuments mailing list WikiLovesMonuments@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikilovesmonuments http://www.wikilovesmonuments.org
-- Phil Inje Chang Product Manager, Mobile Wikimedia Foundation 415-812-0854 m 415-882-7982 x 6810
Wiki Loves Monuments mailing list WikiLovesMonuments@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikilovesmonuments http://www.wikilovesmonuments.org
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