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[[File:Nemzszinh-spiralcivertan.jpg|thumb]] [[File:Sustainability tech contributors.png|thumb|How to engage new volunteers?]]
'''After the feedback received we are re-purposing completely this space ([[Project_talk:New_contributors#Changes_after_the_first_round_of_feedback_25911|more]]).
'''How to attract volunteers and connect them with interesting people and activities?'''
== The problem ==
[[File:Nemzszinh-spiralcivertan.jpg|thumb|x240px]]
We have a problem engaging volunteers and motivating them to stay. The amount of documentation, tools and channels is so overwhelming that even we have a hard time following it all. Because we're in the shadow of Wikipedia, we could generate massive interest from tech-friendly users, and we could offer them suitable technical tasks. In reality, we miss many newcomers, and our community efforts don't scale.

In more detail:

* '''[[Wikipmediawiki]]''': what you need to know as a tech contributor is spread out over 3 or more wikis...
* '''Plain text identification''': it's 2013 and our user profiles consist of a textarea.
* '''Memory in spreadsheets''': all we have are lists of contributors maintained (or not) manually by various people.
* '''Inefficient mass promotion''': every time we start almost from scratch, unable to selectively reach target audiences.
* '''Inefficient personal promotion''': manual pokes in Talk pages + emails from those spreadsheets won't get you far.
* '''Difficult to propose a first task''': it's difficult for us - imagine how it is for new volunteers alone. After 1-2 attempts, they're gone.
* '''Difficult to find peers''': ''"ask in wikitech-l or #mediawiki"'' is not the answer.
* '''English only''': all of the above only gets worse when writing English is not your strength.

== Vision ==
[[File:ContributorsQgilDraft.pdf|thumb]]
<blockquote>Mary lands to our site and finds information, contacts and opportunities to contribute organized around thematic [[#Nodes|nodes]] that she can follow. She registers and is welcomed with a list of tasks. After filling out her [[#People|profile]], she is [[#Notifications|notified]] about [[#Projects|projects]], [[#Tasks|tasks]] and [[#Events|events]] related to her [[#One ontology|interests]]. She will receive new notifications whenever there is an update suiting her preferences.</blockquote>

How to get there:

* Better landing pages for contributors, including
** http://mediawiki.org and http://wikitech.wikimedia.org main pages.
** [[How to contribute]] and the pages linking directly from there.
** [[Developer hub]] and the pages linking directly from there.
* Cutting edge use of projects developed for [[onboarding new Wikipedians]]...
** [[Account creation user experience]].
** [[Extension:GettingStarted|GettingStarted]].
** [[Guided tours]].
* ... and for subscriptions and notifications.
** [[Echo]]
** [[Flow]]
* Improving user profiles, starting with templates and hopefully having [[GlobalProfile]] one day.
* [[#Nodes|nodes]] aggregating key information around popular topics.

We are the MediaWiki experts and we can iterate fast eating our own dog food. We have a tradition of betatesting new developments and helping out polishing tools by using them.

== Activities ==

Ongoing work. Check the [[/Roadmap/]] for more ideas.

=== People ===

'''Identify yourself to connect with relevant people and activities.'''

The User page is extended with category data using [[Extension:Semantic Forms|Semantic Forms]], becoming a proper profile. All fields are optional and feature [[Extension:Semantic_Forms/Defining_forms#Autocompletion|autocompletion]]:
* Interests: OSS activities, programming languages and projects.
** Opt-in options for each: Send me updates, Show me in lists.
* Locations.
* Languages.
* Free software/free knowledge project involvement.
* Social media handles.
* Avatar.

The User Talk page is preloaded with [[Extension:LiquidThreads|LiquidThreads]].

=== Nodes ===
[[File:Wikitech node concept.jpg|thumb|Sketch of the structure of a node. Not intended to define a specific look & feel.]]
'''The key information around a specific topic'''

Nodes attract newcomers and connect them with more established contributors sharing their interests. You visit a node to learn about a topic and the activity around it. You join a node to identify yourself, receive notifications, meet peers and collaborate.

Expect nodes about PHP, Android, Gadgets, Security, Open Data, Labs, Wiki Loves Monuments, Women, Bangalore, French...

* When a user enters a new category through her profile, the corresponding node is created automatically in the Node namespace.
* Users can define their level of involvement in the node: supporter or follower.
** Supporters are listed at the top of the list.
** Followers are not listed by default, but they can activate the option in their profile.
* Users are listed and delisted automatically according to their profile preferences.
* Users can join / leave a node via an an option in the node page.
* Users can watch / edit / discuss in the node page & related Talk page, but they can't remove or manipulate the list.
* The nodes' Talk pages are preloaded with LiquidThreads.
* Duplicated / mistyped nodes can be redirected to the right ones.

[[User_talk:Qgil/Contributors#Bringing_the_Groups_25088|Implementation under discussion]].

=== Projects ===

'''A standard way to report goals, members, tasks and updates.'''

All projects are encouraged to have a standard page under the Project namespace. The structure contains:
* A box with data fields to be defined, like [[Wikimedia Engineering/Project documentation howto|WMF projects have]].
* Members, connected with user profiles.
* Description.
* Standard [[Wikimedia Engineering/Project documentation howto|process for status reports]].
* Related categories.

=== Tasks ===

'''A funnel to connect pending work with potential contributors.'''

* Publish tasks for contributors, tagging them by interests, location, language...
* A quick way to advertize and categorize in MediaWiki tasks that are already described and handled elsewhere (Bugzilla).
* NOT a new parallel tool.
* Integrated with Bugzilla.
** Other tools like Gerrit sync with Bugzilla - see {{Bug|17322}}, "Integrate git/Gerrit and Bugzilla"

=== Events ===
'''A standard way to advertise activities and discover the people joining them.'''

* Events share a lot with Tasks, but they are tied to dates and have many participants.
** Task mentors = Event organizers. Interested in task = Sign up to event.
* Events are automatically listed on a Calendar.
* People signing up are automatically listed at the event.

=== Notifications ===
'''Receiving updates about the things that matter to you.'''

Maintainers can contact users, filtered by tags, with:
* Promoted tasks.
* Events.
* News and announcements.

If [[Echo]] is not ready yet for this we can fallback to an adaptation of [[Extension:TranslationNotifications|TranslationNotifications]]. In the future, [[Flow]] should take over.

=== One ontology ===
'''A common vocabulary to classify items across all our tools'''

Call it ''categories'', ''keywords'', ''topics'', ''tags'', ''metadata''... What we need is one set of words applied consistently to wiki content, helping to connect related people, nodes, projects, tasks and events.

* Location: cities, regions...
* Contributors' activities: based on the [[How to contribute]] structure.
* Programming languages: PHP, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Puppet...
* Human languages: English, German, Hindi...
* FLOSS projects:
** [https://www.ohloh.net/orgs/wikimedia Wikitech / MediaWiki projects].
** Other free software / free knowledge projects.
* Task identificators: <nowiki>[priority], [severity]</nowiki>, easy, mentored, patch-in-gerrit...

This ontology should be consistent with the rest of the tools we use, enabling easier, even automatic connections and aggregation of content:

* [[Bugzilla]] keywords.
* [[Gerrit]] [https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=35534 tags].
* [http://blog.wikimedia.org/c/technology/ Wikimedia tech blog] tags.

If you want to promote a bug, a changeset, or a post to a specific set of contributors, tag it accordingly in your tool. We might not have the technical solutions to automate this promotion today, but consistent tagging is already useful to ease manual work.


=== Development ===

The features developed in this phase can be organized around tracks. Each track can have a list of features developed mostly sequentially. However, the development focus can alternate to a new track after each feature released. In theory this would create a gap between development sprints inside a track, used to evaluate the impact of the release and plan the next steps accordingly.

Each feature includes evaluation factors. Work in progress...

{| class="wikitable"
! Infrastructure
! Following
! Posting
! Notifications
! Aggregation
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| '''Ontology'''
* Are the main activities covered?
* How good & fast can users identify their interests?
* Simple process to evolve it?
* Bugzilla, Gerrit, Wikimedia blog & mediawiki.org interested in syncing?
| '''[[Talk:Requests_for_comment/Wikitech_contributors#Interests_in_user_profiles_25933|Interests in user profiles]]'''
* How evident and inviting is this feature for new users?
* How easy to define existing and new interests?
* How easy to modify or remove interests?
* Do the user profiles look good?
* Can other users mess with your profile?
* Are there privacy questions or concerns?
| '''Events'''
* Faster to publish than a plain wiki page.
* Easy insertion of date, hour, timezones.
* Can be categorized.
* Entries are organized in a calendar and category lists.
| '''Event notifications'''
* A new event generates a notification reaching the right users according to their preferences.
* Is the system reliable?
* Can users define web and/org email notifications?
* Integrated with MediaWiki / Echo notifications UX?
* Can the publisher know the reach of a notification?
| '''First nodes'''
* Category pages aggregate automatically related events and users.
* The content area is as editable as a regular category page.
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|
| '''Follow interests via nodes'''
* Users can click "Follow" buttons in specific nodes and events.
* Or Unfollow, if already following.
* The user profile is updated accordingly.
* Do users find this feature useful to keep their interests up to date?
| '''Tasks'''
* tbd
| '''Tasks notifications'''
* tbd
| '''Nodes get tasks'''
* tbd
|-
|...
|
|
|
|
|}

Latest revision as of 11:17, 22 March 2023

How to engage new volunteers?
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