One of the best survivors of the old web, as well as one of the most human-powered, is the encyclopedia. The Wikimedia Foundation celebrated its 20th birthday last year and is now looking for its next wave of contributors. It is adding features to make it easier for users to make their own edits. The Wikimedia team hopes that by trying not to weaken the bonds of its individual communities, it will be able to make them stronger.
Since the beginning of the year, Wikimedia has been testing new features on its platform. New editors will be seen on a landing page if users log into their account. They will be given a mentor who can answer questions. They will be urged to make small edits via the landing page.
A lot of people tried to start editing but failed.
There were problems with the retention of new editors, meaning that a lot of people would attempt to start editing but fail and not stay. The team began a research project to test new methods of getting people to stick around, first on relatively small wikis like the Czech and Korean-language versions of Wikipedia, then on larger ones, and finally an English language launch earlier this year.
According to Wikimedia's surveys, most people start editing Wikipedia because they have a particular task in mind, like writing a new article about something they're interested in, contributing to an existing article, or fixing a typo They don't know how to start and the editing community can be notoriously difficult. The site has become a trusted fact-checking resource and a high quality bar helps keep it that way. A large portion of the first edits are rejected, which makes people feel like they have failed before they start. On big wikis there is an entrenched set of rules that can make participation difficult, while on smaller ones there is less of a clear incentive to participate.
It is so hard to edit Wikipedia, that is how we started thinking about these features. There are many obstacles to overcome. There are a couple ways that we could attack that. The other was to say, 'Let's teach people how to do it.' Miller said they have done some of that. The other way was to say that it's difficult to edit the.edu website. Let's make it easier to modify.
One thumb is all you need to hold onto the rail and edit.
One of the first avenues of attack is mentorship. The English-language encyclopedia, the largest of its kind in the world, has 86 members. Users are encouraged to email mentors with questions that are fairly simple but can benefit from a one-on-one interaction with another person.
The second is to encourage newcomers to make simple edits, and suggest ways to participate. In addition to its standard edit tab, Wikimedia is adding guidance for suggested newcomer tasks such as copy-editing and an option called " structured tasks." The editors can approve or reject the images and links suggested by the machine learning algorithm if they are interested in the topic. Miller says, "These are some of the first edits that you can do with one hand on your phone."
About 75 percent of the link recommendations are deemed to be accurate by editors, and between 65 and 80 percent for images, depending on the website. Humans retain 90 percent of the edits they make. Wikimedia plans to make the system available everywhere, even though it isn't currently available on English-language Wikipedia.
A lot of the interface-based rewards are offered by Wikimedia. The impact section on the new page will show people how many pageviews the articles they edited have received, giving them a sense of the difference they are making. In tests, people who see the new features are more likely to make their first edit and more likely to come back and make another.
These little reminders might be familiar to you if you've used an app. A kind of Gamification, they are a way to turn a daunting task into a series of small actions. These systems can come in for criticism as well.
How can the user understand that they want to discover more is part of our design.
The Wikimedia team believes its work is not the same. The goal of the site is not to make money but to get people comfortable with the process. This work is being carried out in public with the results of individual trials documented online where the global editorial community can weigh in.
Some of the discussions are very high level, while others are very specific to individual wikis. Rita Ho says that they are involved in helping to design the different algorithms for the different languages. In the past, Ho and Miller have said that turning the features off has been rare.
The goal is to help build up the number of people who feel comfortable connecting with other humans in the community, particularly in smaller websites that need new editors. Structured tasks are supposed to allow people to dip their toes in the water but eventually they will have to jump in.
The more newcomers interact with automated processes, the less they understand the basics of the community-based process. Even though they need images and links, they also need their future administrators, their future people that discuss policy, and the future people that write full articles from whole cloth. How can the user understand that they want to discover more and get deeper into this, is part of our design.
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