Strategy/Wikimedia movement/2018-20/Recommendations/Improve User Experience
Improve User Experience |
WhatWe will continually improve the design of our platforms to be inclusive and to enable everyone — irrespective of gender, culture, age, technological background or skills, or physical abilities — to enjoy a positive experience during both consumption and contribution to knowledge throughout the Wikimedia ecosystem. Improving the experience of users on our platforms will allow more people to join projects, access information, and contribute. This is a shared responsibility between developers, designers, and communities and requires collective action throughout the Wikimedia ecosystem. Enhancing the experience of users requires following a people-centered approach consisting of a well-defined, iterative and inclusive process of research, proposal, testing, and dissemination of the results. Changes and ActionsImprove methodology to identify, propose, test, and implement changes on Wikimedia platforms. For this:
Create procedures and practices to improve the use of all Wikimedia projects, for those consuming or creating free knowledge, as well as extending functionalities. This requires working on specific characteristics of our products and platforms:
RationalePeople create and consume knowledge with an ever-increasing diversity of devices, interfaces, and interactions (e.g. virtual assistants). Understanding ongoing and future changes and adapting our platforms and spaces to meet diverse user needs will be vital to ensure free knowledge stays relevant on the Internet and for the sustainability of our projects. Improving user experience can also help grow content, participation, and diversity. We need to encourage new members into our communities, considering that our projects rely on communities whose core editors — both in terms of contribution and functional roles — have not seen a lot of change in composition. This is especially relevant considering existing platforms might be complicated for many newcomers to acquire the technological skills to participate or find resources to guide them. The processes, tools, platforms, and communication channels that have grown around Wikimedia projects have created a steep learning curve for newcomers which some advanced contributors may not be aware of. It is necessary to continually assess user experience and improve ways to identify needs to achieve a more usable product. |