[Wikimedia-l] Reading department planning for next quarter

[Moushira Elamrawy]

Hello Everyone,

Hope you have nice vacation plans for the end of the year.  I am writing to
share a different kind of plan, though :) -- In the last 3 months the
reading team has worked on a process for open strategy planning [0], in
order to define priorities, and align tests and products that the team
works on, with broader movement goals.

Given the strategy work, planning for Q3 (the next quarter: Jan - March) is
different; the team is sharing its roadmap for Q3 and Q4 [1], as well as
the actions planned for Q3 [2] early on. Despite all of the strategy work
and planning, these documents are still work in progress; adaptations and
changes are likely to take place, given the time frame and tests included.
However, the team is sharing early in order to accommodate feedback.  You
can also add suggestions for Q4 (Apr - Jun), as long as they align with the
roadmap.[3]

The team is sharing its plans early and openly, looking forward to broader
participation, whether by feedack and suggestions in future planning. We
trust that the open process will help with better engagement and more
lessons to learn on best practices.

Enjoy December and excuse the cross posting.


All the best,
M


[0] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Reading/Strategy/Strategy_Process/Testing
[1] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Reading/Roadmap
[2] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Reading/Quarterly_Planning/Q3
[3] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Reading/Quarterly_planning/Q4
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[Wikimedia-l] User interaction on Wikipedia --call for submissions

[Moushira Elamrawy]

Greetings,

Following up on the reading strategy.

The reading team is launching an experiment that supports early engagement
in ideation phase, with a wide variety of users.

This aims at allowing a public space, where editors, staff and readers, can
submit and discuss ideas around our how to enhance user interaction with
content and with each other on Wikipedia.  We plan to run this for 4 weeks,
where after two weeks we can start to narrow down ideas and discuss them in
details.  Please check the link below, and feel free to submit ideas, ask
questions or leave a comment, and help us spread the word.

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User_Interaction_Consultation

Best,
Moushira
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] User interaction on Wikipedia --call for submissions

[Moushira Elamrawy]

Hello Fae,

Ideation phase [0], is a term widely used in product and design context.
Now, I see your point around how volunteers who are not related to these
fields, might not be familiar with it. Possibly something like, idea
generation, or brainstorming could have replaced it.

I am not sure though if the factors that you have listed are relevant; I
think it is a matter of using a word in a certain context where it actually
fits, without realizing how a broader audience would perceive it.

In any case, thanks for the note :-)

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideation_%28creative_process%29

Moushira

On Wed, Mar 16, 2016 at 1:51 AM, Fæ  wrote:

> On 15 March 2016 at 22:33, Moushira Elamrawy 
> wrote:
> ...
> > The reading team is launching an experiment that supports early
> engagement
> > in ideation phase, with a wide variety of users.
> ...
>
> Hi, sorry to target your email with a more general observation,
> however there seems to be a lot of odd jargon in Wikimedia
> announcements over the last few months. It would be great to see more
> 'official' emails aimed at volunteers, written in plain and
> grammatically complete English. Phrases like "ideation phase" may be
> frequently used during meetings at the Wikimedia Foundation offices,
> but are unlikely to be heard in real life by volunteer contributors,
> and are unlikely to be easily understood outside of corporate America,
> especially by those without English as their first language.
>
> Sorry again about picking at your announcement rather than any other,
> it just stood out today.
>
> Thanks,
> Fae
> --
> fae...@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] User interaction on Wikipedia --call for submissions

[Moushira Elamrawy]

Hello again,

I see that we have an interesting input here.

Let me add further context, not to give any excuses but to put things in
their perspective. This has nothing do to with corporate or jargon Silicon
Valley culture, as I simply don't live in the US, and I don't have any
corporate background  :). I come from a design background, and while I am
not a native English speaker, I didn't encounter any previous
misunderstanding with using this word, in context, in the last decade, even
with other non-native speakers.

I now see the relevance of psychology in the use of the word "ideation"
(where regardless of the article quality, we have the word used in both
context
<https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:WhatLinksHere/Ideation_%28creative_process%29&limit=500>still)
. Given my non-medical background, and my previous use of the word, without
failing to deliver what I needed to express at any point earlier, I,
therefore, made a choice to include it in my email, which I wrote by myself
without peer review.

I see the point around the Foundation's seemingly repeated pattern of using
words (or abbreviation) that aren't widely understood outside their
context, or by a broader audience. While this is a valid concern, I just
wanted to point out that our case here, is a matter of me failing to choose
a term that isn't apparently jargon, because sometimes it is tricky to
decide.

Again, this is a good lesson on the importance of simplifying and
globalizing my choice of words (oh, globalize could be jargon..no, not
again ;).

Point taken, thanks again everyone.

Moushira


On Wed, Mar 16, 2016 at 4:41 PM, Oliver Keyes  wrote:

> While I agree with people that it's an uncommon and exclusionary
> phrase (and a confusing one!) it seems like Moushira fully
> acknowledges this and is going to work harder on this sort of problem
> in the future, for which I laud her.
>
> If we want to have a general conversation about language choice at the
> WMF, broadly-construed, it seems like it would be best to kick off a
> new thread to avoid the appearance of a pileon.
>
> On Wed, Mar 16, 2016 at 9:13 AM, Derek V.Giroulle
>  wrote:
> > Hello everyone ,
> >
> > I agree with Fae and Craig,
> > It's foreign jargon especially in this context , and on top of that
> jargon
> > form a professional background where the term has been misused (imho)
> > It has in my jargon the connotation of obsessively recurring idea , like
> a
> > depressed patient
> > always coming back to ideas of suicide : the suicidal ideation
> > It would be the only place where i would allow fosuch reductive jargon
> > because it has precise meaning
> > i wouls never associate it with  idea generation or brainstorming what is
> > wrong with using those words
> > as craig indicated : cringe worthy (business) jargon
> > the mere fact that product design (business ing general) is stealing a
> word
> > form other jargon
> > show a lack of creativity of innovation
> >
> > I would like to call on the communications dept to start  - and i can
> just
> > picture someone for that task - a campaign
> > at WMF  to ban jargon  "simply says it better"
> >
> >
> > derek
> >
> >
> >
> > On 16-03-16 04:39, Craig Franklin wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi Moushira,
> >>
> >> The problem when you use jargon like "ideation" in this context is that
> >> you're essentially excluding anyone who isn't familiar with the
> particular
> >> terminology used in the field.  Especially so when there are plenty of
> >> plain-English alternatives that can be used in its place.  Note that
> there
> >> is a whole bunch of thought from experts that that word in particular
> is a
> >> particularly obnoxious piece of jargon:
> >>
> >> * http://money.cnn.com/2014/10/26/pf/corporate-jargon/
> >> * https://hbr.org/2008/08/why-jargon-feeds-on-lazy-minds.html
> >> *
> >>
> >>
> http://www.lifed.com/10-cringeworthy-business-jargon-examples-that-should-be-banned
> >>
> >> It's hardly the worst example I've seen out of the WMF, but while we're
> on
> >> the topic it should be pointed out.  Just because it's used elsewhere,
> it
> >> doesn't mean that the WMF has to fall into the same trap.
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >> Craig
> >>
> >> On 16 March 2016 at 10:07, Moushira Elamrawy 
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Hello Fae,
> >>>
> >>> Ideation phase [0], is a term widely used in product and design
> context.
> >>&g

[Wikimedia-l] Recap --was: Re: User interaction on Wikipedia --call for submissions

[Moushira Elamrawy]

Hello everyone,

The reading team's interaction consultation
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User_Interaction_Consultation> has been
wrapped up.  Thanks for those who created new accounts in order to
participate and thanks to those who spent time writing proposals and adding
ideas.  All in all we have 26 ideas.  Some ideas are more relevant to the
topic of interaction than others, and some seemed more feasible than
others,  so with these two parameters in mind, relevance and feasibility,
we have put together a shortlist, and added them as potential ideas for
brainstorming for Q1
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Reading/Quarterly_planning/Q1.   The
conversation can continue on the talk pages for each proposal or on the
talk page of Q1 planning. We added ideas to Q1 planning, which is the
earliest planning stage at the momet, however, ideas that don't get a
chance for further research or implementation in Q1, will be still be
considered for Q2, and other future plans, this is not the end of it :-).

This has been an interesting experiment, with lots of learning that
extended beyond the topic of interactivity, starting from how to avoid
jargon language on mailing lists, all the way, to how we really need to
enhance our mobile experiment to better serve our community engagement
through mobile.

Thanks to Wikimedia Foundation's communication team for their help with
promoting the consultation through our different non-wiki venues, and once
again thanks to all volunteers and staff who spent time in adding or
discussing ideas.

We are looking forward to the second phase of discussion, and to
possibilities of having proposals implemented starting Q1 or a distant
future to follow.

All the best,
Moushira

On Thu, Mar 17, 2016 at 2:12 AM, Derek V.Giroulle <
derekvgirou...@wikimedia.be> wrote:

> Hello Moushira,
>
> Iḿ sorry i didn't say this explicitely , i was n persoanlly attacking you
> i was as you point  out  focussing the critic at jargon use in the WMF
>
> thanks
> derek
>
>
> On 16-03-16 17:58, Richard Symonds wrote:
>
>> Thanks Moushira :-)
>> On 16 Mar 2016 16:55, "Moushira Elamrawy" 
>> wrote:
>>
>> Hello again,
>>>
>>> I see that we have an interesting input here.
>>>
>>> Let me add further context, not to give any excuses but to put things in
>>> their perspective. This has nothing do to with corporate or jargon
>>> Silicon
>>> Valley culture, as I simply don't live in the US, and I don't have any
>>> corporate background  :). I come from a design background, and while I am
>>> not a native English speaker, I didn't encounter any previous
>>> misunderstanding with using this word, in context, in the last decade,
>>> even
>>> with other non-native speakers.
>>>
>>> I now see the relevance of psychology in the use of the word "ideation"
>>> (where regardless of the article quality, we have the word used in both
>>> context
>>> <
>>>
>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:WhatLinksHere/Ideation_%28creative_process%29&limit=500
>>>
>>>> still)
>>>>
>>> . Given my non-medical background, and my previous use of the word,
>>> without
>>> failing to deliver what I needed to express at any point earlier, I,
>>> therefore, made a choice to include it in my email, which I wrote by
>>> myself
>>> without peer review.
>>>
>>> I see the point around the Foundation's seemingly repeated pattern of
>>> using
>>> words (or abbreviation) that aren't widely understood outside their
>>> context, or by a broader audience. While this is a valid concern, I just
>>> wanted to point out that our case here, is a matter of me failing to
>>> choose
>>> a term that isn't apparently jargon, because sometimes it is tricky to
>>> decide.
>>>
>>> Again, this is a good lesson on the importance of simplifying and
>>> globalizing my choice of words (oh, globalize could be jargon..no, not
>>> again ;).
>>>
>>> Point taken, thanks again everyone.
>>>
>>> Moushira
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Mar 16, 2016 at 4:41 PM, Oliver Keyes 
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> While I agree with people that it's an uncommon and exclusionary
>>>> phrase (and a confusing one!) it seems like Moushira fully
>>>> acknowledges this and is going to work harder on this sort of problem
>>>> in the future, for which I laud her.
>>>>
>>>> If we want to have a general conversation about language choice at 

[Wikimedia-l] Strategy process for reading team

[Moushira Elamrawy]

Greetings everyone,

The Reading team  is currently
working on defining the broadlines of its strategy and process.   The
drafted strategy layout is here
.  More information could
be found in the recent Q&A
 with
Reading's director. Please, add comments or questions to the talk page
 rather than this
email thread.

This is a work in progress that we are sharing early hoping to get feedback
as we continue to document our surveys, the testing processes, and the
results.

Apologies for cross posting, or if you came across similar message
elsewhere :).

Looking forward to interesting learnings, findings, and more awesome
projects!

All the best,
Moushira
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[Wikimedia-l] Updates on Strategy process for reading team

[Moushira Elamrawy]

Hello everybody,

Earlier this month
,
we shared some news from the reading team, on strategy process/. Last week
the team held a strategy kickoff meeting

as
part of strategy planning .

As part of the process we are now collecting community feedback from
answers to three questions
.  Our
deadline for this stage is September 8, 2015.

The questions themselves are designed according to the methodology
 we are
following.  We created a general introduction
 summarizing
context around the overall process and its aim.

Email communications are in English, however, questions and details on
process are ready for translations, to incorporate voices from different
communities.

The team is happy to clarify more information on the main strategy talk page
  (please not this
email thread :)).

Apologies for cross posting, and looking forward to your input,

All the best,
Moushira
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[Wikimedia-l] Help needed with reading strategy process

[Moushira Elamrawy]

Greetings,

The reading team has been having a series of meetings as part of the
ongoing strategy process,.  We documented and clarified as much details as
possible, here
, in
order to empower everyone to become part of the process, while following
the same methodology.

For example, instead of saying "*The overall page views numbers are
declining and thats a problem that we need to solve*"  by applying our
process, the suggested statement is questioned to whether this is a problem
in itself or it is a result of another problem?  If we picked one possible
reason, what are our choices to solve the problem, and what possibilities
does each choice entail? What are the concerns with each possibility and
what are the tests that we need to run to justify our concerns?

Sounds complicated? :-)
Not really.  The key is to ask the right questions and always remain
focused on the initial problem.

In our own exercise, we identified one problem that manifests itself across
different indicators is our core system's lack of optimization for emerging
platforms, experiences, and communities.

The team can not do this alone.  We need more people to join our exercise,
please check the documentation
,  make
yourself familiar with the process, and think of suggesting choices
,
generating possibilities
,
and designing tests
.
Questions and comments are welcome on the talk page.

Lets get this done, together!

Happy weekend,
M
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[Wikimedia-l] WMF Reading strategy update

[Moushira Elamrawy]

Hi Everyone --

We wanted to give you an update on where we were with the strategy process
and provide some more avenues for feedback and participation.

When we last spoke, we had presented an initial draft of our strategy along
with some details of the process we are using. This did not get the
feedback that we had hoped for[1]. We considered this feedback and came up
with some conclusions that we've used to move forward:

   1. The strategic problem itself was too broad and unclear to be a
   suitable foundation for discussion or specifics.
   2. The process is difficult to understand if you haven't been immersed
   in it.
   3. Strategy is hard and collaborative strategy, particularly with a
   large group of distributed stakeholders, is harder.

In response to these conclusions, we've done the following:

   1. Simplified and pared down our scope and made our strategic problem
   more accessible and actionable.
   2. Changed our communications plan to focus more on the outcomes of the
   strategic process (what we're proposed we do v. how we came to these ideas)
   with the belief that this will be easier to discuss.
   3. Moved forward with the process to get to more specific plans and most
   importantly start the process to reverse engineer them to see if they will
   be effective. We also made a video to explain where we are and have started
   a process to gather input on design from the community.

We'd like to ask for your help in the following way:

   1. Please review this page:
   https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Reading/Strategy/Strategy_Process/Testing for
   details on how you can provide feedback become more involved in the
   process. We're also very happy to recieve feedback on the process itself
   and on the strategic options we are reverse-engineering.

- The Reading Team

[1] Our favorite was something along the lines of "It sounds like you put
all of the buzzwords into a bag, shook it up, and poured it out on a table"
-- this was good.
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation and Saudi Telecom (STC) partner to provide access to Wikipedia free of mobile data charges in the Middle East

[Moushira Elamrawy]

Awesome!

Congrats to mobile team for a promising deal. Great job! Can't wait to see
readership _and edit (for the future!)_ stats in KSA for the next months.

@Andreas:  Censorship!  Thats interesting --but my understanding is that
Wikiipedia is fine in KSA, except for some visual content that is being
blocked.

Once again, thumbs up to mobile team, legal, admin, and anyone who helped
this deal come true.

Best,
/M

On Sun, Oct 14, 2012 at 11:12 PM, Andreas Kolbe  wrote:

> Will access to Wikipedia for people in Saudi Arabia be uncensored?
>
> Has there been any agreement with Saudi Telecom on censorship?
>
> Andreas
>
> On Sun, Oct 14, 2012 at 6:32 PM, Jay Walsh  wrote:
>
> > Hi folks - sharing a news release that WMF issued this morning along with
> > STC.
> >
> > (This press release is also posted on the WMF wiki at
> >
> >
> https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/WMF_and_STC_partner_on_WP_Zero_in_the_Middle_East
> > )
> >
> > '''The Wikimedia Foundation and Saudi Telecom (STC) partner to provide
> > access to Wikipedia free of mobile data charges in the Middle East'''
> >
> > ''Service available immediately to STC customers in Saudi Arabia''
> >
> > San Francisco, California and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- October 14, 2012
> > -- Saudi Telecom Company (STC) and the Wikimedia Foundation announced
> > a new partnership today to offer Wikipedia free of data charges on
> > mobile devices to STC customers in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait.
> > By making Wikipedia available to its 25 million mobile customers, STC
> > and the Wikimedia Foundation commit to increasing access to the free
> > and open knowledge available on Wikipedia. Wikipedia Zero enables
> > customers to browse the website for free and with high flexibility on
> > all mobile phones.
> >
> > This partnership is part of the Wikimedia Foundation's mobile
> > strategy, which focuses on reaching billions of people around the
> > world whose primary opportunity to access the Internet is via a mobile
> > device. This initiative is particularly important, given that the
> > Foundation has made Arabic language countries a special priority in
> > its strategic planning.
> >
> > “We are thrilled that STC has joined us in removing a major barrier to
> > accessing Wikipedia on mobile phones. Improving access to the
> > Wikimedia projects in the Arabic speaking world is a strategic
> > priority for the Foundation, and this partnership is a step forward in
> > our mission to enable everyone on the planet to access free
> > knowledge,” said Kul Takanao Wadhwa, Head of Mobile, Wikimedia
> > Foundation. “With Wikipedia Zero, the Wikimedia Foundation is able to
> > provide free Wikipedia access to almost 230 million mobile users
> > around the world. We’re very excited that STC is joining us in this
> > mission.”
> >
> > In collaboration with “Intigral”, a company specialized in providing
> > digital media solutions to telecom operators, STC subscribers can now
> > access the free service in both Arabic and English by pointing their
> > mobile browser to m.wikipedia.org.  A lightweight, text-only version
> > optimized for slower connections is also available at
> > zero.wikipedia.org. The move comes as STC continues to consolidate its
> > leadership in various fields, especially in social awareness and the
> > fostering of a knowledge-sharing culture. Wikipedia Zero will also be
> > available through the mobile browser, and features high browsing
> > speeds despite being a free service.
> >
> > Eng. Ibrahim Al Omar, Vice President for Personal Services, said “One
> > of the principles that STC adheres to is the commitment to spreading
> > social awareness and the fostering of a knowledge-sharing culture that
> > accomplishes the aspirations of all segments of our customer-base.” He
> > then added, “Wikipedia Zero is considered an additional cornerstone
> > that supports the continuous efforts of STC in the field of social
> > awareness.”
> >
> > The launch of Wikipedia Zero comes in line with STC’s strategy to
> > prioritize customer needs, and is an affirmation of the company’s
> > commitment to fulfilling customer expectations while meeting their
> > demands, and to continuously develop its services to satisfy their
> > aspirations and give them a variety of unrestricted options and
> > alternatives.
> >
> > For more information, please refer to the partnership Q&A at:
> > https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Mobile_partnerships#STC
> >
> > '''About Saudi Telecom'''
> > www.stc.com.sa
> >
> > Saudi Telecom Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides
> > telecommunications services to individuals and businesses primarily in
> > the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Its GSM segment primarily offers mobile,
> > prepaid cards, international roaming, and messaging services. The
> > company’s Landline segment principally provides fixed line, card
> > telephones, interconnect, and international call services. Its DATA
> > segment primarily offers leased dat

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation and Saudi Telecom (STC) partner to provide access to Wikipedia free of mobile data charges in the Middle East

[Moushira Elamrawy]

On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 12:06 AM, Theo10011  wrote:

> On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 3:31 AM, Moushira Elamrawy  >wrote:
>
> > @Andreas:  Censorship!  Thats interesting --but my understanding is that
> > Wikiipedia is fine in KSA, except for some visual content that is being
> > blocked.
>
>
> Not exactly.[1][2] ;)
>

Yes, this too, but people always manage to work around it ;)
In general it is accessible and better than the censorship status in other
countries (Syria!), and the government is investing in increasing Wikipedia
Arabic content, so a lot could be done to expand readership and editor base
with the current status, even if it isn't perfect.

Best,
M

>
> Regards
> Theo
>
> [1]
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_Saudi_Arabia#Internet
> [2]
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_articles_censored_in_Saudi_Arabia
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