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Grants:IdeaLab/Build/User scenarios

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This page contains scenarios for a set of priority use-cases (and some vaguely beautiful hopes and dreams) in the Grants:IdeaLab. We'll use these for planning a redesign and additional functionality for the IdeaLab to be worked on during May-June 2013.

Idea Creator

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I have an idea for something we should do to make Wikipedia better. I want to get feedback on it and find other people to help me do this project.

I fill in the basic idea and get a link to share it outside of Meta so I can let other people know about it (English Wikipedia talk pages, Facebook sharing, etc).

I am given an "idea creator" badge which I proudly display on my userpage as well as on my IdeaLab profile. I'm thrilled when my new idea gets featured at the top of IdeaLab in the spot where they showcase cool new stuff.

The page I create explains my basic idea and has a call to action to attract other team-members to me. I’m able to add some specifics in terms of what kinds of help I’m looking for (interested in: people with certain skills, funding, feedback/suggestions)

When new stuff happens on my idea page, I am notified about it promptly.

Millions of people magically signup to help me, I have gobs of interesting conversations on the talk page of my idea.

Exit Path A

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Once I have assembled my team and have a basic project plan fleshed out (thanks to a simple workflow for suggesting things I might add to make a genero-project-plan, as alternative to IEG proposal creation flow?), I mark my idea as project-in-progress. It no longer appears in the list of new ideas, it now appears in a list of projects-in-progress, and my team starts work as we see fit. Maybe we even come back and post a link to updates if you’re lucky or someone reminds us to - who knows!

Exit Path B

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IEGrant Proposer

Exit Path C

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Other Grant Proposer

Participant

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I visit the IdeaLab either because someone invited me to come check out a specific bit of content there (via talk page link, Facebook link, etc), or because I heard that's where all the cool kids are hanging out now. (Yeah, that's right, on Meta).

I might have come to IdeaLab to check out a specific Idea I was linked to, but while I'm here I decide to check out the main IEG page too, because it is so darn compelling that I feel like I need to learn more about all the shiny stuff I can do here.

I see that people are creating profiles to share the skills they can offer up as participants in Ideas. I browse through profiles of inspiring people and decide to follow a call to action to create my own profile. I tell you what my amazing talents are. I am made to feel welcome when I get an IdeaLab contributor badge.

I find an engaging list of Ideas that need more Participants to help turn them into actionable projects. There is an awesome Idea in the list that says it needs someone who can help with community organizing and social media outreach, and this matches some of the skills in my profile so I think I can be useful here.

On the Idea page, a clear call to action motivates me to sign up to participate. I add my username to my home-wiki where I like to receive notifications, and one sentence describing how I'd like to help.

Is the Idea Creator notified that they've got a new signup and am I subscribed to follow actions happening on this page? Do I get a participants badge? That would be neat.

The Idea Creator and other Participants start communicating with me on talk pages, and we move forward with the project.

Follower

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I come to the IdeaLab like Participants do.

While browsing the page, I am aware - thanks to the activity feed and featured Ideas - that people are creating new ideas all the time, and that ideas are being grown into projects and some of them are funded and some of them are completed and basically just lots of good projects are moving forward in various ways to improve Wikimedia as a whole.

I am inspired by calls to action to comment on a couple of these Ideas - I ask some questions and post some feedback on these Idea's talk page. I get a "thanks for great feedback" badge or something that encourages me to come back and participate more often.

I don't have the time to fully commit to becoming a Participant in the Idea I'm most interested in, but I do want to keep up with any updates as it moves forward. So, I am motivated by a clear call to action to add my name to the "Followers" list, so that I'll get notifications and updates when something interesting happens on this page (as well as other related pages that get created when this Idea becomes something else, like an IEG?). I might get a badge that says I'm following this particular Idea. The activity feed might say that I followed this Idea.

I love getting interesting updates as the Idea progresses, and I am drawn back to the IdeaLab to discuss often.

IEGrant Proposer

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I’ve got an Idea for an IEG. The submission deadline isn't for another 2 months, but I'm starting my Idea early so I can get feedback and make sure my Idea is actually feasible as a project and has the makings of a spectacular IEG proposal.

I become an IdeaCreator, and Exit Path B.

I find a clear workflow to grow my Idea page into an IEG Proposal. I'm prompted to add the additional sections required in IEG Proposals, to move my page to the Grants:IEG space, and finally to mark my page as proposed when I feel it is ready for review. I see that my proposal is in the review queue, and I'm probably also gratified to get a notification informing me that it was received and listing next steps. Should I get a "congrats, you submitted a proposal" badge? Of course I should.

Exit Path D

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I get selected for an IEG, and my Proposal Page gets the "IEG in-progress" template added to it that leads me to create all of my other IEG project pages. I complete my grant and live happily after. My project can be found forevermore via a link in the IdeaLab to past projects. Grantee badge glory is mine.

Exit Path E

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I don't get selected for an IEG. The reviewers suggest that I go back to the IdeaLab to keep improving it for next time. I decide to do this, so I follow the prompt to add the IdeaLab parameter back to my page so that it appears in the list of Ideas in the Lab again. Did I forget to mention it didn't appear in that list once it became a Proposal? Well, it didn't. But now it does again, and I start over again as IEGrant Proposer. It would be great if something nice happened to me in the Lab at this point to encourage me to keep working on my awesome Ideas, wouldn't it?

PSP/WMF Grant Proposer

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I’m creating my idea to gather participants. I want to put together a team of Wikipedians to participate in an editing sprint at a conference.

I become an IdeaCreator, and Exit Path C.

Someone suggests that I should consider the Participation Support Program for funding to send participants to attend the conference. I easily find the link to this program from the IdeaLab because it has really simple clear info about this as one of several funding options, and I head over to the PSP's own program pages.

At PSP I have to complete a separate application for funding, but I can link back to my Idea for background.

When my PSP is approved, I might add a few more details to my Idea as it shapes up into a project plan. I am prompted to mark my page as a project-in-progress so it doesn’t appear anymore in the list of new ideas or ideas actively looking for participants. I’m super stoked when I see “Siko’s idea, “Send Wikipedians to Open Help Conference,” is now in-progress!” show up in the IdeaLab activity feed. If I get a badge for making an active project, then I'm extra stoked.

After the conference, PSP funded-people writeup their report in the PSP space. Because we’re awesome at documentation, we link to these from our Idea page.

After an appropriate interval, GrantsBat sends me a message asking me if my project is complete, and if it is then it somehow gets marked “completed project” so that it no longer appears in the in-progress list. Once again I feel a fabulous sense of accomplishment to see this noted in the IdeaLab activity feed and I may need another badge just to underscore this feeling.