Campaigns/Foundation Product Team/Registration/Archives

Status Updates

May 23, 2022

Hello, everyone! First, thank you to everyone who has participated in our talk page feedback, office hours, or chat group conversations. Your feedback and insights have been absolutely crucial to our project, and we deeply appreciate it. We also have some exciting updates (and new questions!), which we’ll share below:

Engineering update

The team engineers are continuing to work on building the event registration system. They have built the majority of the back-end infrastructure, and they are now focused on building the front-end (i.e., the user interface). We predict that an early testable version of the registration solution will be available on the beta cluster in July 2022. To learn more about the engineering work, you can check out the definition of our schema on Gerrit.

Prototype updates

We have an updated prototype, which was created by our team designer, for you to check out (see links below). This prototype is for V0 (the first version of the tool that we will be releasing). Please note that these are only prototypes; they are not working software on live wikis. These prototypes give a general sense of how the finished product may look, feel, and function once we do release the registration solution, although there will probably be some changes.

V0: Create Event Registration Prototype: This is the organizer side of the experience, where the organizer enables registration for an existing event page. Registration can be enabled on any event page, as long as it is in the event namespace. You can also watch a video walk-through of the process to create an event page in the event namespace and to enable registration for an event page on Commons.
V0: Register for Event Registration Prototype: This is the participant side of the experience, where the participant registers for the event. Note that only the username and timestamp of when the participant registered is collected for V0. You can also watch a video walk-through of the participant registration experience on Commons.

Our release plan

Our release plan: We now have a basic release plan. We plan to release the registration solution in three parts, which we will explain below:

V0: This is the version of the tool, which we are focused on building now. It will be released to the beta cluster, probably in July 2022. We’re calling it V0 because it is a test phase that will not be released to any live wikis (just a test wiki). The purpose of this release will be to collect user feedback in preparation for the V1 release. In this version, organizers will be able to add registration to event pages and see a list of registered participants. This will be a desktop version only. You can view the prototype example in the links provided above (see “Prototype updates”):
V1: This version will be an improvement of V0, with the inclusion of more features, such as: the ability for organizers to contact participants, integration with the Programs & Events Dashboard, and geolocation support. We will also incorporate feedback we receive from users in the V0 testing phase. This version will be compatible with both desktop and mobile web versions of the wikis, and we plan to release it to at least 1 live wiki (probably Meta-Wiki). This version is a big upgrade with a lot to discuss, so we’ll dedicate a separate status update to collect feedback on the V1 requirements and prototypes. You can expect this status update on V1 to be posted soon.
This version will be an improvement of V1, based on user feedback and the addition of more features. We haven’t fully fleshed out the requirements, and we don’t have a prototype yet. You can expect more updates on this final version in a future update.

Requesting your feedback

We want your feedback on event page behavior: In the open questions section, we have shared some questions on how events and event pages should be handled. We would love your feedback (see below):

For event registration, what is the recommended behavior for blocked users? Should blocked users be able to join campaign events? Why or why not? And does it matter, depending on the type of block (such as hard block, soft block, etc)?

For event pages in the event namespace, should we allow the pages to be moved?
1. If yes: What happens if an event page gets moved to another namespace and it has registered participants?
2. If yes: What should be the behavior/warnings to the user if they want to move the page?
3. If yes: What should happen if an event page is moved to a namespace where event pages are not allowed?
For event pages in the event namespace, should we allow the pages to be deleted?
1. If yes: Who should be able to delete event pages?
2. If yes: What should happen if an event page gets deleted and it has registered participants?
3. If yes: If people have registered, what should happen to the data if the page is deleted?
Is there anything else you would like to add (about the V0 prototypes, release plan, or anything else)?

Thank you in advance for your feedback, and we look forward to reading your responses!

March 4, 2022

Hello, everyone! We have had an eventful past few months, and we are happy to now share some updates. Also, we apologize for the delay in posting an update. Our work slowed down from October to December, both due to the holiday season and new people joining our team. Then, in the new year, we needed time to solidify and finalize our technical plan. However, our work is now picking up pace and the building phase of the project has officially begun. Also, we thank everyone who has shared feedback so far! Now, we invite you to read our new updates and share your feedback on the project talk page. All feedback is helpful, and we hope to continue learning from all of you. Thank you!

Proposal to create new namespaces

The Campaigns team is proposing that we create two new namespaces in MediaWiki, which will be called “Event” and “Event Talk.” You can see the proposal in T302040 on Phabricator. The purpose of this namespace would be a designated place in the wikis for all events, such as campaigns, conferences, meetups, office hours, or other events. We want a way to easily determine what is an ‘event’ page, so that we can:

Add registration to event pages (and avoid adding registration to inappropriate page types, such as article pages)
Display all events in an event calendar in the future
Begin getting more accurate data on event activity as a movement (such as how many events & which types of events are going on)
Make it easier for everyone to know what is an event page, since right now event pages often look very similar to article pages
Highlight the fact that organizing or participating in events is a critical form of movement activity, and that someone can be an impactful Wikimedian in more ways than just contributing to the wikis

Engineering updates

Between October and January, three engineers and an engineering manager joined our team. Since that time, we have been able to conduct technical planning and to officially launch the building phase of the project. The engineers will be focused on building the core infrastructure of the campaign events platform and the registration tool. Once they have built something that is testable, we will share it with all of you. In the meantime, you can track our work in the Registration project board and [phabricator:project/profile/5515/|project profile]] on Phabricator.

Design updates

The design team has developed a new version of the desktop wireframes, based on the feedback we received in usability tests, the project talk page, and other channels. Now, the design team is conducting a second round of usability tests on the new version of the desktop wireframes. Once we have finalized the desktop wireframes, we will share them in a status update. Additionally, the design team is developing the first version of the mobile wireframes, which we plan to share in a future status update as well.

Ambassador updates

Three product ambassadors have joined our team: Antoni Mtavangu (Swahili community ambassador), Georges Fodouop (French community ambassador), and M. Bachounda (Arabic community ambassador). The product ambassadors will be working with the team to conduct outreach and collect feedback from Wikimedia communities, and they will share ideas on the vision and strategy of the project. They will also help us understand the needs of organizers beyond our first project, so we can continue to plan for future work.

Open questions

Do you think it would be useful to you (or other Wikimedians) to create two new namespaces for Event and Event talk? Why or why not?
What questions or concerns do you have about creating these new namespaces?
Is there anything else you would like to share about the status update or project in general?

Please share your feedback on the project talk page!

October 8, 2021

Hello, everyone! We are very excited to share an update on the Campaign Product team’s event registration project. First, we will share our project principles. Second, we will share wireframes for the desktop version (the mobile version will be in the next update). Third, we will provide questions for all of you. Thank you, everyone, and we look forward to reading your feedback on the project talk page!

Project principles

As the project has developed, we have identified several principles that are core to our work:

In the long-term, we want to build a platform, rather than one tool: Some people asked why we’re not using an existing open source solution for event registration. We’ll certainly examine the options, and nothing is ruled out yet. However, we’ll probably want to build our own solution. Here’s why: We want to build a Campaign Events platform over time—not just a registration solution. In order to build this platform, we’ll need to develop the core infrastructure, and the registration project is the first step in making this happen. To learn more, you can visit the plans & vision section of our team page.
We want to build for multilingual, diverse communities: Organizers have explained that the existing registration solutions lack sufficient support for global, multilingual communities. We completely agree. For this reason, we won’t consider this project complete until we build a solution that is usable for all language wikis and Wikimedia projects.
We plan to build in an iterative way: The first version of the registration solution will be very basic. We call it the MVP (or “Minimum Viable Product”), since it will just have the bare essentials to function. We work in this way so that we can collect feedback early on, and we can identify problems before we spend too long on a feature. Once we have released the MVP version, we can develop more advanced versions of the registration feature.
The MVP will just have the necessities: For the MVP, our goal is to build a simple registration configuration and management tool. The wireframes we have shared below are for the MVP version.
We will add enhancements later on: After we have built the MVP version, we can include the ability for organizers to add optional questions to the registration form, such as asking for the participant’s gender, location, wiki editing experience level, or why they joined the event. We can also add the ability for organizers to write custom questions.

Wireframes: Desktop version

In the wireframes below, we will share how the MVP version may look for desktop users. Wireframes are a step in product development, where we imagine the potential visual design and workflows of a tool. Wireframes are theoretical; the look may change when the engineers begin to develop the tool. Note that we’ll share wireframes for the mobile version in the next status update.

Creating registration for event

Access Organizer Center: We want to create an “Organizer Center,” where organizers can find tools and resources available to them. For this project, we may create a very basic Organizer Center, which will expand over time. The first tool to be featured in the Organizer Center will be the Event Registration tool. To access the Organizer Center, users can go to Contributions > Campaign Events.

Note that, in the future, the Organizer Center will probably be a part of a larger Campaign Events platform. To learn more, you can visit our plans & vision section of our team page.

Selecting tool to create registration: Once the user is in the Organizer Center, they can choose to create a registration system for their campaign event. To do this, they click “Create registration for your campaigns events.”

Creating registration for campaign event: After the user has chosen to create a registration form, a new interface will appear. The organizer will input the following information: the event URL, event name, date, time, timezone, if it’s online or in-person, which tracking tool will be used, URL of tracking tool instance, usernames of organizers, and a link to the event's chat group. The tracking tool and chat group information will be optional. The user clicks on “Create Registration” when they are finished adding information.

Once the registration creation is complete, a registration interface will automatically appear on the campaign event page. Please refer to the next section ("Registering participants") for more details.

It is important to note that, with this system, organizers will need to create a few things in advance: the campaign event page, the tracking instance (for example, on Programs & Events Dashboard), and the chat group in advance.

For the first version of the registration system, we will only be asking participants for their usernames. This is because it is much easier to implement. However, after the first version is released, we will look into allowing organizers to create more sophisticated registration forms that can ask participants optional questions about themselves and why they are joining the campaign event.

Registering participants

Registration automatically added to the event page: Once the organizer has created event registration, the registration experience will be automatically added to the event page URL specified by the organizer. The registration experience is a bottom sheet that overlays the event page. We chose the bottom sheet design so that it could work for many different types of event pages. In the bottom sheet, there is a button to “Register as userName.” So, if someone’s username was Lola, it would say, “Register as Lola.” The user can click the button to register.

More information: If the user clicks “More Information,” they can see more information on the event, such as the date, location, organizers, and list of participants. They can then click “Register as userName” in this view too. After the user registers, they should see the confirmation message.

Login and account creation support: If the user is not logged in, they will automatically see a pop-up appear when they click “Register as userName.” They can choose to login, if they already have an account, or they can sign up, if they do not already have an account. Once they login or create an account, they will become automatically registered in the campaign event.

Successful registration: After the participant has successfully registered, a pop-up will appear to confirm their registration. The pop-up will automatically disappear after a short time. If they have an email address associated with their account, we would also like an email to be automatically sent, which provides information on the event, such as the chat group that they can join. If participants would like to leave the event, they can click “Edit registration” (via the bottom sheet or side bar), which will then ask them to confirm if they want to leave the event.

In the future, participants may be able to add optional information about themselves when they register (such as wiki editing level, why they are joining the campaign event, etc). If this support is added, participants will also be able to edit this information as well.

Managing registration

View all registration forms: Once the organizer has created the registration form, they will be able to see all registration forms for their events. They can click on one of the forms to get more registration details, including the participant list. They can also easily delete, edit, or close registration forms via this view.

Viewing, deleting, and messaging participants: Once a registration form has been created, any specified as an organizer can view registrant information, including: participant username, and the date and time of registration. They will be able to select some or all of the participants from the list, and they will be able to message them or delete them from the list.

Organizers will be able to send a message to the participants, either on their talk page or to their email address. Depending on the technical difficulty of the work, we may choose to release an MVP version that only sends a message to the talk page, or the MVP version may allow both options. Either way, our plan is to eventually allow both messaging options.

Open questions

What do you think of our proposed system for creating and managing event registration, as a campaign organizer? What benefits does it offer compared to your current system? What disadvantages does it have compared to your current system?
What do you think of our proposed experience for registering participants on the event page? What benefits does it offer compared to your current system? What disadvantages does it have compared to your current system?
We first plan to build a lean version (also known as the “MVP,” or minimum viable product version) of the registration tool.
What are the essential features this first version needs to have so that you can use it?"
When you are running a campaign, what information do you typically send to participants, and where do you usually send it (e.g., talk page, email, social media, etc)?
Do you prefer that we build the desktop version first or the mobile version of the registration system first?
Is there anything else you would like to add?

Please share your feedback on the talk page; thank you in advance!